REsistance (in honor of juneteenth)

Lynching of Thomas Shipp and Abram Smith in August 1930, photo by Lawrence Beitler

I am an example of resistance
I hang from manufactured rope 
On the Tree of Life
I didn't live a Brothers Grimm fairy tale
Conceived into oppression
I was wise beyond my years 
But I've never received a White man's education 
Only domination 

I was bought and sold like sheet metal 
I've been called boy 
Inferior to my Superior 
I've been violated and raped
No one heard my screams
I was tamed like an animal
I was a field hand and a house nigger
I've picked the fabric that creates
My Master's shirt 
I've wiped his children's noses 
And prepared his daily meals 

I've tried to escape to new freedoms
Only to be brought back to plantation land 
My footprints were imprinted in Southern soil
I've been beaten without reason
My whips never healed 
I was fed up with His rules
I rebelled

Now my lifeless body dangles
Helplessly 
Before you from a noose
My legs sway to and fro
My eyes are blood-shot red 
I am an example of resistance
​
This is dedicated to my ancestor's who paved the way so that I may live freely today. 

I was listening to Billie Holiday's "Strange Fruit" and my mind wandered. I imagined the "strange fruit" telling his life story to the people who watched him die.

*A poem from "Just My Thoughts: Mind, Body & Soul", published July 18, 2006. ​