Black woman
You are the creator of all life. In your womb is the foundation of a past that defines our future. From your being evolves all nations, kindred and tongues. Black to Red to Yellow to White- we owe our existence to you. We behold your glory- innate, incomprehensible, intimate, you are beautiful beyond words. Knowledgeable beyond understanding. Your strength spans man’s weakness by creating a bridge from generation to generation. Without you we cease to be. For you, Black woman, are the essence of God given life itself.
Black man
You have toiled until your hands are calloused and bruised. You have had to stand by while your family was torn apart and your women raped. Even though from your loins flowed life, you were enslaved and told that you are less than human. You hung your head in shame as you passed a white person and you had to cross to the other side of the street. Your strong black back bore the pain and sorrow of your heritage and with every crack of that whip they tried to beat that pride out of you. You were born of kings and queens. You have forgotten that you are royalty. Where formal slavery hid in the shadows, you are still enslaved in the prisons of this “Great Country. “You matter” Don’t lose sight of your greatness. We need you, Black man.
Spirit Tree
You spread your limbs and leaves for the whites masses who lunch under you any given day. The trunk is a silent protector as the leaves whisper comfort and peace to the slave owners. You spread those same limbs to receive the bodies of my ancestors swinging in the wind.
Strange fruit, No
Kings, queens, blacksmiths, scholars
You forget their given names and occupations as you drain the life from their limp bodies. But I don’t forget.
These ancestors gave birth to you too.
You are trying to erase the cradle of salvation but you will not succeed. We will prevail.
SLAVE
Servant
Lazy
Adventurous
Virtuous
Excellence
Letter to my Great, Great, Great Grandfather Dominique Toussaint
I never met you in person but I feel the power of your blood coursing through me. I didn’t grow up with your name on my tongue and it wasn’t until my mind was engaged and broadened, did I realize that you bear a great name- Toussaint L’Ouverture (so named Francois- Dominique Toussaint Louverture). Grandfather – were you so named because we are directly related to this great man? Or were you named this because my ancestors didn’t want us to forget that we are descendants of Haiti. You arrived here and there’s a multitude of people that came from your loins. We remember you now. I recognize you now. You are my reminder to never let slavery of life overtake me. Like Toussaint L’Ouverture- we are the captains of our lives and we have every right to live free even in a shackled world. Thank you for teaching me that I have a choice- Live Free or Die.
Say their names
Activists Victims
Dr. Martin L. King Jr Eric Gardner
Rosa Parks Trayvon Martin
Frederick Douglas Tamar Rice
James Baldwin Sandra Bland
Mahalia Jackson Tyre King
Harriet Tubman Breonna Taylor
Sojourner Truth Atatiana Jefferson
Malcom X Botham Jean
W. E. B. DuBois Philando Castille
Medgar Evers Alton Sterling
Marcus Garvey George Floyd
Barbara Jordan Michelle Cusseaux
Paul Robeson Freddie Gray
Booker T. Washington John Elliott Neville
Rudy Bridges Michael Brown
Thurgood Marshall Ahmaud Arbery
No we will never forget your sacrifice, words of wisdom, your leadership, your courage, your power in the midst of adversity , your pain or your premature deaths. Those who don’t remember the past are doomed to repeat it. NO, WE WILL NEVER FORGET!
To the Pilgrims:
“As iron sharpens iron so does one person sharpen another.” But you didn’t come to learn, listen, collaborate, or sit at the table of equality.
You came to conquer, divide, overthrow, bludgeon, murder, rape and pillage.
What did religious freedom have to do with this?
Even the Wizard can’t help you
Wish I was in the land of Dixie- look away, look away Dixie.
No more! Look now at what you have created. You came and stole what was not yours to steal. Turn and face this chaos you created. We are not done here. You took lives at your pleasure as if you were God. Our lives were not yours to take, to rape, to sit on until we could no longer breath. You shout- “White Power.” I say Black Lives Matter. They have always mattered but you can’t see the beauty of God’s creation because you lack a heart. Even the Tin Man had enough sense to see the value in loving others.
In God we trust
Do we and what god is this?
White power, money, wealth, sex, death. You talk but no words of substance are coming out. You print this on money that you use to pay the hooker in the back room of the club before you go home to your garden estate. You pay this holy paper under the table as you hire the Hitman to make your life easier. You use this paper at a whim as you pay unequally those who work for you. This blood stained flat god of yours will not save you. Look around you, where is your god in all of this chaos? You are standing on sinking sand.
The pestilence (Covid-19)
It kills indiscriminately. No warning! You think your big houses behind gated communities can save you? You think that place at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave can cover you? Or your fair skin gives you a buffer? What about your guns, flags, statures? No, NO, No! This angel of death destroys regardless of race, color, creed, sexual orientation, handicap or religion. When you close your eyes, are you safe? Wake up, we are at war for our souls. The coronavirus kills and unlike you, it is not prejudiced.
What about my rights?
Just wear a mask they say but the people revolt. I want my freedom to kill as many as I come in contact with. Are you that selfish? Yes. It’s not about you. Protect yourself, protect your family, protect those you love. Get down off that high horse and do your duty-Wake up and Mask up!