Introducing Mama Linda’s Chapbook

Mama Linda holds up a vintage photo.
Photo by Glenn Ricci, 2018.

“Ring A ling Ling! My bells are ringing.

“Well O Well Well,”  My Heart is singing.

Welcome To Mama Linda’s Chapbook.  Twice a month, I will share a poem with you.  May & June have been emotional, frightening, and heart-wrenching months for me. The Coronavirus is infecting people and claiming human lives from all walks of life. Human beings from all over the world are walking in protest exercising their right to proclaim that “BLACK LIVES MATTER.”  People are speaking out from behind their masks.  They have taken to the streets.  George Floyd was killed on May 25th, Memorial Day. June 17th was the 5th anniversary of the massacre of 9 Black people at Mother Emanuel AME Church in Charleston, SC. Six Black men have been founding hanging from trees in different locations in 4 States.

Juneteenth on June 19th represents the day Black people in Texas were told about the Emancipation Proclamation in 1865.  Since then, 49 States including DC have declared Juneteenth a State Celebration. Every year the third Sunday in June is designated as FATHER’S DAY. I didn’t buy a Father’s Day for my husband, Clay or our son, Jamaal. Instead,  I wrote this poem for them and all Black Men of America.

ASANTE SANA!  Thank you.

Peace & Blessings, Mama Linda

Black Men of America
A Father’s Day Card

Oh Black Men of America!
I pray every day that the Creator continues to show you the way.
Show you the light as you continue to fight for equal rights.
Your Ancestral Mothers and Fathers were Stolen
Forced to work and toil
On stolen land
That was not your native soil.
You have fought in wars for the USA.
The American Revolutionary War—you were there.
The War of 1812—you were there
The Civil War—you were there.
The Spanish American War—you were there
World War I—you were there.
World War II—you were there.
The Korean War—you were there.
The Vietnam War—you were there.
The Persian Gulf War—you were there.
The War in Iraq—you were there.
The War in Afghanistan—you are still there, yet
You are whipped, bruised, beaten, burned, raped, lynched, shot, stabbed and wrongly incarcerated—bodies spreading across the American landscape EVERYWHERE!
Where are the statues that represent your bravery?
Where are the statues that represent your endurance?
Where are the statues that represent your protest?
You have tried to do your best, yet
Police brutality is a reality.
Many of you are police officers, many of you are fire fighters.
You have proven over, and over again your allegiance to the USA
And yet you cannot have a say.
You cannot kneel quietly and protest, yet
A white police officer can kneel on your neck for 8 minutes and 46 seconds.
I have lost the rhyme to this poem.
I cannot unsee what I have seen.
I cannot protect the children from what they are seeing and hearing.
When my father died They placed the American flag in Momma’s lap at his gravesite
Yet over and over again this country takes away the right for Black men to give their insight.
The USA needs Black men to defend this country, but what about the fight against bigotry.
It doesn’t matter whether or not some Black men are scholars and have PhDs.
It doesn’t matter if they become the President of the USA.
They are still maligned and scorned.
They are still denied the right to be reborn.
Oh Black Men of America!
When will you feel that life, liberty and happiness apply to you?
When will you truly be a part of the red, the white and the blue?

Mama Linda Goss
Copyright © 2020 by Linda Goss

 

Author: The Peale

The Peale is based in the first museum to be purpose-built in the United States, designed by architect Robert Cary Long Sr. and opened by artist Rembrandt Peale in 1814. It is a building of many firsts, and today in the creative spirit of its founder is relaunching as an innovative Center to celebrate the unique history of Baltimore, its people and their buildings through the authentic stories of the City. Currently under renovation, the Peale is open for occasional hardhat tours, and all of its programs are available online with live captioning and ASL interpretation.