THIS ROAD

by Joseph Bruchac
In Memory of So Many
Juneteenth 2023

How long is this road?
This road to Montgomery?
to Selma, to Jackson,
to Chicago, Los Angeles
Minneapolis
This seemingly endless
road that they walked.
Never walking alone,
their ancestors with them

Some ancestors
who were torn from
the rich red soil
of a land across wide water
as salty as tears,
a Land that they still carried
In their hearts and their stories.

Some came from the soil
just as African red
of those states where a person
was seen as less than human,
though that same fire burned
in their held memories.

Some are walking today
In defiance of power
Knowing that their lives matter.
And that freedom is real.

anger, confusion, and uncertainty
were the seeds that were sown
by those who held power
And in their narrow minds
saw not people, but color

So the past is not past
And this road still goes on
There are miles yet to go,
But the circle is strong,
For those who don’t give up.

My brothers, my sisters
My own people remember
that we, too, have been walking,
sometimes right there beside you.
And I hold out my hand,
still believing that kindness
and sharing may bring us,
despite all the losses
that we felt and will still feel,
to that place in the blood,
in this land we have died for,
that place of belonging
that all our ancestors
have never forgotten,
have promised to us,
if we never give up.