laeti diapo (for my people)
TRANSCRIPT
Poem and presentation by Laetitia Dossou
FOR MY PEOPLE
For my people from the sand dunes of the
Sahara to the Cape of Good Hope;
For my people from the coast of Senegal to the
Horn of Africa;
For my people who were enslaved for
centuries;
For my people who toiled under the
scorching sun;For my people whose knees were humbly
bent;For my people whose feet are
cracked and hands rough;
For my people who endured
cruelty;
For my people who paraded
naked with whip marks on their
bodies;
For the women who bore the fruits of their wombs in
darkness;For the men
shackled and tied down as the
phantom of our past mocked us;For the boys and girls who were denied life and died brutally;
For my people who were deceived;For my people trying to create
their own dreams;For my people
suffering to find themselves in this
harsh world;
For my brothers and sisters of generations past, present, and
future;For my people so close to their
dreams yet so far away;
May we rise!May a new page be
turned in our history!
May we stand united
and may our generation be a peaceful, forgiving
one!May this
resound in our ears!
This is for my
people.
Sources • http://www.joaoleitaofoto.com/images/20081227100441_woman
-saharawi-mauritania.jpg• http://server14.sitewizard.co.uk/sites/whoisninamiller/images/fre
edom1.jpg• http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_jN7PogF33lA/SFSyej5fvNI/AAAAAAA
AATI/NTMrrCjMYaM/s400/shackled.jpg• http://hitchcock.itc.virginia.edu/SlaveTrade/collection/large/NW0
301.JPG• http://bbs.chinadaily.com.cn/attachments/month_0612/two-
hands_lgct0YHBmAD5.jpg• http://crawfurd.dk/illu/weekly/mamaafrica.jpg• http://www.starstore.com/acatalog/Africa_tribal-l.jpg• http://www.panhala.net/Archive/The_Weighing.jpg• http://www.cartage.org.lb/en/themes/sciences/earthscience/
Geology/Deserts/Deserts/Desertification/Introduction/drought.gif• http://api.ning.com/files/73Hf2Pv*49LCqHdrPQU83hsmufGcL-
jM12OXCYzv4jYNm-8jHEGAY7IJlU9o3WrVuwA2HOvYs5IEDJoV*seW9GtYkbnvN4p7/gallery_Africa1.jpg
• http://www.laprogressive.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/06/sad-black-woman.gif
• http:/ww.alokli.com/