Afro-Mexicans, Black Angels (Angelitos Negros) and "Toña La Negra"
Commentary by Black Kos Editor Deoliver47
As we watch the racial (racist) drama unfold in Arizona, with Mexicans, Mexican Americans, Central Americans and anyone who fits the racial profile now being targeted, we also received word of the AZ decision to ban "ethnic studies".
As an anthropologist who teaches those same "ethnic studies" I am outraged by yet another attempt to whitewash history and culture.
Chauncey DeVega , in Eurocentrism Reigns Supreme: Arizona Bans Ethnic Studies quotes from the new law:
States that the Legislature finds and declares that public school pupils should be taught to treat and value each other as individuals and not be taught to resent or hate other races or classes of people.
Provisions
States that the Legislature finds and declares that public school pupils should be taught to treat and value each other as individuals and not be taught to resent or hate other races or classes of people.
Prohibits a school district or charter school from including in its program of instruction any courses or classes that:
Promote the overthrow of the United States government.
Promote resentment toward a race or class of people.
Are designed primarily for pupils of a particular ethnic group.
Advocate ethnic solidarity instead of the treatment of pupils as individuals.
States that if the SBE determines that a school district or charter school is offering a course that violates this act, the SBE must direct the Superintendent of Public Instruction (Superintendent) to notify the school district or charter school that it is in violation.
DeVega comments:
The classroom is and has always been a political space.
This is a textbook example of Eurocentrism and Whiteness in action–and the irony here is priceless. Pursuant to this new law, children of color and their parents in Arizona should sue to demand that funding be cut off to most public schools because from American history to English to Science and the Arts, the curriculum as presently taught devalues people of color, encourages White solidarity, is designed to reinforce Whiteness as the "normal" and "preeminent" state of being, and generates resentment on the part of those left out of America’s grand narrative.
As a black American, who lived under Jim Crow...I suppose I should not be surprised by the specter of "Juan Crow". Black, brown, red or yellow - what is the difference really, when we talk about racism and its victims?
As a cultural anthropologist my discipline is dedicated to doing the opposite of the patently false provisions of this new law, and its underlying ideology. We study, research and teach about the richness and diversity of cultures, sub-cultures and ethnic groups, which promotes cross-cultural understanding. Many of us work in Black, Chicano, Latin American, Caribbean, Gender, Queer and Women's Studies programs.
I'd like to discuss one of those sub-cultures here.
There is much rich culture and history that ties Mexico and its predominantly indigenous people, who have Spanish surnames, to those we call Native Americans. But few of us in the States are aware of Mexico’s historic ties to Africa and its contemporary communities of Afro-Mexicans, who live primarily in coastal areas, but are also now part of a diaspora that reaches into many parts of the United States.
I first became aware of this community, and its history when I spent time in Mexico in the early 70’s. I was surprised when many Mexicans I came in contact with did not automatically ask me if I was a "foreigner". Instead, over and over I was asked the same question, "¿Usted es de Veracruz?" (Are you from Vera Cruz?)
Puzzled, I asked my traveling companion Isabel, about this. She laughed and said, "there are Afro-Mexicans you know..."...adding "haven’t you heard me playing records by Toña La Negra? She is from Vera Cruz where there are many afro-descended Mexicans."
I had heard the recordings, but never thought about who the wonderful singer was. I looked through Isabel’s record collection and there on the album covers I saw a tawny-skinned woman, caramel in color whose features and complexion showed obvious African, and Mexican heritage.
Yo soy mulata y orgullo tengo tener la sangre de negro en mis venas.
Yo soy mulata y no me importa que me critican si yo tengo bemba.
Yo soy mulata y orgullo tengo te tener piel tostada...
Y no me importa si tengo nada yo soy mulata de verdad...
"Yo Soy Mulata" Toña la Negra
Toña la Negra - cantante de México
It's not certain when María Antonia Peregrino Alvarez was born. Conflicting dates vary around winter of 1912, but "Toña La Negra," as the world would know her, became a star in the 1930s until the early 1960s. Rising up above the poverty of post-revolution Mexico, she is a vocal stylist best known for interpreting the works of renowned popular composer Agustín Lara. Blessed with an emotionally packed delivery, Toña became a popular radio and film personality, singing torch bolero love songs now considered Latin American standards.
