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Kimberly McCrae SPEAK We've not always walked clandestinely in shadows nor tiptoed in the blinding light of deceit
We've not garnished our plate with the withered leaves of parsley grown in ground made fertile by scattering our precious seed
and danced in wintry streams purified by our blood
This be a call, a summoning of sensibility
laying aside parchment paper and alphabetical notation
BA, MD, PhD, MFA, M.Div, BS....bs
that somehow has come to hold more merit than the divinity our story
to whom have we made sacrifice upon the altars of our loyalty
diminishing our ancestry to stories told for sport
our legacy sold for a mere taste of porridge
footprints painted over and then tarred for smoother passage
do not be deceived,
there is no currency of exchange
that can equate to the treasure
drowned in the blue of the Atlantic Ocean's tears
our story is as gritty as the sands that kissed our skin
as fiery as the lashes that etched eternity into our minds
more than the cacophony of contusions
that adorned skin bronzed and baked in ovens lined with
cotton,
corn,
tobacco
the yeast has been forgotten in the translation of our legacy
for we have forgotten to rise
countless masses left behind
rocked to eternal sleep on the ebb and flow of Ocean waves
eulogized by the cries of another stolen, another sold
another measured by their weight in gold
another beaten, another raped,
another lynched, another shaped
into the image of unfamiliar tongues and the fear of no escape
laying in wait behind doors of no return
dank stenches of death as their early morning song
for at least this sensory realization meant they were still alive
birthing babies that would never suck from their own mother's breasts
it's not pretty here
because it wasn't pretty there
but they did not endure for us to become demure
and lest history repeat itself...Amadou Diallo
and lest history repeat itself...Sean Bell
and lest history repeat itself...Emmett Till, The Scott Sisters, 3, a church
in Alabama, 5, Jenna Six
and lest history repeat itself...Mumia Abu Jamal
and lest history repeat itself...Apartheid in Arizona
and lest history repeat itself
we must muster up the courage
to speak
(Originally posted February 18, 2011)
or visit her at facebook.com/people/Kimberly-Redefining-Freedom-McCrae/654961696
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