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by Anthony Robinson Jr.
The cherry blossoms with a bullet in its pit because its
roots have been watered by the muffled screams of slaves
hanging from its branches … A child plants a prayer in the
garden of his mother’s mind next to his father’s broken dreams;
she raises him on bitter milk and cold cereal: a meal she deems
fitting to prepare him for the world. I sometimes wonder if
Trayvon Martin and Oscar Grant are in heaven writing an epistle
to the people on the same bullet? I imagine it would read:
“To the Black and minority people of revolutionary merit,
our communities have become the death blossoms
that the power structure in America uses as rationalizations
to parade its paramilitary and institutionalized
mass incarcerating agendas to wipe out a colorless class …
Colorless in regards to any political hue that would give
us the power to paint our visions with the vibrant expressions
of self-determination to act in our communities and in the
world as productive contributors to the will of humanity.
Remember, our lives were taken with the consent of state
sanctioned jurisprudence under the watch of a Black president.
We wanted our lives to be more than a few sad songs and photographs
pasted onto the collective subconscious of the American people.
We see the true people of merit organizing, protesting, marching …
We’ve tuned in so much to the rhythms of the people’s heart
for change that we threw a concert in heaven so that we could
watch the angels dance.
Some of them hadn’t cut up in a while.
We are tired of dancing, but we’re noticing that the
music is getting louder. Please, don’t let them stop
the music; now it seems we can’t rest without it.
Sincerely, Trayvon and Oscar”
The cherry blossoms fall from their stems
willingly in order to be free of the noose.
Falling with the determined strength to live free,
they plunge into the soil similar to slaves overboard cargo
ships plunging into the ocean with the purest memory of
freedom in their hearts …
Black and minority people have been pitted against so
many antagonisms and contradictions that it is hard
for us to recognize the value of our seed.
Maybe it is more important for us to remember the source
from which our water is gathered: inner strengths like love,
faith and determination …
Yes! We are proudly recognizing that we are strange fruit in
America; strange because once we blossom into the people we
are meant to be, only God will recognize our names …
Send our brother some love and light: Anthony Robinson Jr., P-67144, TCCF MC-67, 415 US Hwy 49 North, Tutwiler, MS 38963.
