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Karl Constantine FOLKES 1935 (Portland)
Atlantic Slave Trade.
Genesis of “The White Race.”
A social construct.
Of division and conquest.
Now accepted as “THE NORM.”
For subjugation.
By European gentry.
Of other peoples.
Labeled as “Minorities.”
To claim they are their masters.
Atlantic Slave Trade.
A Dark Age in history.
Years of infamy.
Chattel slavery enforced.
As law of many nations.
With passage of time.
Though some laws have been repealed.
The stain is retained.
The label “minority.”
Is rigorously enforced.
To keep all in check.
The label “minority.”
‘Must remain in place.’
Yet, a social construction.
Like the term “majority.”
This poem reveals.
An uncomfortable truth.
That “race” is contrived.
Solely to divide peoples.
And rule them as their masters.
How can this be changed?
By removal of the terms.
“Minor” and “Major.”
“Minority” is a stain.
“Majority” — bigger stain.
About this poem
A MOST UNCOMFORTABLE TRUTH: The history of the invention of the label, “The White Race,” has been scrupulously documented and argued, recognizing it to be a social construction of white chauvinism, specifically associated with, and derived from, the Atlantic slave trade, the transatlantic slave trade, and the European-American slave trade during the sixteenth to the nineteenth centuries; lasting for a period of more than three hundred years. Most specifically, the term “White Race” or “White People” entered the major European languages in the latter part of the seventeenth century, originating with the act of slavery being rationalized as an economic enterprise that justified enslavement of other people in the context of the Atlantic slave trade and the slavery of indigenous peoples (the “Native Americans”) in the Spanish Empire of the Caribbean, Central America, and South America. The aftermath of this ignominious scourge on the entire world, still endures, as some cultural groups of world citizens continue to be labeled by laws and statutes as “Racial Minorities” and others (those affixing the labels) as “The Racial Majority.” When will we cease from enforcing and using those divisive labels? When will we ever learn to see and acknowledge the common identity of racial ONENESS and brotherhood as Homo Sapiens living alongside one another in human societies? The answer, my fellow earthlings, is blowing in the wind. more »
Written on November 24, 2022
Submitted by karlcfolkes on November 26, 2022
Modified by karlcfolkes
- 53 sec read
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"Poetry.com" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2023. Web. 20 Mar. 2023. <https://www.poetry.com/>.
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