BLACK GOLD BULLION and THE RECONSTRUCTION OF A PEOPLE... An Ode to the Professional Black Athlete

BLACK GOLD BULLION and THE RECONSTRUCTION OF A PEOPLE…

An Ode to the Professional Black Athlete

What is it about gold that is so ubiquitously captivating to people?  People just like to possess it!  Is it the warm glow of its golden amber color? Is it in its qualities of being a precious metal? Is it the smoothness of its texture or is it really not admiration at all, but only its raw value?

Everybody raped her, whether it was intentionally or indirectly; sorrowful before or after the act, nevertheless – the raped still occurred.  Everyone involved in the rape is culpable and implicitly guilty of orchestrating her shame.  Her beauty is what drew them all to her.  Beauty can oftentimes be both a gift and a curse.  Sometimes you can be too beautiful for your own good.  Sort of like in today’s time – a Stripper.  Most wouldn't flock to a strip club if the women weren't desirable. 

Africa was her name and people came from near and far to bask in her beauty.  People had been telling her all of her life how beautiful she was.  She was a catch because she was not only beautiful, but wealthy!

Her rape wasn't private, and to add to her shame, everyone knew about it.  They knew about the “train” that got ran on her.  They left her depleted; and for dead.  She began prostituting only as a means of survival and then it became her only tool for survival.  She had every attribute: beauty, culture, well-traveled and buxom in all things affluent.  The rape was systematic and a long drawn out process.  Rape affects the victim over and again both mentally and physically. 

No one came to her aid, the ones who had committed the rape knew what condition they had left her in and some even felt remorsefully sorry regarding her state, but how do you apologize and give recompense after such violent exchange?  Because rape is violent!  They thought that time would heal her old wounds, not knowing that the original wound had fissured over the years and now grown into canyons of grand proportion.  Some wounds are left to fester and never heal because they were left untreated for such an extended period of time.  Her original intent was to be a self-made Madame and work for herself.   She soon found herself outwitted because she was dealing with an institution that was one of the oldest professions in existence in the world and found herself in over her head. She was losing more than she was gaining.  Soon after she was bankrupt and left in ruins and shame.

Africa decided that she had no choice than to get herself hooked-up with a pimp.  His name was America.  He was the most dominate pimp around and he said that he would “take care of her”.  He told her at first that he loved her and that he just needed her to sleep with a few people he knew and they would have a Bonnie and Clyde – Ride or die - relationship.  She fell for the line because she wanted to be loved, and to be a part of the country she had relocated to.

America put her to work over in his neck of the woods, where the pickin’ was good, down South and because she was still so beautiful, and fertile.  She was fruitful even in times of lack and war.  Regardless of all that she had been through, her beauty still showed through.  It was her spirit is what drew them, is what they never seemed to figure out.  Her spirit showed tenacity, fortitude, strength and perseverance. 

America was jealous of her, because he could never break her spirit and he could not for the life of him understand why!  He didn't understand why Africa wouldn't give up, why she would sometimes run away or why she would continually fight for her freedom, even if she sometimes was faced with death or brutal punishment.

One day Africa was out working the streets and America came looking for her.  He asked her straightforward, “What is it about you that people want and desire to be around?”  She replied, “I know my worth.  I might have endured a violent past and despicable things may have befallen me but upon this earth, I am Black Gold Bullion.  I am the most influential and valuable commodity upon the face of this Earth.  I survive, reinvent, replenish, subdue and take dominion because it is the full embodiment of who I am.”

“Our bodies and minds, physical prowess and determination become fruitful, even in dry and barren places. I will always be impactful to any society that I become associated with and grafted to; economically, socially and politically.”  

We are the people who bring dread and fear because we can’t be conquered. 

(Professional Athletes) are the modern day slave but they shouldn't take that comment negatively.  We survive as a people because each generation has casualties and this time around, it’s Professional Sports turn to bear the cross, and the brunt of the load – to tell Pharaoh to “Let My People Go!”  It’s a privilege to be chosen to participate in your own emancipation.  The feeling of exhilaration must be overwhelming and empowering to know that you, not anyone else, negotiated your own freedom from oppression and an impoverished cycle of life, not just a lifestyle; because poverty is running generationally rampant.  Reconstruction after the Civil War took time and so will our transformation.