Transcription: People of a Darker Hue, 2016
I turn westward in shadows hoping my river will cross yours in passing. Baptizing of morning light walking us away from reserved spaces.
[Paul Robeson] I am today giving up my concerts for two or three years to enter into this struggle at a very...it’s what I call getting into the rank and file struggle of my people for full citizenship in these United States. So I won’t be singing except for the right to my people for the next couple of years. No pretty songs gentleman, no pretty songs. Time for some full citizenship.
Understandable, the attempt of the enemy was to cut off the progressive people from the great masses of the Americans. In my own case it was to cut me off from the Negro people from whom I was born. Imagine, somewhere somebody says, I born a Negro, that because of my beliefs, my fight for peace, my fight for friendship between nations, my fight for the complete liberation of my people, that somewhere I am not an American. That I should be cut off from the very people from whom I was born.
I give permission for the slow spring rain to soak the violet beds. Dark clouds on its grief. The wind, it blows furiously, and tears burst from sky to significance of your majesty upon love and those you love from a web of joy through industry winding time space bred back into craft. You’ve held your head high. Silk, in such a way that flows, grand example, love.
Always Stopped, Always Charged
The man was rejected, the woman was denied, time and time again. They were always stopped, always charged, always convicted. The numbers tell the story. She was twenty-five. He was twenty-two. She was thirty-one. He was twenty-five. She was thirty-four. He was thirty-seven. He was twenty-seven. He was twelve. He was eighteen. She was nine. She was forty-one. He was thirty-nine. He was twelve. He was thirty-seven. He was twenty-four.
Imagine
She was a mother, a sister, a daughter, a wife, a mother, a child. He was a father, a brother, an uncle, a cousin, a son, a child. He was thirty-seven. He was twenty-one. He was thirty-one. He was eighteen. He was twelve. He was fourteen. He was seventeen. He was eighteen. She was twenty-one. She was twenty-two. She was thirty-seven. She was eighteen. He was a father, a husband, a brother, an uncle, a cousin, a son, a child, a friend. A wife, a mother, a sister, a friend, a child.
[Diamond Reynolds] He was trying to get out his ID, and his wallet, out his, um, out his pocket, and the officer just shot him in his arm. We’re waiting for—[Jeronimo Yanez, police officer] KEEP YOUR HANDS ON THE WHEEL —I will sir, no worries—FUCK—he just shot his arm off—I TOLD HIM NOT TO REACH FOR IT. I TOLD HIM TO GET HIS HAND OUT—You told him to get his ID, sir, his driver’s license. Oh my God, please don’t tell me he’s dead. Please don’t tell me my boyfriend just went like that. Yes, I will sir. I’ll keep my hands where they are. Please don’t tell me this Lord. Please Jesus don’t tell me that he’s gone. Please don’t tell me that he’s gone. Please officer, don’t tell me that you just did this
They were no strangers to sorrow. Time and time again, the man was rejected, the woman was denied. A man was killed, the body laid in the open, uncovered and exposed. Women wailed and men moaned. For reasons unknown, I saw him running. I saw him stop. I saw him turn with raised hands. I heard a shot. I saw him fall. For reasons unknown, I rejected my own knowledge and I deceived myself by refusing to believe that this was possible.
Commemorating all of the fallen, and all those who have endured. Commemorating every black man who lives to see age twenty-one. Commemorating Trayvon Martin, Michael Brown, Eric Garner. Commemorating Tamir Rice, Freddie Gray, Sandra Bland. Commemorating Christian Taylor, Samuel DuBose, Walter Scott. Commemorating Tony Robinson, Phillip White, Jerome Reid. Commemorating Tanisha Anderson, John Crawford, Dante Parker. Commemorating Damien Howard, Thomas Allen, and Ezell Ford. Commemorating Jeremy Lett, Lavall Hall, Bobby Gross. Commemorating Brendon Glenn, Frank Shephard, William Chapman. Commemorating David Felix, Spencer McCain, Darrius Stewart. Commemorating Alton Sterling, Philando Castile, and all of the Emanuel Nine who gave their lives. Commemorating each and every one of them. Commemorating you, commemorating us, commemorating all of those who have the ability to endure. Commemorating every black man who lives to see age twenty-one.