By Candice Manning
Genesis 15:13-14 And he said unto Abram, Know of a surety that thy seed shall be a stranger in a land that is not theirs, and shall serve them; and they shall afflict them four hundred years; And also that nation, whom they shall serve, will I judge.
Free! Juneteenth! We’re Free!!!
Yea, um,
Not totally, or exactly
But, I will not neglect to rejoice
In how far that the LORD has brought me
How far that He has brought us
As a community
We have been purchased and redeemed
With Christ’s precious blood
Free me! Yes, give us free!
It’s 1870 something
And the slaves are “free”
Free to do what?
Free to live in misery and poverty
Free to live under no protection
Of the law
All these edicts and declarations
Do declare
FALSELY
Free to be oppressed, segregated
Free to be treated brutally
By the rulers
And their police
Free to roam a land
Soul left wandering
In a land that was never meant for me
A land in which we never asked to be
It’s 1870 something
As I write, it’s 2020
Free to be lynched
Free to be unarmed and shot down by police
Free to be hung up in a tree
Free to be labeled
As crazy
Really, no suicide for me
Free! Juneteenth, we’re free!
Again, free to live in poverty
Free to live under false well wishes
“Pull yourself up by your own boot straps”
But where are the boots for me?
I could certainly make my own boots
If I had the instructions
If you’d please allow me
To learn to read
Where’s my 40 acres? Where’s my mule?
Where are the other incentives
Granted to the other immigrants
From Ireland and Scotland
Is there no land for me?
To build
To build our own businesses?
Has not our free labor
Laid the foundation
For this entire economy?
Yea, the Freedmen’s Bank
It failed
Why? Because we are not free
If we are not free
How can such a bank be?
There is no equality
In this land of the free
Yea, nobody loaned us anything
Well, yea, now with a 47% interest rate
That compounds daily
Preying upon black people like me
And the black oppressed community
Deeper and deeper into debt
Caught in an unrighteous net
Build a deeper hole for yourself
Build yourself a grave
Build bigger prisons for our women
And our men
Who you so successfully did frustrate
The rulers are destroying
Our communities
This land ain’t free!
Stolen, maybe
No, stolen most certainly
But no, it’s not free
No, no, no
It ain’t ever been free to me
Free to be exploited, and manipulated
Free to be entertaining
And to use my face to sell pancakes
But free to learn?
Free to speak?
Free to be well-educated?
And to reach the full potential that aches
To break free?
Free to exercise our “rights”?
Free to shine our lights?
This land ain’t free.
Do you hear me?
Do you know anything about loyalty?
Loyalty to fighting for real freedom
For real glory
In unity?
I can hear the brave few cry
“Yea, give us free!”
This exodus has been a little bit
Longer of a process
Than it was for our Hebrew brothers
Or, maybe, actually
It just may be the same exactly
Exact dates and documentation
Somehow got lost in translation
But God be our witness
Either way, I still serve that same God
Exactly
That LORD God
ALMIGHTY
Who can easily part the silly Red Sea
Tell Pharaoh’s officials
To keep following after me
And be drowned, as we’re finally set free
Though it may be a dark and sordid history
Please bear the weight of this pain with me
Briefly
So that there might be healing
Today, though, I can say
That I have peace
That I’m simply happy to show my LORD
My love and my joy
And that I can dance for Him still
In this land of misery
Yes, once again
My ancestors continue to call from within me
“Set us FREE”
Free from the chains and the pains that linger still
From hundreds of years of slavery.
Exodus 9:1 Then the Lord said unto Moses, Go in unto Pharaoh, and tell him, Thus saith the Lord God of the Hebrews, Let my people go, that they may serve me.
