Intercultural Life at Lake Forest College
The Community
By Kenneth Clady-Mason ‘12
I wrote the poem below after taking Professor M.K. Asante Jr.’s Martin Luther King Jr. Celebration keynote speech to heart. He encouraged me to think deeply about the virtues and vices within the “Heart” of the Afro-American community. It would seem as though the negative realities that those who derive from the African Diaspora have experienced (racism, lynching and other physical abuse, segregation, etc.) would embed a strong sense of unity and intentions of improvement. When such social issues and actions were more overt, many Afro-Americans stood together and fought against these forces. Little by little, these forces have ceased, but have not deceased.
But, instead of building upon the great progress that many civil rights leaders have set in motion, many Afro-Americans enforce a paradox: self-oppression. Although there is always a lot of talk about what “The Man is doing to us” and/or “We can’t do this because of the Man”, but it appears to me that many of the people who are doing this talking are doing just that, and nothing more. My poem enforces the idea that the dream is not lost, but put up on a shelf by many Afro-Americans because they have become blind to more suppressed oppression. Although the “dream” consisted of equal rights and privileges for all Afro-Americans, the peace within the Afro-American community has been rattled and plagued with self-hate and self-impediment. However, this can change if everyone in this community “wakes up” and puts their eyes back on the “prize” once again.
“The Community”
By Kenneth Clady-Mason
The community…what it’s supposed to be.
A place of communion for the young and the old
A place for refuge and shelter from the cold
Where there’s love and bliss at the end of every kiss and a home that caters to the delicate soul
Rich with wisdom and limitless dreams that gleam like light that shines in the darkness of the darkest nights
Strong, consensual…turning visions into victory and exploiting every bit of hidden potential
Behold…what it is supposed to be… and now…what it is…
Where respect is lost and morals cease to exist
Filled with the very hate that annihilates the fates of those with the inspiration to break the mold
Victory for the unambitious, victims fall prey to the cold and vicious, the heartless reign over the meek and seek dark success while it is oppression…they maintain
Refusing to uncover their eyes from the veil disguised…as Blackness
Why so much self-destruction?
The community…as it is…but one man…had a dream…
Sadly, something impedes the seeds to bloom this dream within the very people that it’s supposed to redeem
But as most are caught up in this false dignity and brought up to deny cost of history, they turn their back on the revolution and shatter the possibility of righteous victory
Something must be done, but too many sit back and relax while this battle is yet to be conquered or won
The dream will stay a dream…the community will remain as it is…not as it should be or could be…until the war has begun…then…can this community be free…
