The New 'Massahs'

America has always been about color;

not black,
not white,
not brown,
not yellow;

America has always been about color.

Slavery was never about race or white supremacy,
slavery has always been about economics,
pure and simple,
using black men just made it feasible,
gave it a sort of justified nobility.

Did skin color matter to the Romans
when they enslaved conquered nations?
did it matter to African chiefs and sultans
who enslaved their own people
then sold them to white slave traders?
do you really think plantation owners
cared about the skin color
of their cheap, disposable work force?
don’t you think they would have used poor, uneducated whites
and saved all those costs
of traveling half-way around the world
if they could have gotten away with it?
but the truth is they couldn’t,
so they justified it with black men
brought from the dark continent of Africa;

after all, they weren’t real men
were they?

It has never been about race or the color of skin,
it has always been about something much deeper,
it has always been about those who have
taking from those who have not.

Fear of homelessness and starvation
has replaced bullwhips and chains,
fear of losing what little one has
provides the new slaves of choice,
who patiently wait for crumbs
from the ‘massahs’ table.

The new ‘massahs’ come in all colors
but they all have one color in common;
green is the color of true power and domination,
green is the color of the new ‘massah’;
but then it was all along,
wasn’t it?

America has always been about color.
.
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