And We Are Still Here...

CATEGORY

Beating our drums—singing, dancing

and giving praises to the Most High

for family harvest, peace and love,

we blinked—became victims

of colonial rape—stolen from the womb

of our Motherland; snatched like babes

from their mother’s uterus; umbilical cords

severed and thrown away—not buried…

Stacked sardine style

in the fecal bowels of ships—

with desecrated faith flags flying

and given blessings to return safely—some

of us survived the devil’s Middle Passage

hell—stolen walking dead cargo

reaching the bidding block; to be sold

into the dreaded dark death of slavery.   

Blood soaked cotton fields claimed

countless lives, wrought to death

to sustain a weary worn nation;

others dangled like strange fruits

from the branches of lynching trees;

and there were those who were fried

like beacon during clan kinky follies;

Yet, we are still here—pushing onward;

and we shall not be moved.

(Nobody Knows The Troubles I’ve Seen…)

Yes, chattel slavery, Jim Crow, segregation,

racial discrimination and grazing game

to be stalked and shot down—

ethnic genocide—have all been

designed and practiced to wipe us out…

Yet, we are still here—pushing onward;

and we shall not be moved.

(Ain’t Gon’a Let No body Lawdy, Turn Me ‘Round…)

So rise up my children;

know who and whose you are…

aware and knowledgeable

of the lies, mind tricks, and deceptions

your ancestors have survived—know

that you are the descendants

of great nation builders;

nation builders who have built a nation

within a nation; the building bricks:

the blood, sweat and tears of their lives.

My children, my children—truth’s blessings;

know that you are heirs of something precious:

 a great heritage; a mighty ancestry—roots.

Know that you are not remnants of a dried creek;

rather, you are the flowing waters of a mighty river

meandering through a great valley of ebony hued,

healing humanity; rising—forgiving but not forgetting.

(Amazing Grace…)

Yes—with amazing grace—our river is flowing,

taking us to higher ground; we are still here;

and we shall not be moved—rooted in faith, planted

like a tree by the waters—we are here and free;

and always will be—we shall not be removed 

from the peace, love and unity of our blessed humanity.

(Like A Tree Planted By The Waters)