Sunday, December 17, 2017

Last Week In Alabama

If you haven't been hiding in a cave somewhere, you know that two middle-aged White male politicians had a scuffle last Tuesday in Alabama and, inexplicably, the one who isn't a known pedophile won. Not by much, I must hasten to add, but won, nonetheless.

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
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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