July (2021): Sustainability, Power, Remembering

Main Index Blog Intro Mid-Atlantic Metal

JULY: SUSTAINABLE POWER AND RE-MEMORY

I ask kinfolk out there who are reading:

what is your first diasporic memory, a

distinct you felt the heritage?

Not everyone is close to their roots

or has those resources for learning.

We were removed from ours for

generations and still today.

Elders teach everything they can.

"Learn to respect who came before.

Wash these greens this way,

play the walking bass like that.

Be proud of our skin."

Sometimes they guard the knowledge

because pride is all they have.

Entire hoods exist because of African-Americans' persistence,

but status in society and redlining to keep us "away" as well.

Yet Africa thrives in historically Black districts.

Fula ancestry shines through the Gullah-Geechee.

You can taste home in our cookouts, see it on our faces.

Who are we?

I'd say the descendants of everyone who made it.

Shout out to those we lost.