Wednesday, October 17, 2007

STRANGE FRUIT IN THE 21ST CENTURY

See, this is what happens when folk –- Black folk –- get too comfortable.


Citing Jena –- which I did in a prior "Blogging Amerikkka" –- was only scratching the surface. To date, more than 30 –- THIRTY! –- reported incidents of noose hangings occurred throughout the country, with more sightings in view.


(Care to guess how many unreported "noose sightings" there have been around the country? Hmmmm. . .)


And if you're surprised, you haven't been paying attention to this country's history.


But what is it about NOW, about THIS TIME IN HISTORY, that makes folk so very comfortable wearing their Confederate shirts. . .hanging nooses. . .locking up Afrikan descendant children for incidents that are dismissed as "pranks" or "acting out" when white children are involved?


What is it about NOW that has bolstered the comfort level of a new generation of racial domestic terrorists intent on reeking havoc on those of Afrikan descent?


What is it about NOW that has emboldened "the white authority" to very bluntly declare open season on Black America with barely a ripple of sustained public outcry?


Many of us are comfortable in our gilded cages, with good jobs, houses, savings, and all the trappings of "success" in amerikkka.


But no matter what the trappings, no matter where you are on the "success" ladder, here is the "real deal" that we as A People must ponder as racial terrorism continues its surge in amerikkka. Let's learn the lessons from Jena. And the rise in noose hangings, if nothing else, remind us of the following (from "Underneath the Sacred White Tree" by Adar Ayira**):


In America there are towns

with plenty of Sacred White Trees

and a seat is reserved there

for everyone except

the ones who look like me


Branches ready for decoration with

21st Century Strange Fruit beckoning to me

with tightly knit knots of the deadly noose


While the town of Jena still claims

it doesn't know what the history of the noose means

they still knew enough to tie a noose of up high and very tightly



Underneath their Sacred White Tree



They know enough to continue to deny seats

to those who look like me

to arrest those who look like me

who just want to be free to sit in any spot, even up



Underneath their Sacred White Tree


Bob Marley spoke of One Love

but I wish you would tell me when will we love ourselves

what will it take, before we love ourselves enough

to stop assimilating into hate



Before we begin to love ourselves enough to become

the masters of our own fate or will we continue

holding out hope for change until change comes too late





Moving Forward,



Adar




**"Underneath the Sacred White Tree" can be heard on
Adar Ayira's poetry CD, "Baby, We Need to Talk" dropping soon!

2 comments:

  1. Many of us are comfortable in our gilded cages, with good jobs, houses, savings, and all the trappings of "success" in amerikkka.

    Oh just ask Vick, or Bonds, or Jones what "success" will get you if you are Black.

    And before anyone points out to me that they dis wrong things. I'd like to point out that there were any number of other white athletes who've effed up and effed up BADLY and weren't subjected to the public hanging that those three have endured ARE enduring.

    Black folks can be comfortable if they wanna...as I like to tell friends...someone (white America) will ALWAYS remind you you a Nigger.

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  2. You know, we -- as a people and all others in this country -- need to re-define how we DEfine "success." We concentrate so much on the material that our spiritual and humanistic development just gets lost. . .

    And JJ, you reminded me of an old Dick Gregory joke: what do they call a rich Black man in America? NIGGER!

    All these years later, it is still the same, except now most of those types of comments take place behind closed doors instead of in public (smile).

    But, as we continually see, amerikkka is still not above using the legal club as its "lynching tree" all while touting the concept of a "color blind" society. . .

    And so it goes. Think that things will change in our lifetimes?

    Peace,

    Adar

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