BORN INTO SLAVERY-ROOTED IN LOVE

BORN INTO SLAVERY – ROOTED IN LOVE


We are the ancestors of the historical horrors
birthed into arms of a chattel society
born amidst slave blocks
fields of cotton and tobacco
dispensed into theaters of torture and doom

Women of the Diaspora, men of the homeland
chased into woods, along rivers, through valleys
hoist into freedoms curtained with provisions
probing nights shadows for illusory lights

We are the ancestors of the historical horrors
absconding the bondage – demarcating the lies
hallowed by truths once held as self evident
conceding the horrors- expounding the crimes

We are the nemesis to slavery’s horrors
nourished through caring, thriving on hope
forging a kinder more peaceful existence
born into slavery, yet rooted in love

From "ONE DAY" by Shirley Howard Hall

28 Days

28 DAYS

I need a year to be black

linguistics of typecasting

get it just right

pigeonholed in a bucket

cagy stereotypes

I need a year to be black

deprived of a home

in a white neighborhood

shunned in a racist white club

apply for a job whites only

test equal work equal pay laws

shoved in the corners

of fine restaurants

rejected avoided eschewed

passed over imprisoned and cheated

profiled in keen airports and schools

need a year to secure high blood pressure

sickle cell, diabetes and aids

to be told that my brain is smaller than most

wash dishes, clean toilets

refrain

need a year to honor the ace of spades

stand on corners, push drugs pot and pills

get welfare and food stamps

be single and poor

join a gang, learn to pilfer and steal

to exhaust all my savings

estrange my white friends

donate all my finery and jewels

void my accomplishments

distance achievements

in short to make me more like you

give me a year to practice the lies

to make all your falsehoods come true

to drop out of school

quit a well paying job

sell my home in the burbs next to yours

28 days just won’t do it

need a year to turn back the tide

or you can enlighten yourself and your friends

on the truths of Black History

Black Pride.