1.

One fam’ly’s journey
That was travelled by millions
Historic trauma

2.

History revealed
Consciousness raised by TV
First taste of black

3.

It was criminal
How Africans were treated
By so-called, “Christians”

4.

Our mothers’ rapists
Stole the names of our fathers
Orphaned our children

5.

Slavers and chains built
African America’s
Tower of Babel

6.

Intentionally
Disrupting conversations
To confuse cargo

7.

Proud Kunta Kinte
A Mandinga warrior
Never stopped running

8.

Facts blurred by fiction
Had me “hating” white actors
That played slave masters

9.

Kunta was prepared
To struggle for his survival
Through rights of passage

10.

After watching Roots
I resent the status quo
Race disparities

11.

Slavery’s first crime:
Denying humanity
In pursuit of wealth

12.

I was in grade school
Watching the miniseries
Alex Haley’s Roots

☆

Copyright 2016 by Keith M. Kelley