Today’s poem by Justice Ameer (xe/xyr) has a form that is hard to preserve on mobile phones, so I have included an image of the poem as well as the text below. Ameer writes about this poem, “Expanding on the work of [Karl] Marx, W. E. B. Du Bois recognized the enslaved Black worker as ‘the founding stone’ of American capitalism, and thus, the system of chattel slavery was a necessary condition for the industrial development of white Western colonial powers and the global market they dominate today. True racial justice requires a complete return and redistribution of the wealth generated by exploited African labor—back to Black, Indigenous, and colonized peoples. Reparations will be achieved, whether it is offered or it must be taken.” This poem was originally published as part of the Academy of American Poets Poem-a-Day series on July 24, 2024.
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Necessary Conditions
I WANT THE COTTON BACK
I WANT THE FIELDS IT GREW FROM
I WANT THE FOOD IT BOUGHT
I WANT THE CLOTHES IT WEAVED
I WANT THE BLOOD IT SUMMONED
THE SUN IT DEMANDED
THE SCARS IT PAID
I WANT THE COTTON BACK
I WANT ITS LEAVES
ITS STEMS
ITS THORNS
ITS ROOTS
I WANT EVERYTHING
BUT ITS WHITE
I WANT THE COTTON BACK.
WE’LL TAKE THE COTTON BACK.
WE’LL TAKE BACK EVERYTHING IT TOOK OF US.
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I WANT THE COTTON BACK
I WANT THE FIELDS IT GREW FROM
I WANT THE FOOD IT BOUGHT
I WANT THE CLOTHES IT WEAVED
I WANT THE BLOOD IT SUMMONED
THE SUN IT DEMANDED
THE SCARS IT PAID
I WANT THE COTTON BACK
I WANT ITS LEAVES
ITS STEMS
ITS THORNS
ITS ROOTS
I WANT EVERYTHING
BUT ITS WHITE
I WANT THE COTTON BACK.
WE’LL TAKE THE COTTON BACK.
WE’LL TAKE BACK EVERYTHING IT TOOK OF US.
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