Modern Song of the Enslaved Free Man

Oh Freedom!
Oh Freedom I call for you!
Not in chains this black man is no longer in.
Not in the oppression of another race’s self-proclaimed superiority.
My own people we enslave ourselves, kill ourselves, rape ourselves of our own freedom, our own culture, we forget our own history.

Whom the Son sets free is free indeed!
The Senate passed it on April 8th, 1864
The House of Representatives on January 31st, 1865
The 13th Amendment stated that, “Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction,” and yet my African Americans, and yet my beautiful people, and yet the children of those who fought so bravely for this freedom, we continue to stay in these chains of our own self ignorance.
The chains of sin bind us because we will not hear God’s words, nor read it, nor cling
to the sense of family our ancestors once embraced. Survival of the fittest and every African Amer-ri-can black man for themselves.

Don’t you hear freedom crying?
Can’t you see her tears?
Why sit in the back of the bus, not teach our children morals, instill in them values?
Why not teach them the lessons that were taught to us of self-worth, of love, of great power?
Power of the words we read, the power within the pen,
the power to love one another, to honor God, and be proud of their skin?

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. said, “In a sense we have come to our nation's capital to cash a check. When the architects of our republic wrote the magnificent words of the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence, they were signing a promissory note to which every American was to fall heir. This note was a promise that all men, yes, black men as well as white men, would be guaranteed the unalienable rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness,” and yet we spit upon these rights every day.

Black mothers are unhappy for there are not strong Black men to raise their sons; who die on the street daily, in alleys, in gutters, all with the power of another Black man’s gun. Black daughters are in need of lessons to be virtuous woman proud and strong. Not to be mistreated, abused, and pregnant at an early age, or left to figure out the world on their own. Is this the unalienable rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness the slaves died for and the colored people of yesterday marched for?

Or maybe my perception is off. And I’m the one who’s blind. Or today will we make a change and continue the fight for freedom our ancestors once fought for.

Cry out like Maya Angelou and proclaim that you are free:
“Did you want to see me broken? Bowed head and lowered eyes?Shoulders falling down like teardrops. Weakened by my soulful cries. You may shoot me with your words, You may cut me with your eyes, You may kill me with your hatefulness, But still, like air, I'll rise. Out of the huts of history's shame I rise Up from a past that's rooted in pain I rise I'm a black ocean, leaping and wide,Welling and swelling I bear in the tide.Leaving behind nights of terror and fear I rise Into a daybreak that's wondrously clear I rise Bringing the gifts that my ancestors gave,I am the dream and the hope of the slave. I rise I rise I rise,”

Will we rise and make our dreams come true?
To break free from the chains of modern day.
To take the opportunities to better ourselves, our family, friends, and
no longer become negative statistics or keep our own people in bondage.
It starts with Jesus and the freedom that he brings.
It starts with forgiveness, with love, healing, and family.
Look at yourself and ask the question did I set one of my brother and sisters free to day
with my actions or words. Or did I further strengthen the iron in the chains the enemy has placed on them.

Oh Freedom I call for you.
No Lord Jesus I call for you.
Before I be a modern day slave
Lord I’ll be buried in my grave.
Jesus my freedom set my people free.