Freedom: a Poem for Juneteenth
“The people of Texas are informed that in accordance with a Proclamation from the Executive of the United States, all slaves are free. This involves an absolute equality of rights and rights of property between former masters and slaves, and the connection heretofore existing between them becomes that between employer and hired labor.” - Gordon Granger, Union General, June 19, 1865
An editorial in The Cincinnati Enquirer published days after the surrender read:
“Slavery is dead. The negro is not; there is our misfortune.”
Set me free and rescue me
from foreigners
whose mouths speak lies,
whose right hands are deceptive.
Then our sons will be like plants
nurtured in their youth,
our daughters, like corner pillars
that are carved in the palace style.
Our storehouses will be full,
supplying all kinds of produce;
our flocks will increase by thousands
and tens of thousands in our open fields.
Our cattle will be well fed.
There will be no breach in the walls,
no going into captivity,
and no cry of lament in our public squares.
Happy are the people with such blessings.
Happy are the people whose God is the Lord. Psalm 144:11-15
When they ask us
Where freedom is found
I’ll tell them -
Not always where you expect
Sometimes it’s found
sailing under starless skies
over treacherous waters
into the mouth of a shark
where you will live as stolen and abused people
raising children without knowing if you will still have them tomorrow
or if they will be sold away
or worse
it’s having no autonomy over your body or your choices or your time
but all the while,
having hope
Hope in a God who says you are His
And it’s He who makes us free
When they ask us
what freedom is
Let’s tell them-
it is never surrendering
never just surviving
but striving
toward the future
and inheritance we will leave to our children
and grandchildren
an inheritance of dignity
of beauty
of faith
and strength
Its leaving a legacy of growth amidst grief
of joy amidst sorrow
of self-respect amidst degradation and
perseverance in the face of powerful opposition
When they ask us
how we made it over
we won’t speak only of scars and stolen pride
we won’t speak only of decimated cultures and genocide
we won’t only tell them of chattel slavery and wicked laws
of auctions and atrocities
of fear and fury
of pain and peril
of ripped muscle and cracked bones
of broken teeth and broken souls
No, we won’t only speak of how even now, we have to contort ourselves
to please and codeswitch conform in one place
and then conform again in another
control hair, and speech, and culture so as to be
employable and please those who have the power in
uniforms and board rooms
until, by the time we get home, we can’t remember who we are
NO, When they ask us how we made it over
we will lift our hands-
not in surrender
not at any ones demand-
but in praise
in joy
and in laughter
and we will open our mouths
and say-
that when the men carried to us the news of the end of slavery
we knew it wasn’t really the end
for centuries of injustice will not be undone overnight
but we didn’t need man to give us any victory because
our souls were always free
Freedom is defined as The state of liberty that results from not being oppressed or in bondage.
and this doesn’t just happen physically
but mentally
Because evil creates strongholds, creates scars,
creates layers on layers
of generational burdens for the future to carry
and with time
and the transformative power of Christ-
to lay down.
Look around-
Redemption has not yet fully come.
and yet, we celebrate
not because we’re fully free in this reality, for mass incarceration, mass indoctrination,
poverty felt in pockets and souls, communities of brokenness and people searching for relief
in drugs and drinks
testify that we are not yet fully free.
but
we are not where we used to be
we-
broken pieces of stained glass artistry
and that’s worthy of celebration
We are a people who refuse to let history’s past be a
deadly weapon aimed at our tomorrows
See,
We live between two worlds
live in the in-between of parted seas
not free on one side
and free as the wind on the other
Baldwin once said “people are as free as they want to be”
See Freedom will never be given by those who benefit from withholding it
It must be claimed. Through persistence and hope and action and love
The truth is,
while freedom can be concealed and temporarily repealed
it can never be fully defeated
Not when we continue to serve
a savior who is seated
on the throne
It is he who fights for us
He who reigns victorious
and THIS is the inheritance I will leave my children
and my children’s children
That a people whose God is the Lord
will always be free