She started singing as a child and showed promise at an early age, winning amateur contests. Despite their humble means, her parents encouraged her and bought her a flowered dress for her presentations. Somehow they sensed she could rise above their impoverished condition. From a musical family that also included her brother Pablo (who played the Cuban tres guitar with Son Clave De Oro, the superb Veracruz son-combo), Toña developed a lifelong passion for music.
The influence of Cuban music was a determining factor in her musical development, thus providing her with a vehicle to showcase a voice whose articulation and passion far outweighed an extensive vocal range. Yet like American jazz singer Billie Holiday, the balance of timbre to emotion gave her a unique musical character. The power and intonation of her voice took her to Mexico City at age 15 with her brother Pablo and Ignacio Uzcanga as part of the Trio Peregrino at a time when the trova of María Teresa Vera and Guty Cardenas were giving new roots to the bolero.
TOÑA ,LA NEGRA- ALMA DE VERACRUZ
Some of the songs we now associate with Afro-Cubans like Celia Cruz, were hits first sung by Toña La Negra.
It is not surprising that I knew nothing about Afro-Mexicans. Few of us learn much about the history of our southern neighbor while we are in school. Perhaps we learn a little about the Mexican American War, or the mythology of The Alamo (which did not include the fact that "The Yellow Rose of Texas" was a mulatto woman, when I was in school).
Small wonder that Vicente Guerrero is not a household word here. Yet he was the second President of Mexico, and the first who did not come from the elite.
Vicente Ramón Guerrero Saldaña, was of mixed Spanish, African and Indian heritage. His first act as President, in 1829 was to order the immediate abolition of slavery and the emancipation of all those who were enslaved. The state of Guerrero is named in his honor.
So when did blacks first arrive in Mexico?
The first African ancestored people arrived in Mexico (New Spain) with other Spaniards. "Ladinos" , free African ancestored Spaniards were part of every expedition to the new world. The Spaniards also brought slaves with them, as servants. They intermarried with Indians, and mixed as well with Spaniards – creating a mix called mulatto and or meztizo. Some traveled as far as California – where several the founders of Los Angeles were black or mulatto.
On September 4, 1781, El Pueblo de la Reina de Los Angeles was founded by 44 pobladores from New Spain, now called Mexico. The heads of the eleven founding families were Antonio Clemente Villavicencio, a Spaniard; Antonio Mesa, a Negro; Jose Fernando Lara, a Spaniard, Jose Vanegas, an Indian; Pablo Rodriquez, and Indian; Manuel Camero, a Mulatto; Jose Antonio Navarro, a Mestizo; Jose Moreno, a Mulatto; Basillio Rosas, an Indian; Alejandro Rosas, an Indian; and Luis Quintero, a Negro.
The two Spaniards and three Indians had Indian wives; the remaining six had Mulatto wives. Despite their varied racial background, they shared a common language, culture and religion since all were Spanish subjects and Catholics.
Anthropologist Bobby Vaughn has done years of research on Afro-Mexicans; both the history, and their current struggles.
His webpages: Afro-Mexicans of Costa Chica.
He gives a brief history of the African presence in Mexico which is which I will excerpt here:
Blacks in Mexico - A Brief Overview
To begin a discussion of the Black Experience in Mexico, it is important to establish the quantitative significance of the black slave population in the colonial era. One of the most frequent responses I get when discussing my research with Mexicans, or Americans for that matter, is "there couldn't have been more than a handful of slaves in Mexico." This assumption is made because in most parts of Mexico, today, you don't see many black people at all. The assumption is made that if there aren't many blacks in Mexico, now, there never were. As we will see, this is not entirely true. The first African slave brought to Mexico is said to be one Juan Cortés, a slave who accompanied the conquistador Hernán Cortés in 1519. The Indians, reportedly astonished by his dark skin, having never seen an African before, took him for a god! Another of the early conquistadores, Pánfilo Narvaez, brought a slave who has been credited with bringing the devastating smallpox epidemic of 1520. Mexican anthropologist Gonzalo Aguirre Beltrán estimates that there were 6 blacks who took part in the conquest of Mexico.
