“And in June I Will Rest”

The subject of this piece revolves around the Black body

As I trace back the roots of the Black body it is evident that there is a distinct connection between that and an ox. An ox body is trained to be used, they are left in fields to work, to sweat, and heave at the helms of masters. They spend their lives in fields and for centuries they have been known for their strength in the animal kingdom. Unallowed to rest, their keepers uninterested in their sorrows.

As I trace back the roots of the Black body, it is evident that there is a distinct connection between that and an ox. An ox body is trained to be used, they are left in fields to work, to sweat, and heave at the helms of masters. They spend their lives in fields and for centuries they have been known for their strength in the animal kingdom. Unallowed to rest, their keepers uninterested in their sorrows.

If your body is only seen as something that can be used, poked, and prodded at the very will of someone with dominion over you, how can you know what it means to rest?

One of the earliest memories I have as a child takes place in a small townhome in Washington DC. In southwest near a train station called Anacostia, on a street called Martin Luther King Jr. Tucked away in a small home on Martin Luther King Jr, a group of women created a home. They spent hours on their feet ushering their children and their children’s children over to the small house. Even on evenings that were sweltering with heat waves they would stand in the boiling kitchen churning and turning pots of food. Even on their day of rest they still mustered the strength to create something, and there is an unspoken beauty in that.

The Black man is of course more similar to the ox in this regard, biologically changed over generations to create the ideal worker. A Frankenstein-like story occurred over the generations of slavery, with masters selecting the largest men at their disposal during auctions.Ones who they believed could take the pain and horrors of life in a field. Their eyes peered over crowds with glowing envy and prowess as generations later the worker that was carefully molded, stood hunched back over acres of cotton.They had created a man who could endure, one whose height reached towards the heavens, they had their ox.

The Black man is strong, the Black man is rigid, the Black man can endure.

But this poses the question of whether or not the Black body ever was taught how to rest? There is a stark need to overachieve in the Black community, one that’s been explained as “having to work twice as hard to get half of what they have.” No matter the cost the Black body will pay. The Black body, although remarkable, has been conditioned to mold itself under pressure. Where is the year of rest and relaxation for the Black child?

On Sunday we will cook and have family come together as one and hopefully on a peaceful day in June the Black body will understand what it means to rest.