Somewhere in this Global Garden by Tomeka Reid
A Chicago based composer, improvisor and professor, Tomeka's piece for unaccompanied voice to the poetry of Ugochi Nwaogwugwu speaks directly to the Black American experience of racism.
Music by: Tomeka Reid
Text by: Ugochi Nwaogwugwu
Mezzo-Soprano: Alicia Hall Moran
Text:
For the Dearly Departed
When has melanin skin ever been safe
to go outside
in America?
Corona virus will have to get in line
We already dying at home
Botham Jean, 26
as we lay Breonna Taylor, 26
In church as we pray Charleston church shootings,
Clementa C. Pinckney, 41
Cynthia Marie Graham Hurd, 54
Susie Jackson, 87
Ethel Lee Lance, 70
Depayne Middleton-Doctor, 49
Tywanza Sanders, 26
Daniel L. Simmons, 74
Sharonda Coleman-Singleton, 45
Myra Thompson, 59
16th Street Baptist Church bombings in Birmingham
Addie Mae Collins, 14
Denise McNair, 11
Carole Robertson, 14
Cynthia Wesley, 14.
In streets as we walk, or jog alone
Ahmoud Arbery, 25
Or with friends Rekia Boyd, 22
Selling loose squares Eric Garner, 43
Going to the corner store Trayvon Martin, 17
Behind a car like a dog George Floyd, 46
playing an innocent game of cops
and robbers on the lawn
with toy gun Tamir Rice, 12
or driving while sassy black Sandra Bland, 28
shots fired in the back Walter Scott, 50
Rayshard Brooks, 27
Jacob Blake, 29
because somewhere in this global garden
a rancid seed of thought
is bearing poisoned fruit
Black is not
placid people positioned
to die like pawns
in this planetary projection
looking for peace on planet earth
on foreign turf even if it is your birthplace
birthright
Already reduced to less than
skunk in worldview
Society reeks of our funk,
blues
Covid-19 is on beat, keeping time
with Ol' Jim Crow. I want to know
who will be next casualty
of this unseen enemy?
I am certain their race will mirror me
my sister,
cousin, uncle, father, aunty, mother,
brother, lover
What was their pre- existing condition?
Being black in America
Subliminal sundown towns still abound
We are reluctant soldiers
secretly recruited
in this domestic war to strike powers
that be righteous and wise from behind
curtain of homeland security guise
Strategically
placing indigenous lives
on grim reaper assembly line
As if they don’t matter
until none of us are left
Sacrificing self
for a country force-feeding
frankenfood flavored lies
silencing screams
feasting on forgotten flesh
until belly full of dark meat.
Remember to follow us:
This activity is supported in part by the California Arts Council, a state agency. Learn more at cac.ca.gov
Supported in part by a grant from the Arts Council for Long Beach and the City of Long Beach.
Long Beach Opera events are supported, in part, by the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors through the Los Angeles County Arts Commission