These early slaves were more personal servants of their masters, who may be thought of as squires. These slaves were most likely taken from Africa, then transported to Seville, where early slaves were christianized, and they probably spoke Spanish by the time they reached the New World. These slaves didn't come over on slave ships as part of an overt slave trade. The slave trade that changed the demographic face of Mexico began when King Carlos V began issuing more and more asientos, or contracts between the Crown and private slavers, in order to expedite the trans-atlantic trade. At this point, after 1519, the New World received bozales, or slaves brought directly from Africa without being christianized. The Spanish Crown would issue these asientos to foreign slavers, who would then make deals with the Portuguese, for they controlled the slave "factories" on the West African coast. Aside from these asientos, the Crown would grant licenses to merchants, government officials, conquistadores, and settlers who requested the privilege of importing slaves. The Crown had very few problems doling out these asientos and licenses, as a direct correlation was seen between the number of slaves imported to the new colony and the colonization and economic development of the colony. For these economic reasons, the black population soared to over 20,000 by 1553. According to early census data and allowances made for escaped slaves, Aguirre Beltrán arrives at the following estimates of the black population:
Black Population in Colonial Mexico
1570 20,569
1646 35,089
1742 15,980
The numerical significance of these figures becomes clear when we compare them to the Spanish population of the colonial era. In the early colonial period, European immigration was extremely small--and for good reason. There were great risks and many uncertainties in the New World, and few families were willing to immigrate until some assurance of stability was demonstrated. Because of this hesitance, very few European women immigrated, thus preventing the natural growth of the Spanish population. The point that must be made here is the fact that the black population in the early colony was by far larger than that of the Spanish. In 1570 we see that the black population is about 3 times that of the Spanish. In 1646, it is about 2.5 times as large, and in 1742, blacks still outnumber the Spanish. It is not until 1810 that Spaniards are more numerous.
So, since few European women were available, Spaniards, mulatto Spaniards and African men mixed freely with indigenous Indian women. The resulting admixtures are called "mestizo" today – with a range of skin colors, phenotypes and hair textures are not listed as "black" in the Mexican census. So as a statistic, they do not exist. But they are becoming more visible.
Demographers are now mapping the geographic distribution of those Mexicans who have African ancestry:
There has also been more coverage in the press, and on blogs, including a two part article at The Root, and there have been recent Museum exhibitions. If you get a chance, be sure to see "The African Presence in México: From Yanga to the Present", a traveling exhibition sponsored by the National Hispanic Cultural Civic Center, currently at the Smithsonian’s Anacostia Community Museum, in Washington DC (until July 4th)
This documentary news piece was on Mexican television.
It is in Spanish – and I apologize that I have no transcript. However I think that even if you don’t speak or understand Spanish you will understand the segment where the Afro-Mexicans being interviewed speak with pride about Vicente Guerrero, along with other heroes like Martin Luther King, and now Barack Obama.
I can remember, as a young girl, seeing a film in a local Spanish movie theatre, which later was re-done as wildly popular "novela" (soap opera). "Angelitos Negros".
This classic melodrama from the golden age of Mexican cinema was directed by Joselito Rodriguez in 1948, and stars the great Pedro Infante. It's the same story as Fannie Hurst's "Imitation of Life", first filmed in '34 with Claudette Colbert, and then in '59 with Lana Turner. The plot centers around a woman who does not realize her heritage, that she is actually the daughter of the black maid, and the "patron". Born blonde, she was brought up as the wealthy patron's daughter, and never told the truth. Infante plays the famous singer who marries her
I didn't think about it at the time, I was caught up in the drama of the plot, but this film was about Mexico and its racialized history.
The title song from the film, with music composed by Antonio Machin became an instant hit, and since was written it has been covered by many artists, including Eartha Kitt, and Roberta Flack.
Theresa Delgadillo writes in "Singing "Angelitos Negros": African Diaspora Meets Mestizaje in the Americas"
Based on the Venezuelan poem "Píntame angelitos negros" by Andrés Eloy Blanco, "Angelitos Negros" protests racial discrimination and demands recognition of a multiracial population. In tracing the circulation of this ballad throughout the hemisphere, its performance by these varied artists, and the contexts for these performances this essay examines the significance of multidirectional cultural flows in the hemisphere; explores the Americas as historical, geographic, linguistic, and political site of cultural production; and sheds light on the role of literature, film, and music in mediating race on the American continent. This examination of the inter-American cultural and political movements of racially marked subjects in Venezuela, Mexico, and the United States identifies significant interplay between the national/local and the inter-American/global in discursive and structural constructions of race.
Here is the original from the film:
Angelitos Negros – Pedro Infante
Part of the lyrics:
Aunque La Virgen sea blanca
Píntale angelitos negros
Que también se van al cielo
Todos los negritos buenos
(Even though the Virgin is white,Paint black angels
Because all the good negritos, also go to heaven)
...
