Black Roses Chapter 1

I

1. The waters washed upon the shore

2. and gave life

3. and gave death

4. and brought slavery

5. and brought murder

6. and brought Spaniards

7. and brought Portuguese

8. and brought Englishman

9. and brought French

10. and brought oppression

11. fear

12. &

13. death

14. These things we remember

15. as we think/dream

16. about the past

17. The future and the present

18. all rolled up in one

19. a spectre haunts us

20. as we join forces to

21. destroy it

22. the freedom called free enterprise that

23. is anything but free

24. it sold men for rum

25. it killed whales

26. it burned up soil

27. with the seed of cotton

28. it broke the backs of

29. men for tobacco, sugar

30. and wealth

31. men lost their lives

32. and their legs

33. to the shark

34. for the trade

35. the trade in human flesh

36. You have to make a slave

37. men are born free

38. women are born free

39. You have made a slave

40. first you have to catch him

41. then bind him and

42. hold him fast

43. you must teach him fear

44. You must make him non

45. human

46. He must hear the cries

47. of women being soiled

48. his women, his daughters

49. his wives and his

50. tribesmen

51. She must see her children

52. cry

53. She must see her life taken

54. She must witness the killing

55. She must kill herself

56. and her own

57. You have to make a slave

58. and the waters rolled on

59. There was the fort they took you

60. to

61. It was the port death

62. and slavery

63. Someone tried to escape

64. he was shot

65. The chains tie us together

66. The chains and endless line

67. of chains pulling an

68. endless line of people

69. Kunte Kinte ‘s move on and on

70. and endless line of men and

71. women ,caught, trapped

72. enslaved in trade

73. a bad trade

74. a evil business

75. a evil called capitalism

76. they trapped and tricked

77. They came in groups

78. They hid in bushes and groves

79. They came for men walking

80. free

81. They came for men already

82. in chains

83. They took tribute from

84. some chiefs

85. They captured Kings from

86. other tribes

87. They took the slave trader too

88. if his skin was black

89. Watch yourself!

90. for the rum might be too good

91. Slavery weakened Africa

92. Slavery hurt the black skinned man

93. Slavery hurt the African spirit

94. Slavery across the Sahara

95. for Arabian Princes

96. Slavery across the Mediterranean

97. to satisfy the desire of

98. Rome

99. Slavery when the Hysko invaders

100. came to Africa

101. Slavery when Ethiopia is left

102. standing surrounded and alone

103. slavery when the great city

104. of Timbuctu becomes a

105. small and desolate place

106. the scholars are gone

107. The university is gone

108. Things are stolen because

109. of slavery

110. Things don’t grow

111. because of slavery

112. the trade saps the

113. life of many, any and

114. all

115. The ships sailed

116. the waters rolled

117. on

118. Men must be made

119. into slaves

120. women are born free

121. Row upon row

122. body to body

123. chain to chain

124. barely enough room to

125. move one’s head

126. no room to turn yr

127. body. fit snug like

128. sardines lined in a

129. can.

130. layer upon layer

131. stack upon stack

132. shelved upon shelves

133. Wallow in the stench of your

134. own feces. No polite

135. bathrooms, No hygiene

136. No baths and no showers

137. The vomit flys from men’s mouths

138. The urine

139. flows from a woman’s

140. vagina

141. The wood is porous with

142. stench . it absorbs it

143. and clings to the putrid

144. odor

145. The stink is as strong as the

146. chains that bind the slave

147. Chattel like cattle

148. is chattel real

149. for the blackman was chattel

150. by law

151. The boat rocks

152. one man dies

153. The boat rocks

154. one man kills another

155. The boat rocks

156. one woman smothers her

157. child

158. the boat rocks

159. one woman has her

160. child taken away

161. the boat rocks

162. the seaman pulls the

163. chain to harness the slaves

164. the boat rocks

165. a woman is raped

166. the boat rocks

167. a dead man is thrown

168. overboard

169. the boat rocks

170. The sharks follow the

171. ship

172. for fresh meat

173. pleases them

174. the boat rocks

175. the boat rocks

176. the boat rocks