The Mysteries of Life, the World, Prayer and Fortunes ~ Where, How and From Whom, Emancipation?
Today is Emancipation Day in Trinidad and Tobago, the celebration of the freedom of African peoples from slavery, so -called/ or just of a kind. But I ask, emancipation from which slavery? When did that occur? What are the signs and proof of that Emancipation? Is it in the way we treat, make way, support and uplift one another? Do we? or Don't?
From my personal record we are not emancipated; we have yet after all these hundreds of years to confer a full understanding of freedom/ definitely that s a human handicap but moreso for those who were colonized, shackled and robbed of ancestors, born land associated culture and mind. I assert that we are in fact more enslaved than before. For back then, we had the shackles to dissuade our delusions. This time. this year, we may have money, vehicles, status among pigs, positions amidst curs and parliamentary musical chairs as a cacophony of noise to mask the bitter truth.
Emancipation is absent a consciousness, the required awareness and knowledge when it is not even a dream far less reality. I know it is those that look like me who have harmed me, who have sought to restrict and remove my freedoms; who have sought to thwart my way, squash my reward, deny and reverse my preparations. It is those who look like me, non and unknown to family but kin carrying my maternal family name who have poisoned my food. I know it is those who look like me, who mistrust and misunderstand me; sought to scheme and rob me of the money they thought I had more than them/ theirs.
It is the child who looked like me who snatched Maria's bracelet from my right hand. It is those who look ike me who have refused to give me work and livelihood in the land of my birth. The folk, so-called who fought to give black people work in banks, who decreed never shall she work with us in this town. It is their sons who seek women who do not look like me or their mothers. What part of that is Emancipation? But I guess they think they ingratiated the right and authority to take over from massa, to design and decree who shall and who shall not. Ask Tracy.
Nevertheless, despite a long and winding story I can tell of Black folk, women and men in Trinidad and the Tobago, this morning's meditation emerged from my prayer and conversation to God and The HigHerSelf...I was beseeching the LadyLord for things: for my own comfort, for my own provisions. And then I realized, LadyLord, Have Your Way...thinking, I may want a home in grass land, in the forest green, to grow food, to be held, beheld, and groomed by nature, but perhaps it is elsewhere they want me, like in town, among the beasts, buildings and grime deceit of a city.
Then I thought of how I have observed provisions bestowed to others, by others. We are told to pray, to seek prayer for what we want, but I have seen and known how it is humans who make a way, say a word, tell a story, give a testimony, ask and beseech on the behalf of those they love and care. My mother asked her uncle to leave and will his house to the daughter who lived with him. The other is already married with her own fortunes chosen. That was provision provided and bestowed. Without praying. To anything or anyone outside of family who know stories, truths, realities, histories, affinities, their own lives and dynamics. And if those around and about you cant speak and intercede for you, then who?
That to me is Emancipation. Even if it is not a closed circle. For my mother was Emancipated enough to hold power. Use her influence. See a need. Keep her authority. Have a voice. And speak into being what should be/ to speak the interest of another, coming up behind her. For often if we stay silent any agenda is in intrained, fills a gap, or absence/ empty space will always be filled. By what, by whom, by whose interest, to what effect, to what outcome are the questions the mindful asks every minute of every day. That is politics of life making. The open side of the circle is that my cousin has yet, after more than time and despite her Orisa priesthood, her so-called education and exposure , history, mother, family affiliations, sense and propriety, to show up to thank my mother for paving her way. That is lack of Emancipation.
Stories like this weigh on my mind, make me to wonder what is this Emancipation about/ this holiday then in this land, when those who grew up steeped in the culture, formed of the culture, never left and know all the knicks, nooks and crannies of this northern east west corridor story, are the pillars of the celebratory cauldron, but miss the foundational libations, blessings, gratitutde and pourings and outpourings. Then it is just the art of poseur, masque and more costumed carnivalia, is it not? Both on the personal, and the public processional? For as I write, in silent background playing, depictions of some ritual on the Promenade with the pouring of ketchup and somehow i think - what a grave error and injustice out of tradition and made up waverings...if you pour libations to and for me, please do not come with anything manufactured, just of the earth's bounty and her creature's natural weavings. More proof of the staging of lies, ignorance and delusions that fool the masses of the ignorant; into scenes of what looks good, no character, no truth, holding no life nor water of birth.
