{"id":1790,"date":"2015-06-08T17:51:29","date_gmt":"2015-06-08T17:51:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.keithalanhamilton.com\/?p=1790"},"modified":"2021-02-22T15:37:25","modified_gmt":"2021-02-22T15:37:25","slug":"are-we-not-all","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.keithalanhamilton.com\/?p=1790","title":{"rendered":"are we not all"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"20150517_151942\"<\/a><\/p>\n

as I stand at a point
\non the Slave Trail
\nwhere another
\nhistorical maker
\nwas located
\nI see
\nthe Shockoe Bottom
\narea of Richmond
\non the other side
\nof the James River
\nif your eye follows
\nthe line of the I-95 bridge
\nright over the tip of
\nMayo Island
\n~   you arrive at a place
\nin the city
\nthat the slaves
\nwere once taken
\nto be sold
\nwhipped at the market   ~
\nput in Lumpkin’s Jail   ~
\nhung from the gallows
\nand buried
\nin the Upper Shockoe Valley
\nlater to be called
\nthe African Ancestral
\nBurial Ground<\/p>\n

now on this marker
\nthere is
\na historic emblem
\nwith the inscription
\n“AM I NOT A MAN
\nAND A BROTHER?<\/em>”
\npowerful words
\nthat did challenge
\nthe very fabric
\nof slavery in America
\n~   quoting the English potter
\nJosiah Wedgwood …..<\/p>\n

…..   words that made
\nmy mind swiftly flow
\nlike the current
\nback down the river
\ntowards the Chesapeake Bay
\n~   my memory
\ncalmly running into
\nthe Elizabeth River
\nthen the Albemarle
\nand Chesapeake Canal
\nthe spot
\nthis artist
\ntook a snapshot
\nof his muse and hero
\nRLF
\n~    while she was taking
\na snapshot
\nof this place
\nwith a canal lock
\nnext to the Great Bridge
\nwhere a battle happened
\nin 1775
\nand the marker
\neludes to the enslaved
\nthat participated there
\nthe Ethiopian regiment
\n(not really Ethiopian
\nbut African Americans)
\n~   who were offered freedom
\nby the British
\nfor their loyalty
\nif they fought against
\nthe “colonial rebels”
\nwho were fighting for
\nthe land of the free<\/em>
\noh how
\nmy thoughts overflow
\nwith the irony
\nof the situation ….<\/p>\n

the land of the free<\/em>
\nindeed …..  is the right ideal
\nto bring to fruition
\nregardless
\nof the color of our skin
\nsisters and brothers
\nwomen and men
\nco-existing together
\nspiritually and physically
\ninterconnected by the symbolic
\nwaters of life
\nwhether by sea or river
\n~   are we not all
\na part of
\nTHE HUMAN RACE    ~
\nI ask …..
\nwhile standing
\nin remembrance of the past
\nat this historical marker
\nalong the Slave Trail<\/p>\n

peace out<\/p>\n

Image & Words by    ~Keith Alan Hamilton~<\/p>\n

This Image with Words will be a part of my Slavery in America Image with Words Collection<\/a> now exhibited in The Urban Individualist Artist Collective, Gallery #219 at Art Works In Richmond, VA.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

as I stand at a point on the Slave Trail where another historical maker was located I see the Shockoe Bottom area of Richmond on the other side of the James River if your eye follows the line of the I-95 bridge right over the tip of Mayo Island ~   you arrive at a … Continue reading “are we not all”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[30,29],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1790","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-slaveryinamerica","category-poertyposse2015"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.keithalanhamilton.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1790","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.keithalanhamilton.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.keithalanhamilton.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.keithalanhamilton.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.keithalanhamilton.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1790"}],"version-history":[{"count":21,"href":"https:\/\/www.keithalanhamilton.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1790\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3391,"href":"https:\/\/www.keithalanhamilton.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1790\/revisions\/3391"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.keithalanhamilton.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1790"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.keithalanhamilton.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1790"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.keithalanhamilton.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1790"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}