racial trauma

Filling the Hole

Filling the Hole

It was 2004. I was incarcerated in Wisconsin’s Dane County Jail. I had forged checks on the account of my seventy-year-old friend, Miss Milele Chikasa Anana, one of the most prominent, renowned, highly respected members of the African American community, Madison,...

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Mother Earth

Mother Earth

I love listening to her heart beat,"Beat, beat""Beat", "beat"In my mother's wombFirst split,Second split,Ingesting her painFourth split,Eighth split A world full of possibilitiesI was chosen for herShe for ISixteenth split, thirty second split In my mother's womb, I...

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I Will Not

I Will Not

I will not self-abandon.I will not lend my worth.I will not dance for you, but for me.I know peace is the answer. I will not succumb to oppression. I will not bow down to the white male. I will not forget my purpose on Earth. I will not be defined...

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Palace of Mirrors

Palace of Mirrors

This song represents a time of darkness just before the dawn of my ACA recovery journey. Its meaning and feel have changed and grown from when I first wrote and recorded it. Over the nearly four years of my time in ACA, I have come back to it and listened with greater...

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