Tag: #fightracism

Unity in Diversity ©Dawn Minott

On By Dawn MinottIn Poetry19 Comments

Beforeword: The International Day of Remembrance of the Victims of Slavery and the Transatlantic Slave Trade commemorating those who perished due to slavery and endured the atrocities of the transatlantic slave trade. This day serves as a reminder to combat racism and prejudice by promoting awareness.

In the contrasting hue of pigmented skin
Or the distinctive curvature of full-contoured lips, rounded nose
Hair, a canvas for creative embrace
Expressions of self, a statement, a sign
Yet, in this diversity look deeper, see,
The person within, beyond what may be

Not just a hue, but a soul unveiled
For, when we truly see
Fake smiles crumble, true relations hailed
Names that deride and condemn disappear
Biases end, understanding stem

See beyond the surface, the color’s display
There’s more to a person than shades convey
In the spectrum of being, embrace unity
Seeing each other in all our profound diversity

2024 All Rights Reserved
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Photo credit: Unknown

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In creative solidarity, Dee

MAMA Africa© (for International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination)

On By Dawn MinottIn Poetry4 Comments

with graceful ease you gave your children life
from the deepest and loveliest part of you
you shaped and molded us into the strong and dark image of you
with your lush vegetation you adequately provided for us
you sheltered us from the sweltering sun
from the bowels of your soul came treasures untold
always, you make us strong—MAMA

******

then the foreigners came
greedy, conniving, violent, colonial powers came
trampling—too dark, they say, let in light
destroying—uncivilized, it’s their Christian duty to humanize
killing—like animals, trophy-hunted for the gaming
snatching—freedom stolen, for plantations of free labor
raping—black bodies assaulted, fulfilled their sexual desire

******

for hundreds of years
trampled
destroyed
killed
snatched
raped
but always, you make us strong— MAMA

******


and there you lie MAMA
open and barren
your treasures stolen
your body exploited
your children taken to far distant shores
their ancestry and identity stripped away
don’t you fear MAMA

******

your children are here

******

we endure—never silent!
we revolt—never silent!
we reclaim—never silent!
the blood of your children flows like river—MAMA

******

our cries ascend—never silent!
our tears descend—never silent!
freedom—never silent!
freedom is—never silent!
freedom is coming—never silent!
freedom is coming but that is just the beginning we can never never be silent
because always, you make us strong— MAMA

******


we’ve paid with our lives
whipped-lynched-shot
we’ve paid with our tears
raped-violated-humiliated
with our blood and our tears we reclaim
we reclaim you, MAMA
with our blood and our tears we reclaim our heritage, MAMA
for always, always you make us strong, MAMA

******

MAMA AFRICA

2024 ©Dawn Minott
All Rights Reserved
Photo credit: Unknown

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In creative solidarity, Dee

Lest We Forget ©️Dawn Minott |International Day for the Remembrance of the Transatlantic Slave Trade

On By Dawn MinottIn Poetry9 Comments
… enslaved Africans kept at this holding dungeon were taken through this door, loaded to ships and taken across the Atlantic never to see home again

Lest we forget:

Retraced ancestral path

Standing in the “door of no return”

The beauty of the vista before me obliterated

I see instead anguish of fore-parents

Shackled, stolen into slavery

“Ark of Return”—a sculpture commissioned by the United Nations to commemorate the end of slave trade (UN NY Headquarters) to coincide with the International Day of remembrance for the victims of slavery
2022 ©Dawn Minott All Rights Reserved

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In creative solidarity, Dee