And so I continue pondering, What is Emancipation, and celebrated by those who require, ask, seek and bitch to get emollient from the government. How is that not different from receiving an off day from Massa and the plantation and he giving the meats and treats for the field's night celebration> Where is the self direction? The Self Determination? And are we still bought and sold, on different blocks with Massa's money. This year, 2011, The Year of the Descendants of African People, 2. 4 Million? And still they need ask for more, a house, a center? From where and what have they done the Thirty one years or less, hence?
So you see my muse this Emancipation morning then? My flummox. My confusion. Where, How and From Whom, Emancipation? Clearly from what I see, it comes from the minds and hands of the righteous men and women/ Or is it that The Great One of the Unversals puts it in the hearts of these uprighted persons to act as they do? If so, then often enough it is absent, absconded, vacuous and treachery instead. The plan and life is to 'Make them feel they are free, the sheep, while we ever increase the shackles, pacifications and maladies of those asleep, incapable of seeing and thinking.
So you see then why Life, the World, Prayer and Fortunes are Mysteries? We are told and taught one thing, but I have seen fortunes made and destroyed by the men and women roaming the land, by their deeds, misdeeds and do-nothing, absent agency, another agenda is enacted. Whoever is out the gate, off the plantation, and not considered, loses; or those who are considered, but, thwarted. It all emerges from the minds, hearts and deeds of men/women/. Tell them to prayer and take their land is the famous African tenet.
Emancipation is left to the vagaries and differences within the minds, hearts and intentions of men and women/ It always has been: the love they have, were given or lost to, that they share or withhold, in bitterness or sweetness of fortunes. I only wonder of the karma, curses, protections, and shields that flow in between the spaces of those of us watching and witnessing.
Witnessing . Witnessing the lies and the aftermath. The wakes and the costs of the lies we are told, dead alive, dead asleep/ walking jumbies, waking demons, weeping douens of no eyes, the other three hundred sixty four days. to repeat again. Independence comes next (August 30).
The Mysteries of Life, the World, Prayer and Fortunes ~ Where, How and From Whom, Emancipation?
Today is Emancipation Day in Trinidad and Tobago, the celebration of the freedom of African peoples from slavery, so -called/ or just of a kind. But I ask, emancipation from which slavery? When did that occur? What are the signs and proof of that Emancipation? Is it in the way we treat, make way, support and uplift one another? Do we? or Don't?
From my personal record we are not emancipated; we have yet after all these hundreds of years to confer a full understanding of freedom/ definitely that s a human handicap but moreso for those who were colonized, shackled and robbed of ancestors, born land associated culture and mind. I assert that we are in fact more enslaved than before. For back then, we had the shackles to dissuade our delusions. This time. this year, we may have money, vehicles, status among pigs, positions amidst curs and parliamentary musical chairs as a cacophony of noise to mask the bitter truth.
Emancipation is absent a consciousness, the required awareness and knowledge when it is not even a dream far less reality. I know it is those that look like me who have harmed me, who have sought to restrict and remove my freedoms; who have sought to thwart my way, squash my reward, deny and reverse my preparations. It is those who look like me, non and unknown to family but kin carrying my maternal family name who have poisoned my food. I know it is those who look like me, who mistrust and misunderstand me; sought to scheme and rob me of the money they thought I had more than them/ theirs.
It is the child who looked like me who snatched Maria's bracelet from my right hand. It is those who look ike me who have refused to give me work and livelihood in the land of my birth. The folk, so-called who fought to give black people work in banks, who decreed never shall she work with us in this town. It is their sons who seek women who do not look like me or their mothers. What part of that is Emancipation? But I guess they think they ingratiated the right and authority to take over from massa, to design and decree who shall and who shall not. Ask Tracy.
Nevertheless, despite a long and winding story I can tell of Black folk, women and men in Trinidad and the Tobago, this morning's meditation emerged from my prayer and conversation to God and The HigHerSelf...I was beseeching the LadyLord for things: for my own comfort, for my own provisions. And then I realized, LadyLord, Have Your Way...thinking, I may want a home in grass land, in the forest green, to grow food, to be held, beheld, and groomed by nature, but perhaps it is elsewhere they want me, like in town, among the beasts, buildings and grime deceit of a city.
