zion

I post this poem tonight for our great friends — Jamie Hebert and Alec Mapa — and their BEAUTIFUL, MAGICAL, LOVING, BELOVED son, Zion Hebert-Mapa…who is ADORED and CHERISHED by a vast network of proud, honorary Aunties and Uncles, myself so fortunately included.

We love you SO MUCH, Alec and Jamie — you are among the best parents I have EVER known — and to answer the plaintive, sorrowful question Alec asked aloud on his Facebook page tonight — a night when a jury in Ferguson, Missouri decided that the life of a young black man and justice for his grieving, shattered family did not matter in the least — “How on earth will I protect my son?”, I offer you the only answer I am able:

All who love you, Alec and Jamie and Zion — and trust me, there are MANY — WILL DO EVERYTHING IN OUR POWER TO HELP YOU KEEP HIM SAFE, and that includes voting out of office ANY politician or official who perpetuates the entrenched, insidious, institutional racism that continues to exist, continues to thrive, and is precisely what allowed this travesty of justice to occur tonight.

So, for Zion…and Michael Brown…and ALL the young black men in this country whose lives and futures and hopes and dreams DO matter:

I, Too, Sing America

I, too, sing America.
I am the darker brother.
They send me to eat in the kitchen
When company comes,
But I laugh,
And eat well,
And grow strong.
Tomorrow,
I’ll be at the table
When company comes.
Nobody’ll dare
Say to me,
“Eat in the kitchen,”
Then.
Besides,
They’ll see how beautiful I am
And be ashamed—
I, too, am America.

— Langston Hughes, 1902 – 1967

‪#‎blacklivesmatter‬

Alec_Mapa_LEADX400

About muffybolding

Muffy Bolding is a mother/writer/actor/knitter/feminist/withered debutante who likes the smell of asparagus pee, and remains obsessed with the bathroom hygiene of her three children -- despite the fact that they are 23, 19, and 16. She is blissfully married to a cute Jewish boy who looks like Willie Wonka, but remains tragically in love with the dead poet, Ted Hughes. She has the mouth of a Teamster, and her patron saint is Rocco (pestilence relief.) Ms. Bolding lives in Southern California, where she enjoys typing words, making movies, and plucking the rings from the fingers of the dead. She was the co-creator and Editor-in-Chief of the award winning satire zine, Fresno Lampoon, and in between writing screenplays, carnival barking, and savagely threatening her trio of darling larvae with a wooden spoon, she currently publishes the zine, "Withered Debutante." More of her work can also be found in the anthology, "Mamaphonic: Balancing Motherhood and Other Creative Acts", the compilation zine, "Mamaphiles III: Coming Home", as well as in The Cortland Review and hipmama.com. She is currently writing and producing for film and television, and working on a book of essays entitled, "Inside A Chinese Dragon." She has slept around, but not nearly as much as she would have liked.
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1 Response to zion

  1. Pingback: Banned Books That Shaped America: Invisible Man | Waldina

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