AND WE ARE STILL HERE...

CATEGORY

AND WE ARE STILL HERE…

While 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 blocks 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—

Be 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 black 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 bed;

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…I once was lost…)

Yes, with amazing grace, our river is still flowing;

taking us to a higher ground.  And we are still here.

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

like a tree by the waters—we are here and God free.  And

we shall not be removed from the peace, love and unity

of our blessed humanity. Yes, we are still here to stay.  And

no devious devilish demise can up root our anchored present here.

(Like A Tree Planted By The Waters)