I cannot move! The earth hath stabilized my body and the wind chilleth my soul. My mind spins as the electric current causes the hair that warmeth my entire self to stick out like the needles in Big Mama’s pin cushion. I cannot move! The earth beneath me grabs me with her roots and the wind bloweth equally from the four corners. None of them wish to see me fall in their direction. The waters from the heavens fall to the earth. As my toes dig into the earth, my soul becomes saturated. A sensation I felt in my torso. I begin to grow. I’ve become stronger. I am rooted and grounded. The fabrics that once fit me tore away. Is this what the Holy Ghost feels like?
As I sway to and fro to honor the God of my ancestors-the God that was forced upon them- I stretch out my arms wider to receive him. Suddenly, I feel a nudge on my left arm and a tug around my waist. It was so heavy that I began to tilt. I look to my left arm to notice a rope wrapped around it. My eyes follow the rope down to a strange fruit. The stench of this fruit caused my whole body to shake, but I dare not let it fall. The sweet juices from the busted shell of this strange fruit falls to the ground to saturate the earth. I watch as the white paint hardens on its fabric, covering its ripeness, its browness. The heaviness tightens the rope around my torso. I cannot breath, but I will not let this fruit fall.
A green truck comes by and litters the ground in front of me with another damaged fruit as it continues down the Mississippi road. I look down to see this strange fruit twisted, deformed, beaten, skinless, and rotted. I began to sway for help, but no one came. No one! Fruits birthed from different trees passed by without noticing. Even strange yet similar fruits passed by signaling their bitterness, sour, and unfavorable taste. “Help us,” I yell! Coming to the realization that no one will help us, I pull the fruit from the side of the dangerous Mississippi road and gently lay it at my feet. I carefully lift the dangling fruit to lay it on my right arm as I use my fingers to loosen the rope from its neck. I gently place it next to its brother at my feet. I cry out to the God of my ancestors, but he did not answer.
What am I going to do? I can’t leave this fruit out in the open to be forgotten, but I must cover them. I look to the right of me to notice a pole. At the top of the pole was a waving cloth with an X on it that came from a time when people were fighting over me. I wouldn’t dare use that shit! I knock the pole over into the Mississippi road and watch as the cars run over the cloth one by one. I uproot my legs and feet from the earth to bury this strange fruit beneath me. I cannot leave this fruit out in the open to be forgotten!
I look to the heavens and began to see the water fall to the earth. I dig my toes into the earth. My soul becomes saturated by heavens water and the juices of the strange fruit under my roots. I felt God’s spirit. I felt the fruits of the spirit; their pain, passion, and God’s promise to them. I told God, “Now they are a part of me. Even in death, they will still grow. They shall live and not die.”
.......................Message....................
No matter where I go, I will never forget where I come from. Mississippi is where I was born. I can't be foolish to act as if its past doesn't exist in the present. I can't be bitter and point the finger, but I must take my experience in Mississippi with me wherever I go in order to be that change that I want to see in my home state. We need love, equality, and justice!
