• Angel
  • Stepping Into the Sunlight
• Sylvia B.
  • Just Another Day
  • Happiness & Joy
• Anonymous
  • The "Falling" Bridge (art)
• Anthony Baez
  
  • Utmost Vehicle Zen
  • Fear
• Carla
  
  • Other Voices
• Daud
  
  • An Open Letter From a Political Prisoner
• Emil
  
  • Maitreya Project Essay
• Juan
  
  • Greetings to the Coleman Sangha
• Amos King
  [Executed February 26th, 2003
  by the sovereign state of Florida]
  • Dear Henri
  • Letter to a Ten Year Old
  • Some Reflections
• Ellis Matthews
  
  • Reflection
  • Unresolved Issues!
  • Message From A Fool
  • Everyone Needs Healing
  • Dead Sea of Dreams
  • Is This Your Situation
• Mitch Medford
  
  • My Story
• Joseph Vivona
  
  • Do as I Say, Not as I Do: A Recipe for Disaster
• Amy N.
  
  • Till Death Do We Part
  • Clouds In Your Coffee

Reflection

By Ellis Matthews

Black man, how art thou so strong? How have thou survived so far from your home? How do thou continue on after being treated so wrong? Art thou an immortal man? You've overcome his every deception. You no longer believe in his false promises. You now have what it takes to move beyond the reaches of your oppressors, from the slave ships to the master's whip. From the cotton fields to every bill he's ever passed on Capital Hill. You withstood it all. They said you had no rights, yet you continued to fight. Your weapons were of mass destruction. They were your love courage dedication and determination. Your Excellency in education has taken you from the slave ship to the space ship; from the plantations to owning your own corporations; from the fields to making major business deals. Black man this is not enough! You must remain diligent and stay focus at all times. The atrocities of the oppressor's tomorrows are the realities of this very day. The devastations from his well-advised plans can be felt in your own living room. A look into the classrooms of our children will reveal ruin beyond our imagination. He no longer hides behind one of the greatest lies of his country. Liberty and Justice for all. In his courtrooms you won't be liberated because his Justice wasn't meant for you. Read the signs Black Man, these are the beginnings of some dark times. The law makers have become the number one law breakers, charging you with homicide hoping you'll commit suicide so they can go on covering up their genocide. Black Man you must unify. Now is the time to move beyond your false pride. What's at stake here is the future of a people who are yet to come unto his or her own. Your individual battles no matter how well fought will never bring about victory. True victory can only come through unity. We must at all cost elevate our minds to the point of oneness. For by doing so the oppressor can no longer use the tools he once used to keep us separated. No longer will the color of my skin matter. My blackness will be seen as beauty to my light skin brother as God intended it to be. No longer will the location of my birth separate me from my brother who's location has him just as far from his home as I am. No longer will I allow my social and financial standings to separate me from my brother. I will lay all of these things aside. I will embrace my brother and love him as I love myself. Black Man, if this can't be achieved then our oppressor will keep us on our knees. A time will come when it will appear that you've indentured your children children's to the oppressor. To this I say may God forbid. This has been a Reflection into an unsolved mystery. May the God, that you serve, have mercy on us all.