STOP! We are not your spectacles! This is heartbreaking! We have been declared savages and wild beasts. Cruelty to humans became a trait by greed and hate; therefore we must protect ourselves from that fate.
Being compassionate has, is and will not serve us well. This stance gave license to Ota Benga, which of whom was place on display as a carnival act at the St. Louis World's Fair. Two years later in 1906, The Bronx Zoo displayed him its monkey house with an orangutan.
But please. Let me try.
In 1957, leaving Risley School with some friends,
I was approached by white men- then, a sin-
we were asked if we wanted to see some Africans.
We did!
We replied and hurried to see.
On the corner of Reynolds and Gloucester Street,
a tractor trailer with a flat bed waited for we.
There were people in cages who looked like me.
We gazed in astonishment and fear
until a cage was opened...
Books dropped-
horrified and ashamed
we fled in all
with dileberate speed
As I reminisce
I feel as if I betrayed my own people
with deliberate speedy buckras was so evil
I self-assess daily
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Zack Lyde
Co-founder & contributing writer
MAAFA SCREAMS
