Interestingly enough, the winner also distinguished
himself once by successfully prosecuting two KKK members for the bombing deaths
of four little girls in the 16th St. Baptist Church in Birmingham back in the
day. While his opponent shot himself in all his feet making remarks about
slavery that he would have done better to keep to himself.
Anyway, Lesle' Honore' (see photo above) wrote
this poem the day after the election, giving props to the voters in Alabama who
carried the day. Lest you have any doubt, I'm providing the statistics at the
bottom of this post. Hopefully, they will give us all pause. What this exercise
in political will demonstrates rather clearly is that whenever solidarity hooks
up with action, anything can happen.
Last Night in Alabama
by Lesle' Honore'
Last night
__________________________________________________
Last Night in Alabama
by Lesle' Honore'
Last night
In
Alabama
Black
women did
What
black women have done
Since we
were brought here
Against
our will
Enslaved
And then
for hundreds of years
Were
Brutalized by this country
We saved
y’all asses
Last
night in Alabama
Although
63 percent of white women voters
Cast a
ballot for
A child
molester
A bigot
Who has a
lawyer who is
“A Jew”
Black
Women filled the ballot boxes
With
common sense
And
dignity
Black
hands
Saved the
state
From the
shame of saying
through a
vote
What we
already know
That
children aren’t valued by Republicans
Not their
Health
Not their
safety
And neither
are women
But much
like the 53 percent of white women
Who voted
for trump
63
precent of white women
who voted
for Roy
They
think that their proximity
To white
males will save them
Proximity
to an oppressor is never safe
Black
women have always known that
Last
night we saved you
Like we
did when your husbands
Raped us
as slaves
To
preserve your innocence
Like we
did when we fed your babies
From our
Breast
To
preserve your bodies
Cleaned
your homes
Cooked
your food
Had our
beauty
Creativity
Joy
Appropriated
To
preserve your lack
We saved
you from yourself
And we
only receive more
Disrespect
We taught
you how to fight
Women’s
lib birthed from our
Tenacity
Our
resilience
But never
meant to open doors for us too
You break
the ceilings
We are
just supposed to sweep up the shards
We won’t
get a thank you
From
Alabama
We
haven’t gotten one from this nation
That we
made great
the
moment our feet
Touched
the soil
The
moment we knew we could survive
It’s
deplorable hatred and violence
We have
given you our men
Our
children
Ourselves
Have
given birth to the souls
That have
shaped this country
Built
this country
Illuminated
this country
With our
magic
And
received in return
Hate,
warm on our face
Like spit
from your mouth
Last
night in Alabama
Black
Women saved y’all
Like we
have done
Infinitely
We won’t
hold our breath
For your
appreciation
We
already know it’s not coming
You’ll
pat each other on the back
Shake
hands
Put
Taylor Swift on the cover of Time
Instead
of Tarana Burke
Call it a
“democratic victory”
When it
was really
Just
another moment of
#BlackGirlMagic
#trustBlackWomen
#FistAndFire
__________________________________________________
NOTE: To read more poems by Lesle' Honore' you may purchase her new book, Fist And Fire, at Blurb or on Amazon.com. Mine's already on the way.
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