Siempre que pintas iglesias
pintas angelitos bellos
pero nunca te acordaste
de pintar un ángel negro
(Whenever you paint paint churches, you paint beautiful angels... but you never remember to paint a black angel)
Here's hoping that when we paint a portrait in our minds eye, of the history of Mexico and Mexicans, that we don't forget to include Mexicans with African ancestry.
Píntame afro-mexicanos...
and support Ethnic and Cultural Studies.
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Todays News by dopper0189, Black Kos Managing Editor
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If you ever think you are having a bad day, this woman should be your inspiration New York Times: Bent, Not Broken
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Dayniah Manderson, 30, an immigrant from Jamaica, cannot walk or bathe herself. Since she needs help going to the bathroom, she skips breakfast and does not drink anything during the school day.
For Ms. Manderson, New York has been a city of opportunity, the place where she received cutting-edge surgery and a master’s degree, where she landed a teaching job at a new middle school in the southeast Bronx and is raising a 4-year-old daughter. It is also a vertical city where elevators do not always work, a city of often impenetrable subways, nightclubs and stores.
When Ms. Manderson’s $35,000 motorized wheelchair rolls over aging blacktop and concrete, she feels every bump and crack in her bones; each sidewalk seam and tree root jolts a nerve. From the time she wakes up until the hour she is lifted into bed, each moment can be a reminder of what does not fit — a spirit that does not fit a body, a body that does not fit a wheelchair, a wheelchair that does not fit a world.
"I couldn’t live a day inside her body," said Dr. Roberta Shapiro, who counseled her through a teenage abortion, helped secure her lifesaving surgery and has become a close friend.
But Ms. Manderson manages to arrive at work on time, get her hair done every other week and shop regularly at Victoria’s Secret — as long as everything around her works exactly as it should. It is an exhausting negotiation, a mountain of minuscule achievements punctuated by bouts of depression; a fiercely independent streak at odds with an inescapable vulnerability.
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Posse Comitatus anyone? Chicago Tribune: National Black Police Association objects to National Guard in Chicago
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A police department's officers are trained to enable Constitutional due process safeguards. Armies are not designed with this purpose - armies are trained to kill. The suggestion of the National Guard to be deployed in black and Mexican neighborhoods in Chicago is an outgrowth of the scary trend toward militaristic policing by many police agencies in the U.S. (Chicago in particular). The problem is compounded by many men with militaristic aspirations, but lacking courage for military service; rather using police work and low-income residential communities as way to achieve military aspirations.
The National Black Police Association is an organization of black police officers. If anyone has the credibility to speak on a nonsensical suggestion that a military entity be deployed in Chicago, it is us. Most of our members have policed the country's biggest cities and most dangerous neighborhoods. The NBPA and its members know through personal experience that the National Guard does not belong on Chicago streets. No surprise to us that most of the people supporting the deployment of the Guard in Chicago have never been police officers. Add to that, that most of these misguided people have never served our country in the U.S. Military. Many NBPA have served in the U.S. Military (e.g., the writer, a United States Marine); therefore, our members know that there is stark difference between military duties and police duties.
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Despite his sometimes ambiguous attitude, President Jacob Zuma has been tested for HIV and his government’s policy has improved. Economist: Setting a better example.
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EVEN though South Africa has more people infected with HIV than any other country in the world, candid discussion of the virus is still a taboo for many. But when President Jacob Zuma launched a campaign on April 25th to get more people to have themselves tested, he had no qualms. He himself had recently taken a test in front of the cameras (above). Though it was said at first that the results would not be disclosed, Mr Zuma told his audience that his sample, like three previous ones, had "registered a negative outcome for the HI virus". This drew strong applause.
It was good news for Mr Zuma. Seeing that less than 20% of South Africans know whether they have HIV or not, it may also have helped to lessen the stigma that afflicts people with AIDS and hampers efforts to tackle the epidemic.
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The UN is investigating reports of a massacre by Ugandan rebels in the Democratic Republic of Congo. BBC: Top UN man investigates massacre claims in DR Congo
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A senior UN official says as many as 100 people were killed in the alleged attack, which is believed to have taken place in February.
John Holmes, the UN humanitarian chief, said on a visit to the country that an investigation was under way.
If the claims are true it would bring the number of people killed between December and March to more than 500.
Mr Holmes said rebels from the Lord's Resistance Army had carried out the massacre in the village of Kpanga in the north-east of the country, near the border with southern Sudan and the Central African Republic.
