What, in your opinion, is the most powerful human emotion?
It’s debatable, of course.
But I believe the pain of losing a child is near the top of the list.
More to the point, I believe having a child stolen from you ranks even higher on the emotional
trauma scale.
For 250 years, black women suffered this trauma more than any other women in human history.
Their children were taken from them… either because the children were sold, or the mother was.
For
example, Frederick Douglass’ mother was sold when he was a baby.
Harriet Tubman’s parents watched three of their daughters led away in chains… never to be seen or heard from again.
If you’ve ever read slave narratives about these crimes, you know they were gut wrenching and heart breaking.
One former slave, Henry Bibb, wrote the following in his 1849 narrative.
A mother unleashed a piercing scream as her baby was ripped from her arms during a slave auction.
Even as a lash cut her back, she refused to put her
baby down and climb atop the auction block.
The woman pleaded for God’s mercy.
But the child was torn from the arms
of its mother amid the most heart-rending shrieks from the mother and child on the one hand...
And the bitter oaths and cruel lashes from the tyrants on the other.
Because these crimes were so long
ago, and we weren't there... it can be hard to grasp how these mothers felt.
It can be hard to put yourself in their place.
Hard, but not impossible.
Our griots can help.
One of our modern-day griots, Halle Berry, depicted the powerful emotions these mothers felt in one of her films.
Watch her in the two-minute clip below and you’ll begin to comprehend the pain black mothers experienced... for centuries.
But there was a big difference
between them and Halle.
Unlike Halle, they couldn't do anything about it.
As non-human animals they were completely powerless.
Their only recourse was to absorb the terrible pain.
And... somehow... they did.
They survived and endured.
So, after you watch Halle... reflect on
this.
We are descended from some of the strongest women who have ever lived.
How can you know that's true?
Because if they weren’t...
You wouldn't be reading this.
Nuff said.
