four hundred years...sounds like a choice,
a master of ignorance owned his voice,
and I can feel the moans of souls
that prayed and wept, tried and died for this day
when their children could be so blithe
and ignorant of pain
So I speak, as one that honors the past
there is yet
the unbroken circle of me to thee
your broad backs that lifted me
above the chains, and let me see
the horizon, the human victory
when a Slave master's words of liberty-
a shell of worlds born empty-
until you breathed it...to life
a master of ignorance owned his voice,
and I can feel the moans of souls
that prayed and wept, tried and died for this day
when their children could be so blithe
and ignorant of pain
So I speak, as one that honors the past
there is yet
the unbroken circle of me to thee
your broad backs that lifted me
above the chains, and let me see
the horizon, the human victory
when a Slave master's words of liberty-
a shell of worlds born empty-
until you breathed it...to life
for readers -
many are from other cultures and nations than the US, can use a road
map to the ideas in this piece.
1. The main idea here is that a well-known
Black artist joined with Trump and at about the same time denounced
the idea of African slavery as a choice by the slaves-- they wanted to
be slaves.
Chattel slavery was a global criminal enterprise based on murder,kidnap, torture, rape and false imprisonment. For centuries, millions of Africans were worked to death- for billions in profits.
Chattel slavery was a global criminal enterprise based on murder,kidnap, torture, rape and false imprisonment. For centuries, millions of Africans were worked to death- for billions in profits.
2. The Slave master's words refers to Thomas Jefferson author of the Declaration of independence
"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal..."
3. "tools of ignorance" is a phrase that I credit to Bill Dickey, catcher for the NY Yankees. There is disputes about the origin of the phrase but no dispute that Dickey said it, and that he was a great Yankee.