Page 21 - Poetry Book-John-sims

The Confederate Redress

On the Ocassion of the Ohio Hanging

Many scores ago there was born an evil among us. Now we are
engaged in a continued Great War of memories, monuments and
terrorism, testing whether this nation, or any nation so conceived
and so dedicated, can long endure. We are met on a great battlefield
of symbols, where images, language and stories are weaponized
to protect ideology of white supremacy, to inspire identification
and mark territory. Many lives and liberties have been lost, and
communities terrorized under the enduring legacy of the Confederacy.
Now we must bring forth the balance of justice.

The Confederate flag, as representative of the Confederate States of
America and its constitution shall hang for the crimes of Treason and
promotion and protection of Slavery.

The Confederate flag, as representative of Southern Pride and
Heritage shall hang for the crimes of Terrorism and promotion of
White Supremacy.

The Confederate flag shall hang as an acknowledgement of the
trauma and pain caused to the African American Experience and its
peoples by the Confederacy and its protectors and promoters.

The Confederate flag shall hang as an affirmation that the South
shall never rise again among us in body or soul.

The Confederate flag shall hang as an act of closure, as an act of
justice, as an act of moral redress, in the recurring nightmare of an
incredibly divisive chapter in American History, forging new ground
for healing and forgiveness.

To move forward together, it is time for us, in this very belated
moment, to condemn this troubled flag to death, and search within
our creative essence for new life, new symbols and new stories that
shall rise up from a deeply scarred past of oppression and opprobrium
into a space of redemption and rebirth that honors and protects peace,
liberty and justice for us all.

John Sims, 2017
Adapted from his text, The Gettysburg Redress, 2004

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