Welcome to the daily message for 6-16-20 by Rev. Larry Hall. Please click the links in blue below.
The cover painting for last week’s Time Magazine was created by African-American artist Titus Kaphar. It depicts a young
African-American mother holding her child. He wrote a poem about it, titled “I cannot sell you this painting, 2020.”
Text for “I Cannot Sell You This Painting, 2020”
I
Cannot
Sell
You
This
Painting.
In her expression,/ I see the Black mothers
Who are unseen, /and rendered helpless in
This fury against their babies.
As I listlessly wade /through another cycle
Of violence /against Black people,
I paint a Black mother…
Eyes closed,
Furrowed brow,
Holding the contour /of her loss.
Is this what it means for us?
Are Black and loss
Analogous colors in America?
If Malcome could not fix it,
If Martin could not fix it,
If Michael,
Sandra,
Travon,
Tamir,
Breonna and
Now George Floyd…
Can be murdered
And nothing changes…
Wouldn’t it be foolish/ to remain hopeful?
Must I accept/ that this is what it means /to
Be Black in America?
Do
Not
Ask
Me
To be
Hopeful.
I have given up/ trying to describe /the
Feeling of knowing /that I can not be safe/
In the country of my birth…
How do I explain to my children/ that the
Very system /set up to protect others/ could
Be a threat to our existence?
How do I shield them /from the
Psychological impact /of knowing that for
The rest of our lives /we will likely be seen/
As a threat,/ and for that
We may die?
A MacArthur won’t protect you.
A Yale degree won’t protect you.
Your well-spoken plea will not
Change hundreds of years/ of
Institutionalized hate.
You will never be as eloquent/ as Baldwin,
You will never be as kind /as King…
So, isn’t it only reasonable to believe /that
There will be no change soon?
And so those without hope…burn.
This Black mother/ understands the fire.
Black mothers/ understand despair.
I can change NOTHING /in this world,
But in paint,
I can realize her…
This brings me solace…
Not hope,/ but solace.
She walks me through the flames of rage.
My Black mother/ rescues me yet again.
I want to be sure /that she is seen.
I want to be certain/ that her story is told.
And so, this time/
America must hear her voice. / This time/
America must believe her.
One
Black
Mother’s
Loss
WILL
Be memorialized.
This time
I will not let her go.
I
Cannot
Sell
You
This
Painting.
