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
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