Justice in Action ©Dawn Minott |International Day of Remembrance of the Victims of Slavery & The Transatlantic Slave Trade [March 25]

Beforeword: Each year on March 25 the UN recognizes “International Day of Remembrance of the Victims of Slavery & the Transatlantic Slave Trade”. This year’s theme, Justice in Action, calls on the global community to confront this history with honesty and to acknowledge its enduring impact. This is my tribute poem.

On this day we name the past, refuse to turn away
A brutal, shameful history we’re called to face today
Not only grief, but action too must rise from what we see
For echoes of that suffering still shape humanity

Across the seas, in chains they bore what none should have to bear
A system built on stolen lives, on violence and despair
It carved the lines of race we know, still visible and deep
A legacy of injustice the present world must keep

This day is not just memory, not bound to what has been
It lives within our current fight, in systems still unseen
To remember is to challenge all that remains that’s wrong
To raise our voices, stand aligned, unyielding, firm, and strong

We honor those who suffered, those who dared resist
By working toward a world where equity and equality exist
Let justice be our answer, let truth our guiding light
Remembering the past to confront, and racism to fight

Afterword: The transatlantic trade in enslaved Africans was one of the gravest crimes in history. Millions of men, women and children were violently taken from their homes, denied their humanity and forced to endure generations of exploitation. The racist ideologies that justified this crime became embedded in institutions and societies, shaping inequalities that continue today.

Other commemoration poems: 

2026 All Rights Reserved

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In creative solidarity, Dee

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

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

Free At Last©Dawn Minott

This marks the anniversary of Africans in America 400 plus 5 years
Let the story be told in full of ancestral lineage—Kings and Queens till slavery interferes

August of 1619 the record declares: “20 and odd” Africans kidnapped, sold, stripped of their rights
Forced-exile, from African land, so began resistance fight

Let this be clear—1619, that is America’s true founding
The greatest story, never told, its truth is now unfolding

The treatment of enslaved Africans divided this nation
North versus South, civil war gained only partial emancipation

Enslaved people “shall then, thenceforward, and forever be free”
But, this long awaited proclamation didn’t free all from slavery

Freedom road paved with hard-won gains broke Galveston’s stronghold
“Jubilee Day” birthed Juneteenth—African American holiday to nationally behold

Decades of slavery’s brutality bred a racist legacy
The reconstruction period fueled white supremacy

First there were 13 then 15 constitutional amendments made
Slavery’s official end and partial voting rights were gained

As African Americans won elections to ascend to seats of power
So did terrorism to intimidate, to suppress, and disempower

Jim-crow, segregation, separate but equal under law
Pursuit of education was self-improvement path foresaw

Or should they return to Africa build a country of their own?
Garvey’s Black Star Line ideas eventually overthrown

No—Stay! Fight! Determined! Resolute resistance!
Writers wield pen’s might to stir cultural renaissance

Freedom rides, sit ins, marches all demonstrating 
“If we must die let it not be like hogs”, Claude McKay’s mantra resonating

From Tubman’s Underground Railway created to be free
To Malcom’s inspired Black Power movement for justice and equality

LISTEN … Say their names together:
Rodney. Ahmaud. Breonna. George. And so many others

The clarion call; Black Lives Matter—
Time to end violence against our sisters and our brothers

Starting the marathon for a political seat at the table too
Shirley Chisholm runs for President in 1972

Jesse Jackson, he picked up the mantle in 1984
The power of the black vote galvanized and opened wide the door

In comes Barack Obama, first Black President elected in 20-0-9
Next Kamala Harris, Black and woman Vice President—for the very first time

It’s been centuries after centuries fighting always to restore
Our rightful place as Kings, Queens, Prince, Princesses like ancestors before

No tide of racism is high enough to impede rights-based education
Black history now a critical theory in schools’ curriculum foundation

Martin Luther the King of nonviolent civil action
Let it be known—our collective strength emerged to shape the identity of this nation

“Surely been rebuked, surely been scorned
But still my soul is-a heaven-born

If you don’t know that I been redeemed
Just follow me down to Jordan’s stream”

This is what it’s all about —
Echoes of liberation we will shout:

Free at last! Free at last!
Thank God Almighty, we are free at last!


2024 All Rights Reserved

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In creative solidarity, Dee

Education Power @Dawn Minott |International Day of Remembrance of the Victims of Slavery and the Transatlantic Slave Trade (25 March)

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

Slavery
Transatlantic Trade
Families …
torn away
Millions deprived, trauma …
generations span

Prejudice
Harmful norms live on
Impact then …
continues …
today, racist legacy …
reverberating

See the world …
through ethical lens
Status quo …
transforming
Education needed, to …
end injustice now

Afterword: A Shadorma (3/5/3/3/7/5) series to commemorate this year’s theme for the international: “Fighting Slavery’s Legacy of Racism Through Transformative Education.”

My 2020 commemoration poem: Mamma Africa

My 2021 commemoration poem: Lest We Forget

My 2023 commemoration poem: Free At Last

2023 All Rights Reserved

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In creative solidarity, Dee

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

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

Like what you see? To never miss a post click HERE👈 to subscribe & follow the blog. I love hearing from you, so remember to “like” & comment. For more content start HERE👈

In creative solidarity, Dee