Then I thought of how I have observed provisions bestowed to others, by others. We are told to pray, to seek prayer for what we want, but I have seen and known how it is humans who make a way, say a word, tell a story, give a testimony, ask and beseech on the behalf of those they love and care. My mother asked her uncle to leave and will his house to the daughter who lived with him. The other is already married with her own fortunes chosen. That was provision provided and bestowed. Without praying. To anything or anyone outside of family who know stories, truths, realities, histories, affinities, their own lives and dynamics. And if those around and about you cant speak and intercede for you, then who?
That to me is Emancipation. Even if it is not a closed circle. For my mother was Emancipated enough to hold power. Use her influence. See a need. Keep her authority. Have a voice. And speak into being what should be/ to speak the interest of another, coming up behind her. For often if we stay silent any agenda is in intrained, fills a gap, or absence/ empty space will always be filled. By what, by whom, by whose interest, to what effect, to what outcome are the questions the mindful asks every minute of every day. That is politics of life making. The open side of the circle is that my cousin has yet, after more than time and despite her Orisa priesthood, her so-called education and exposure , history, mother, family affiliations, sense and propriety, to show up to thank my mother for paving her way. That is lack of Emancipation.
Stories like this weigh on my mind, make me to wonder what is this Emancipation about/ this holiday then in this land, when those who grew up steeped in the culture, formed of the culture, never left and know all the knicks, nooks and crannies of this northern east west corridor story, are the pillars of the celebratory cauldron, but miss the foundational libations, blessings, gratitutde and pourings and outpourings. Then it is just the art of poseur, masque and more costumed carnivalia, is it not? Both on the personal, and the public processional? For as I write, in silent background playing, depictions of some ritual on the Promenade with the pouring of ketchup and somehow i think - what a grave error and injustice out of tradition and made up waverings...if you pour libations to and for me, please do not come with anything manufactured, just of the earth's bounty and her creature's natural weavings. More proof of the staging of lies, ignorance and delusions that fool the masses of the ignorant; into scenes of what looks good, no character, no truth, holding no life nor water of birth.
And so I continue pondering, What is Emancipation, and celebrated by those who require, ask, seek and bitch to get emollient from the government. How is that not different from receiving an off day from Massa and the plantation and he giving the meats and treats for the field's night celebration> Where is the self direction? The Self Determination? And are we still bought and sold, on different blocks with Massa's money. This year, 2011, The Year of the Descendants of African People, 2. 4 Million? And still they need ask for more, a house, a center? From where and what have they done the Thirty one years or less, hence?
So you see my muse this Emancipation morning then? My flummox. My confusion. Where, How and From Whom, Emancipation? Clearly from what I see, it comes from the minds and hands of the righteous men and women/ Or is it that The Great One of the Unversals puts it in the hearts of these uprighted persons to act as they do? If so, then often enough it is absent, absconded, vacuous and treachery instead. The plan and life is to 'Make them feel they are free, the sheep, while we ever increase the shackles, pacifications and maladies of those asleep, incapable of seeing and thinking.
So you see then why Life, the World, Prayer and Fortunes are Mysteries? We are told and taught one thing, but I have seen fortunes made and destroyed by the men and women roaming the land, by their deeds, misdeeds and do-nothing, absent agency, another agenda is enacted. Whoever is out the gate, off the plantation, and not considered, loses; or those who are considered, but, thwarted. It all emerges from the minds, hearts and deeds of men/women/. Tell them to prayer and take their land is the famous African tenet.
Emancipation is left to the vagaries and differences within the minds, hearts and intentions of men and women/ It always has been: the love they have, were given or lost to, that they share or withhold, in bitterness or sweetness of fortunes. I only wonder of the karma, curses, protections, and shields that flow in between the spaces of those of us watching and witnessing.
Witnessing . Witnessing the lies and the aftermath. The wakes and the costs of the lies we are told, dead alive, dead asleep/ walking jumbies, waking demons, weeping douens of no eyes, the other three hundred sixty four days. to repeat again. Independence comes next (August 30).
The Mysteries of Life, the World, Prayer and Fortunes ~ Where, How and From Whom, Emancipation?
"Emancipation is absent a consciousness, the required awareness and knowledge when it is not even a dream far less reality. I know it is those that look like me who have harmed me, who have sought to restrict and remove my freedoms; who have sought to thwart my way, squash my reward, deny and reverse my preparations"....I think this because many of us emancipated West Indians/Caribbean people are more colonial in thinking than the colonials themselves. You make very valid points in this writing. I think that we need to tell ourstory ourselves. Bless up...One Love
ReplyDeleteThanks Kaya!!! I agree. Tell our own stories!!
ReplyDelete