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i stand

i stand tall enough to not bow far enough to give up on fighting for me

i was chained

i was bound by the mentalities forced upon me, by the atrocities that have been tearing their way from my gut for too long, by the silence and indifference that created a forcefield around me from which i was beaten for trying to be free of

i waited

i waited for a a savior who did not come but who always has and will reside within me, for a freedom that for too long i have envied, for an equality that should equal all ideas of free

centuries and decades passed me by and though i walk with no chains, have the opportunity to prove myself if i follow the teachings and conform, and speak similarly as eloquent if not more than most: my path still reminds all of the concept this country was built to allow....FREEDOM FOR ALL PEOPLE

I am the child of the slave

screaming out in their absence while unknowingly standing over their grave

set me free! i am indignant yet brave

because if i don't behave,

even this far away, my life can also be shaved.....

Author's Notes/Comments: 

This piece was written in response to the documented history of the statue of liberty and a photograph that reminds me that there were several casts and models made before the US accepted the one that stands today. The earlier casts were of undeniably african women, but was buffered to look egyptian in order to be accepted and not seen as the taunt that it was originally intended as. It caused me to reflect on the plight of my people, who were slaves at the time and have been fighting for a freedom that this country was supposedly built upon using them as laborers while in bondage. How can we ask as americans for a freedom that we refused our own inhabitants in one way or another until this day? i am just saying... do i believe i am held down by 'the man'? no, nothing holds me, but i am the exception....

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©16 July 2012 - 10:15pm — significance_of_2
23 December 2016 - 5:00pm — allets
allets's picture

I Read A Statistic Recently

 

We've come a long way, but it does not feel that way. We came by another path, surely, hard like most immigrants forced or voluntarily. In early american history, blacks came as indentured servants, worked 7 years, and became freedmen and freedwomen. Interesting, the statue of liberty history. Thanks for the info. Never heard that story before - allets -

Middle Clas defined as earning 35K-100K annually. Per 2000 cenus, 43% Black Americans were in the middle class  Working poor will probably rise following 2008 - also 1% of U.S. population owns 90% of the wealth. You bet the percentage will shrink! Well paying manufacturing jobs have been exported to cheaper labor markets.

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"As of the 2010 Census, black households had a median income of $32,068,[5] which places the median black household within the second income quintile.[5] 27.3% of black households earn an income between $25,000 and $50,000, 15.2% earn between $50,000 and $75,000, 7.6% earn between $75,000 and $100,000, and 9.4% earn more than $100,000.[5 "

 

 

 

 

23 June 2022 - 5:22am — significance_of_2
significance_of_2's picture

I live

Thank you for the information, I was living a completely separate set of statistics and so my eyes don't see any of what you described (then or now, - hope that you're well by the way). You look up, but i look around. You read on it, i live it (whati speak on or of) and it is nothing like what they've told you... but it is shifting a bit...

 

 continuing to pray and move

Purrrty verbiage is a servant