HUSH HUSH HUSH

emoney, 9th - Oakland, CA
My mind swirled as it filled with questions. “Grandma did you live there?” “Did my dad live there?” “Hush now child” said my Grandma as she tucked me into bed. “Hush now child as I tell of our past. We were taken from our land stolen like jewels. Tucked into the bottom of ships. Maybe never to be returned.”

“What happened to the people Grandma, where did they go?”
“If you let me I will tell you through their story we will go. They swayed to and fro, with barely any food and water. They were chained like criminals but they hadn’t done anything wrong. And once they were finally taken out to see the light they were sold. Like pieces of paper we were passed around.”

“Grandma who would do this to us?”
“Bad people… sometimes people do things they don’t mean, they do them because they think they have too, they do them because they don’t understand. They didn’t understand the hard working nature of our culture so they decided to take advantage of that. They made us their slaves and forced us to work.”

“Grandma why did they hurt us… why did they hate us?”
“Child, they hurt us because they were hurt themselves. They didn’t know how to handle it so they hurt other people. They didn’t hate us. They just didn’t understand us. We were different and they didn’t like that so they decided to take us. Because they figured we would change if we were surrounded by their culture.”

“Did we change Grandma?”
“Yes child we did. We worked harder than we did before. But we changed. Our culture stayed with us but it was changed too. We prayed to God for freedom for deliverance from these men but it seemed God didn’t hear our prayers. We kept waiting and waiting but it seemed freedom never came. Some people stopped trusting the lord. They started believing that they were worth nothing but a slave that they were born into this world to pick cotton. But we are so much more.  You my child will be so much more. You’ll be my Doctor or my Lawyer you’ll be my pride you’ll be our future. You are so much more than a slave on a plantation. You are hardworking you’ll prove these people wrong. You my child are the greatest jewel in the world.”