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?

Slavery 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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