Dear Colonizer,
So now you’re rewriting history…again…to say that we as Africans actually sold our own people into slavery? So, now you’re not to blame for transatlantic slave trading?
Colonizer, please!
Of course we as Africans sold prisoners of war to you. We were not the first to do so. But, what you fail to own is that once our ancestors realized the brutality of what you were doing…because America’s system of slavery was unique in the world and based solely on race and was brutal and very sexually and economically violent and inescapable…we refused to continue doing business with you.
And when we refused to supply you with free labor…you supplied our enemies with weapons to attack us, thus punishing the unwilling middle man. You then robbed his land, only after kidnapping his children, raping his women and plundering his natural resources.
And you have the audacity to call us savage!
Colonizer, please!
And to show the shamelessness commitment to your own god called greed and power, you raped and stole, and beat and sold innocent people. You lied and brutalized in the name of my God of love.
And you had the audacity to call us pagan!
You had already proven that raping innocent people was not beneath you. But, you stooped to a new low when you raped and manipulated the gospel and created and nurtured bastard children called white privilege and American exceptionalism.
Whore, please!
Hypocrite, please!
Colonizer, please!
And now you want to just let bygones be bygones without meaningful conversation about real history, justice or reparations.
As if the past no longer matters…as if there’s no connection between then and now.
Hmmm…So, let me get this straight. Four hundred years of systemic oppression has no relevance or detriment on today’s economic and political status of African Americans; but, 60 years of Affirmative Action has caused grown white men to cry in the streets:
“Blood and soil. We want our America back. Let’s make America great again!”
Weak men, please!
Scared men, please!
Colonizers, please!
Who hurt you, colonizer? Was it the Crown in Europe? Was it the State Church? The Pope? Is it the weight of self-imposed importance and worth? Was it the burden of the Doctrine of Discovery? I only ask because somebody must’ve really hurt you badly for you to have inflicted such pain on so many people. It must be hard to be you.
And because you were broken you thought you could…or should, break others. Break us. After 400 years you have discovered that the brokenness and weakness of your soul was not commensurate to the power and resilience of ours.
You talked about God…we talked to God…and vice versa!
And if now the “playing field” were truly even…as you suggest…and it’s not, colonizer! It wouldn’t have been because slavery didn’t matter. It would’ve been because Black lives, and Black excellence and Black faith and Black communities and Black resilience all matter!!
You thought we were down for the count, didn’t you colonizer? You thought we wouldn’t return to Mother? You thought Mother wouldn’t remember us?
You thought rape and chains and rope and home-wrecking would break us. It did break our hearts, but, never came close to breaking our spirits.
You launched every evil your puny sick minds could imagine, and we just kept multiplying in number, in faith and in resolve.
Didn’t you know we were kings and warriors when you stole us? Didn’t you know you were in for a fight, colonizer?
You walked us through the doors of no return, but guess what? We’ve returned!
You bathed us in the slave river and merchandized us with branding irons and separated us and distributed us like wares.
Guess what? Your brand has worn off and we now determine our own future.
You chained us like criminals and marched us like prisoners of war, and then stacked us in ships like cargo and sailed us far from home. And guess what? We’ve returned to Mother on turbo wings and in Business Class seating!
We nursed what-would-become America into statehood and into an international superpower the same way we nursed your white babies on our Black breasts…Because we were strong, because we knew how, and because we were forced.
And now you tell us to go back “home” if we don’t like the way things are handled in America. Well guess what? We were here standing here on what-would-become American soil when America was birthed. And in all likelihood, we were standing on what-would-become American soil…when most of you arrived. We were already speaking English when you arrived with foreign tongues.
We’ve been here 400 years since 1619…when did ya’ll arrive, colonizer?
We’re not strangers to America’s shores; we’re just estranged to her full benefits of citizenship!
You’ve questioned whether Black is beautiful? You’ve questioned whether Black lives matter? You’d better ask somebody…
You thought Africa was our shame? It was our pride…our strength. You should be so lucky to have been born in Africa!
You’ve had your say for the past 400 years. Listen now to what we’re about to say…
The best is yet to come! Mother’s children are reuniting!
And do we need your permission or blessing?
Colonizer, please!!