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In much of the developing world health care is woman's rights. BBC: Sierra Leone gives new hope to mothers and children
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Isata Sesay is busy packing up to leave the country's main maternity referral hospital in the densely populated east end of the Sierra Leone capital, Freetown.
She is obviously relieved that she and her two-day-old twins survived their ordeal.
Last year, I watched five women die in the space of two nights at the Princess Christian Maternity Hospital.
Two pregnant women come to us for delivery, they are both in a bad shape but we tend to the one because she has money and abandon the other because she hasn't
In March alone, 11 out of 281 pregnant women who gave birth at the hospital died of severe infection, bleeding, obstructed labour and pregnancy-induced hypertension, says the hospital's director Dr Ibrahim Thorlie.
The situation is no better for Sierra Leone's new-born children.
The United Nations ranks the country as the worst place in the world for a child to be born, with 159 out of 1,000 dying before they turn five.
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Nothing like positive stories from Africa. How We Made It in Africa: Kenyan entrepreneur turns trash into cash/
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Lorna Rutto is the founder of Global Bio Energy, a company that manufactures fencing posts from recycled consumer plastic waste from Dandora, a slum in Kenya’s capital city of Nairobi.
"Currently in Kenya thousand[s] of plastic bags and bottles litter our streets . . . and clog [our] sewers. Our business converts [this waste] into durable, affordable, cost effective and environmental friendly plastic poles," Rutto explains.
According to Rutto, the initiative contributes to the environment by recycling waste and reducing the number of trees being cut-off. The project also creates employment opportunities.
"By creating an alternative to timber we can avoid an environmental crisis in future," she says.
The project won Rutto, a 25-year old banker by profession, the WWF nature challenge national award that comes with a prize of 5,000 euros. She beat more the 120 contestants in the competition that attracted entrepreneurs with interests in organic agriculture, green energy production and waste management.
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Thomas Hagan, the only man to ever admit his role in the assassination of Malcolm X, was freed on parole last week, providing an opportunity to reflect on the life and legacy of the slain civil rights hero. The Root: Malcolm X's Complex Legacy.
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Reports on Hagan's release have remained on the fringes of media attention, a sign of the complexity of Malcolm X's legacy in the American landscape. The paucity of coverage raises questions about how we define American heroism and who writes the legacies of black heroes and heroines in public memory.
Forty-five years after his death, the mainstream press' recollection of Malcolm X is that of a street hustler who rose to prominence during the civil rights movement through his hatred of "blue-eyed devils" and advocacy of a tempestuous "by any means necessary" doctrine. In our supposedly post-racial America, we have not yet come to understand Malcolm X as an American hero who engaged cultural and social reform both domestically and abroad. Though America prides itself on its multicultural composition, the nation is not yet ready to embrace people of color who are authorities and empowered by their own histories to create change.
The former Malcolm Little joined the black nationalist Nation of Islam (NOI) during a six-year prison bid that ended in 1952. Led at the time by Elijah Muhammad (and now, in a reconstituted form by Minister Louis Farrakhan), the Black Muslims, as they were called, practiced an unorthodox brand of Islam that says white people are genetically engineered to be oppressors. They also believed in racial separatism, both culturally and geographically. Black Muslims did not believe that America was sincere in its commitment to integration, and as a national spokesperson for the NOI, Malcolm articulated these views in the media. By 1964, he had fallen out with the NOI, and become more interested in mainstream Sunni Islam.
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Denzel on stage. Amsterdam News: ‘Fences’ is fiercely powerful
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POWERFUL!!! That is the one word that can be used to describe the revival production of "Fences" starring Denzel Washington and Viola Davis and currently playing on Broadway at the Cort Theatre, on West 48th Street.
Originally produced on Broadway 23 years ago, this August Wilson classic tells the heart-wrenching story of a family in crisis. The place is Pittsburgh in 1957, and the family is Troy Maxson (played by Denzel Washington); his wife, Rose (played by Viola Davis); Cory, their son (played by Chris Chalk); and other family members and friends.
Troy is very strong and set in his ways. He is a very hardened man who has had to survive on his own since the age of 14. Troy is not someone who minces words. He says exactly what he feels, regardless of how that may affect the listener—whether the listener is his wife or his 17-year-old son.
Troy, however, also has a complex side and feels trapped. Everything about this character is so vividly depicted through Wilson’s words, and the audience is allowed to see him come alive through a phenomenal performance delivered by Washington. From the time that the play opens and he hits the stage with co-star Stephen McKinley Henderson (Bono), Washington brings an energy and a rhythm that is maintained throughout the play.
