COVID-19 Lockdown, Day 89

It's vacation time! I was even able to leave early today. Hurrah! It's also Juneteenth! I arose this morning, added the red, black, and green flag just below the American flag on my car antenna, and I said the African-American pledge of allegiance. I am sure people are wondering what the African-American Pledge of Allegiance is and why we have it.

First, here is the the answer to the first question.

The African-American Pledge of Allegiance

We pledge allegiance of the red, black and green

Our flag, the symbol of our eternal struggle

and to the land we must obtain.

As for the second question, such a pledge, which is one of several for the same purpose, is mean to unify people for the sake of a common need and a common identity. Alas, African-Americans have a rich culture that is different from African or even Caribbean cultures. There are certain things that African Americans understand about each other that are foreign to all others, while there are things we share with Latino cultures, especially Puerto Ricans (¡Viva Boricua!) and Cubans, Euro-American cultures, and even some Asian cultures. Saying this pledge is telling the world that we will not apologize for who we are, where we come from, and what we expect of ourselves. In my opinion, to say the pledge and fly the flag whilst fornicating, debauching, doing drugs, refusing to work, refusing to take care of one's children, behaving rachetly, and murdering your own is a major hypocrisy. 

We are indeed a nation within a nation. Our ancestors were never meant to be a part of America at large. We were meant to build America, but not to rest in it. 

Or in the last words of Cicero, the slave who led a rebellion in the 1975 movie Mandingo: 

"Y'all was oppressed in your own land. We was free. And then you brought us here, in chains. Well, now we're here, so you just better know that this is as much our land as it is your'n. And after you hang me, kiss my [expletive]!"

There are those who may ask, "What land you must obtain?" That's a poser. It could mean the 40 acres our ancestors were promised. It could mean a homeland created from American soil. For some, it could mean Africa. Some bigots tell us to go back to Africa. First, how can we go where we have never been? Second, we have struggled too much in this country to leave now. Third, where in Africa? Our ancestors were dehumanized the second their feet touched the slave ships. We had our culture taken away from us, along with many of our customs. 

On top of this, almost none of us are fully African-blooded. Some of our mixture was voluntary, but most was involuntary. Sailors, captains, traders, auctioneers, landowners, overseers, neighbors, and strangers had their way with our great, great, great grandmothers, and they could not stop it or seek justice. Therefore, we are all without full knowledge of our identities. We cannot even choose one African country and feel completely welcome there. We are Yoruba, Mandingo, Fulani, Serere, Wolof, Bamum, Bamileke, English, Scottish, Dutch, French, and so on. Yes, some of us are also Native American. Hence, we have no country that is truly our own, but we have a nation, and we are loyal to America and love her when she allows us to. It is possible that someday America will embrace us unreservedly, or we will somehow have our own land. Meanwhile, in the words of my favorite poem by Langston Hughes:

I am the darker brother.

They send me to eat in the kitchen

When company comes,

But I laugh,

And eat well,

And grow strong.

Tomorrow,

I’ll be at the table

When company comes.

Nobody’ll dare

Say to me,

“Eat in the kitchen,”

Then.

Besides,

They’ll see how beautiful I am

And be ashamed—

I, too, am America.

--Signing off.