Juneteenth

Emancipation

by Elizabeth Alexander

Corncob constellation,

oyster shell, drawstring pouch, dry bones.

Gris gris in the rafters.

Hoodoo in the sleeping nook.

Mojo in Linda Brent’s crawlspace.

Nineteenth century corncob cosmogram

set on the dirt floor, beneath the slant roof,

left intact the afternoon

that someone came and told those slaves

“We’re free.”

This poem sings of the multitudes of wishes and fears that can be set free in one moment, reverberating through the ages. A fitting poem for tomorrow, which commemorates the day citizens in Galveston, Texas were informed by the Union army that slaves were free. A full two and a half years after the Emancipation Proclamation. General Lee had to surrender first in order for the executive order to be enforced. If this sounds like a familiar pattern, congratulations. You have been paying attention.

A cosmogram, like a Tibetan sand mandala, like a work by Andy Goldsworthy made of icicles or fallen leaves, connects the maker directly with creative spirit, and then is left to the elements. It is a conversation with the divine, a song, not meant to be preserved as a material object. The experience of the making is itself the thing that endures and gets passed on.

This is what this mass movement of protests and activism feels like to me, as people from all walks of life, all over the world, connect with a shared creative spirit, a pledge of allegiance to an egalitarian world, with acknowledgement of suffering and the conviction that no one has the right to inflict pain on another. How beautiful that this comes largely from a generation we thought lost to cellphones and the internet. Turns out they were learning from one another. Now we are learning from them.

A few ways to celebrate:

https://www.mindandlife.org/healing-today/ The Dalai Lama will be speaking about covid and racism. Free but you are encouraged to register. Times vary depending on your location. NYC is around 10:30pm

For up to date protest listings in NYC, follow @justiceforgeorgenyc on Instagram

Listen to Angela Davis: https://www.democracynow.org/2020/6/12/angela_davis_historic_moment

Read Elizabeth Alexander, Gwendolyn Brooks, Maya Angelou, Audre Lorde, Ta Nehisi Coates, Cornel West…