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Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, one of the nation’s most successful dance troupes, said on Weds that it would entrust its future to Robert Battle, a 37-year-old outside choreographer who has had a long association with the company. New York Times: Alvin Ailey Company Names a New Leader
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Ailey announced Mr. Battle’s appointment as artistic director, to succeed Judith Jamison when she retires in June 2011. He will begin working at Ailey this July in tandem with Ms. Jamison, who will become artistic director emerita when the transition is complete.
While a search committee of Ailey’s board labored for more than two years Mr. Battle had long been anointed by Ms. Jamison as her successor.
Hours after being offered the job, Mr. Battle sounded stunned, using adjectives like "shocked," "thrilled" and "speechless." Then he gathered his words and said the company represented not just dancers and choreographers but African-Americans as well.
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Members of predominantly African American and Latino churches along Crenshaw Boulevard hold joint services in an effort to overcome differences. LA Times: South Los Angeles Latinos and blacks find unity in worship
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One is a Pentecostal, mostly African American congregation of 22,000, led by a world-renowned bishop with global ministries that extend to Africa and Haiti.
The other is one of the largest Latino evangelical churches in the city, whose Spanish-language ministries serve more than 4,000 members, most of them Salvadoran and Mexican immigrants and their children.
Located just four blocks apart along Crenshaw Boulevard in South Los Angeles, the two mega-churches — West Angeles Church of God in Christ and Iglesias de Restauracion — had never broken bread together, as cultural and linguistic differences kept them apart.
But that all changed Thursday night, when more than 1,500 believers from both churches worshiped together in what organizers billed as a historic attempt to overcome black-brown differences through shared faith and a sacred covenant to jointly address the violence, poverty and health problems that afflict both communities.
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Voices and Soul by Justice Putnam, Black Kos Tuesday's Chile, Poetry Contributor
Percy Shelley's sonnet, Ozymandias, was published in England in 1818.
Earlier that year, Percy, with Mary Shelley and their children; and
along with his sister-in-law Claire Clairmont, mother of Byron's
child, expatriated to Bagni di Lucca, Italy. In the late summer, they
moved to Este, near Venice to be closer to Byron's villa. At a time
when the "Exceptionalism" of British colonial reach was unquestioned;
in fact, exalted in verse, theatre and the academy, Shelly
acknowledged the erosion Time has on all leaders and empires:
I met a traveller from an antique land
Who said: "Two vast and trunkless legs of stone
Stand in the desert. Near them on the sand,
Half sunk, a shattered visage lies, whose frown
And wrinkled lip and sneer of cold command
Tell that its sculptor well those passions read
Which yet survive, stamped on these lifeless things,
The hand that mocked them and the heart that fed.
And on the pedestal these words appear:
`My name is Ozymandias, King of Kings:
Look on my works, ye mighty, and despair!'
Nothing beside remains. Round the decay
Of that colossal wreck, boundless and bare,
The lone and level sands stretch far away".
-- Percy Bysshe Shelley
"Ozymandias"
Jamaican-born Claude McKay certainly channeled Shelley, when in 1922,
he questioned the "Exceptionalism" of an America that held the "hand
that mocked them and the heart that fed." McKay saw also, though few
will admit the obvious erosion of Time, that even for America, there
will be a future where the "lone and level sands stretch far away."
America
Although she feeds me bread of bitterness,
And sinks into my throat her tiger's tooth,
Stealing my breath of life, I will confess
I love this cultured hell that tests my youth!
Her vigor flows like tides into my blood,
Giving me strength erect against her hate.
Her bigness sweeps my being like a flood.
Yet as a rebel fronts a king in state,
I stand within her walls with not a shred
Of terror, malice, not a word of jeer.
Darkly I gaze into the days ahead,
And see her might and granite wonders there,
Beneath the touch of Time's unerring hand,
Like priceless treasures sinking in the sand.
-- Claude McKay
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Tuesday's Poetry Jam: Camile Dungy reads "My Lover, Who Lives Far" and Douglas Kearny shares his poem, "Skyscrapers and Everything".
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The Front Porch is now open.
Come on up, grab a chair and set with us for a spell. If you are new, or posting for the first time, introduce yourself.
Reminder to the family: Black Kos "Week in Review" is now publishing at 3PM EST on Friday.
Grab a slice of chocolate pecan birthday cake, celebrating this weeks birthday of James Brown, "the Godfather of Soul", who was born May 3,1933 in Barnwell, South Carolina.