Skip to main content

Intention

What fuels the hubris of racism 
other than the people's refusal 
to confront the intentional history
of crafting the white supremacy lie? 

The lies of the colonizers became
the constructed sins of the nation 
as they were crafted with the intention 
of being an expanding yoke of injustice. 

The yoke's intentional lies produce
absurd but commonly accepted untruths 
fostering actions, both committed and omitted,
of reinforced oppression, privilege, and shame.

Instead of aspiring for justice, 
the dominant group ignores calls
for resolution and dismissively bequeaths
the unjust yoke to the intentions of tomorrow.

The weight of yesteryear's enshrined sin
is today's burden of lived experience
until you give intention to the heavy lifting
required to dismantle the lies supporting the yoke.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

New Site

  To read the latest on Leslye's Labyrinth, visit http://bit.ly/leslyeslabyrinth

The Intersections of Who I Am

I am a human being born and living on the planet earth. That is the most general description of who I am and in this moment it applies to more than six billion others. However, there are so many descriptors, terms and experiences that shape how I perceive the world around me, and how others perceive me.  My family has lived on land referred to as Turtle Island by the First Nations for 400 years. Where I live was once the land of the Muscogee Creek. My first African ancestors arrived against their will as cargo on what is now known as the United States of America.  I am also the descendent of people from the European continent, specifically England and Germany.  Because of the sacrifice and struggles of others, I live as a citizen of the United States. I am the descendent of people primarily from the African continent with no ancestral memory of the tribes or nations. Somehow, they managed to survive the Middle Passage, chattel slavery, and Jim Crow.   My grandpa...

Come to the Table

For more than a decade, I have used social media to share experiences and feelings of myself and others on a number of issues including white supremacy and racial justice. Some of you who benefit from white body privilege have taken offense.  The history of Alabama, the USA, and Western Civilization taught in our schools is from the perspective of "the winners." The people who inhabited this land when Europeans arrived were already living in right relationship with the Divine and creation, and were not savages. My ancestors were not happy to be kidnapped, thrown into the bottom of ships as human cargo, sold into slavery, and denied their God-given dignity. The continuing murders of innocent African-Americans, and the health disparities reflected in the impact of Covid-19 speak volumes. At this moment the Navajo Nation has the highest number of cases per capita than anywhere else. During this pandemic, what is happening to the children who are detained at the southern bord...