"For a used-to-be-slave woman to love anything that much was dangerous, especially if it was her children she had settled on to love. The best thing, she knew, was to love just a little bit; everything, just a little bit, so when they broke its back, or shoved it in a croaker sack, well, maybe you'd have a little love left over for the next one"
“What she called the nastiness of life was the shock she received upon learning that nobody stopped playing checkers just because the pieces included her children.”
"Anybody white could take your whole self for anything that came to mind. Not just work, kill, or maim you, but dirty you. Dirty you so bad you couldn't like yourself anymore. And though she and others lived through and got over it, she could never let it happen to her own. The best things she was, was her children. Whites might dirty her all right, but not her best thing, her beautiful, magical best thing -- the part of her that was clean."
(some quotes from my all time favourite novel Beloved by Toni Morrison. Its about a mother, her Beloved children and the cost of not being able to own your own body, soul or even the love in your heart...)
“What she called the nastiness of life was the shock she received upon learning that nobody stopped playing checkers just because the pieces included her children.”
"Anybody white could take your whole self for anything that came to mind. Not just work, kill, or maim you, but dirty you. Dirty you so bad you couldn't like yourself anymore. And though she and others lived through and got over it, she could never let it happen to her own. The best things she was, was her children. Whites might dirty her all right, but not her best thing, her beautiful, magical best thing -- the part of her that was clean."
(some quotes from my all time favourite novel Beloved by Toni Morrison. Its about a mother, her Beloved children and the cost of not being able to own your own body, soul or even the love in your heart...)
(click to enlarge)"The Middle Passage refers to the forcible passage of African people from Africa to the New World, as part of the Atlantic slave trade. Ships departed Europe for African markets with commercial goods, which were in turn traded for kidnapped Africans who were transported across the Atlantic as slaves; the enslaved Africans were then sold or traded as commodities for raw materials."
"The voyage itself took between 6 and 8 weeks. The enslaved Africans were chained together by the hand and the foot, and packed into the smallest places where there was barely enough room to lie on one’s side. It was here that they ate, slept, urinated, defecated, gave birth, went insane and died. They had no idea where they were going, or what was going to happening to them. "
(altho i seriously want to scream and gag when i see this "blueprint" that was actually used to destroy and exploit many Africans in the 18th Century, i know its reality...i acknowledge that this happend, that lives were brutalized and torn apart and can't wait to one day be in heaven with those who were damaged by the vile acts of enslavement to proclaim God's victory over all evil...even the ultimate evil of slavery...i can only imagine and weep over the pain God has had to go through watching His people suffer the most devastating, inhumane injustices at the hands of corrupted humans He created, even those justifying their actions with their so called faith in the Bible...)
Lord,
somehow, make us clean again... for evil begins with a small whisper of jealousy, of spite, of bitterness... and it grows and grows and we are made monsters to our own selves. O Jesus, save us from ourselves and make us but little spirit-mirrors, reflecting Your truth, beauty, grace and love...
Wash us and cleanse us in the ultimate purifyer, Your Son's sacred blood. Let it flow! Let it flow!
hallelujah, amen.
Was this in one of your books for school? So sad =(.
ReplyDelete