mallamma
yeah a Comanche toda la la la la ooh la
la mama get a Comanche todo Malala moooo
Oh
the dead know everything they’ve been
there from the beginning they can
intervene in our lives so I visited the
spirits of the Dead that reside in
former slave dungeons at cape coast
castle in ghana to learn from them cape
coast castle is huge heavy this is where
captured and shackled proud Africans
were imprisoned for months until a ship
came to transport those who survived
across the Atlantic to plantations in
America I wanted to understand more
deeply the magnitude of the crime that
was committed by turning human beings
into a commodity every Monday and
Thursday in 2017 for four hours each
time over a period of five months i sat
in the dungeons each night before a
visit I did not eat brush my teeth bathe
or empty my bowels I tossed and turned
all night and could not sleep in the
morning I traveled to cape coast castle
and changed into clothes that i had not
washed in five months i smelled like
shit then I got shackled neck legs and
I dragged myself into dark damn holes
sometimes I took fruit and water for our
ancestors i sat buried scared waiting
for hours alone i converse with the
spirits ask questions who what when why
how I read them storybooks I took in
deep breaths to soak up the smell
pressed my back into the walls to
connect I wept i sank way way way way
way
not one person say it ha let me be my
enemy too many and so be a young pioneer
in so fi Ankara in Slough I am crabby be
[Music]
I missed my children numbed feet frozen
Botox tingly toes stiff neck wrists hazy
eyes growling stomach full bladder dead
vagina shackles ate my skin they
suffered much much longer i massaged the
cool bumpy damn floors caress the outer
covered walls there were human beings
and deserved to be loved I fed them ate
with them I danced rocked hugged
consoled them in Gilyard to make the
[Music]
dazed
and tongue-tied my children asked mama
what is wrong with you mama
talk to us touch us mama my body shut
down after the first two weeks insomnia
gum disease bronchitis high blood
pressure constipation urinary tract
infection menstrual disorder I was
losing my mind even the blacksmith did
not make my chuckles because the
chuckles haunt him my family said I
needed supervision and counseling
towards the midpoint of my visits my
head was smashed into a windshield in a
car accident I wanted to quit quit quit
but they were there continuously for
months in chuckles day and night they
did not have the choice to live like I
did how did five the long walks through
tunnels and wood how did they survive
the slave holes and the ground the red
hot branding iron what had they become
when they were dragged through the doors
of no return into the holds of ships to
a world of emptiness imagine tight
parking weeks on the roaring sea no
fresh air no lights
darkness menstrual blood flows vomit
ships
rampant diseases rape dehydration
starvation diarrhea the sick the dead
thrown into
see fit to sharks the composed dead
bodies no rights no goodbyes trauma gaps
I benefit from their suffering
sacrifices and death we all benefit so
no no I couldn’t quit I kept dragging
the shackles to the last day of my
scheduled visits
nobody knows there’s nobody knows
they’re true how did Sam survive what
had they become when they were dumped
onto plantations in the Americas what
scars did they have on their bodies
minds souls DNA’s lately I’ve been
wondering who are the descendants of
those enslaved Africans where are they
are they here what scars did they
inherit are they also shackled our own
people I think about my life in America
black female professor with a PhD
the stories by other faculty and staff
of color and the valued unfair
assessments invisible pigeon-holed alone
chased out I think about my daughter my
son and the daily aggressions they face
is the dungeon in me or am I in the
dungeon because sometimes I feel like a
do the circles
come off how are we going to deal with
the ghosts of slavery that continue to
shackle all of us when are we going to
start treating all humans equally with
dignity kindness mercy and love the dead
know everything it is up to us all of us
to discover the lessons they have left
da mata mata mata mata mata Mata male [Applause]
yeah a Comanche toda la la la la ooh la
la mama get a Comanche todo Malala moooo
Oh
the dead know everything they’ve been
there from the beginning they can
intervene in our lives so I visited the
spirits of the Dead that reside in
former slave dungeons at cape coast
castle in ghana to learn from them cape
coast castle is huge heavy this is where
captured and shackled proud Africans
were imprisoned for months until a ship
came to transport those who survived
across the Atlantic to plantations in
America I wanted to understand more
deeply the magnitude of the crime that
was committed by turning human beings
into a commodity every Monday and
Thursday in 2017 for four hours each
time over a period of five months i sat
in the dungeons each night before a
visit I did not eat brush my teeth bathe
or empty my bowels I tossed and turned
all night and could not sleep in the
morning I traveled to cape coast castle
and changed into clothes that i had not
washed in five months i smelled like
shit then I got shackled neck legs and
I dragged myself into dark damn holes
sometimes I took fruit and water for our
ancestors i sat buried scared waiting
for hours alone i converse with the
spirits ask questions who what when why
how I read them storybooks I took in
deep breaths to soak up the smell
pressed my back into the walls to
connect I wept i sank way way way way
way
not one person say it ha let me be my
enemy too many and so be a young pioneer
in so fi Ankara in Slough I am crabby be
[Music]
I missed my children numbed feet frozen
Botox tingly toes stiff neck wrists hazy
eyes growling stomach full bladder dead
vagina shackles ate my skin they
suffered much much longer i massaged the
cool bumpy damn floors caress the outer
covered walls there were human beings
and deserved to be loved I fed them ate
with them I danced rocked hugged
consoled them in Gilyard to make the
[Music]
dazed
and tongue-tied my children asked mama
what is wrong with you mama
talk to us touch us mama my body shut
down after the first two weeks insomnia
gum disease bronchitis high blood
pressure constipation urinary tract
infection menstrual disorder I was
losing my mind even the blacksmith did
not make my chuckles because the
chuckles haunt him my family said I
needed supervision and counseling
towards the midpoint of my visits my
head was smashed into a windshield in a
car accident I wanted to quit quit quit
but they were there continuously for
months in chuckles day and night they
did not have the choice to live like I
did how did five the long walks through
tunnels and wood how did they survive
the slave holes and the ground the red
hot branding iron what had they become
when they were dragged through the doors
of no return into the holds of ships to
a world of emptiness imagine tight
parking weeks on the roaring sea no
fresh air no lights
darkness menstrual blood flows vomit
ships
rampant diseases rape dehydration
starvation diarrhea the sick the dead
thrown into
see fit to sharks the composed dead
bodies no rights no goodbyes trauma gaps
I benefit from their suffering
sacrifices and death we all benefit so
no no I couldn’t quit I kept dragging
the shackles to the last day of my
scheduled visits
nobody knows there’s nobody knows
they’re true how did Sam survive what
had they become when they were dumped
onto plantations in the Americas what
scars did they have on their bodies
minds souls DNA’s lately I’ve been
wondering who are the descendants of
those enslaved Africans where are they
are they here what scars did they
inherit are they also shackled our own
people I think about my life in America
black female professor with a PhD
the stories by other faculty and staff
of color and the valued unfair
assessments invisible pigeon-holed alone
chased out I think about my daughter my
son and the daily aggressions they face
is the dungeon in me or am I in the
dungeon because sometimes I feel like a
do the circles
come off how are we going to deal with
the ghosts of slavery that continue to
shackle all of us when are we going to
start treating all humans equally with
dignity kindness mercy and love the dead
know everything it is up to us all of us
to discover the lessons they have left
da mata mata mata mata mata Mata male [Applause]
Please follow and like us: