Quilting the Black-Eyed Pea (We’re Going to Mars)
![We’re going to Mars for the same reason Marco Polo rocketed
to China
for the same reason Columbus trimmed
his sails on a dream of spices
for the very same reason Shackleton
was enchanted with penguins
for the reason we fall in love
It’s the only adventure
We’re going to Mars because Peary couldn’t go to the North
Pole without Matthew Henson
because Chicago couldn’t be a city
without Jean Baptiste Du Sable
because George Washington Carver and
his peanut were the right partners for
Booker T.
It’s a life seeking thing
We’re going to Mars because whatever is wrong with us will not
get right with us so we journey forth
carrying the same baggage
but every now and then leaving
one little bitty thing behind:
maybe drop torturing Hunchbacks here;
maybe drop lynching Billy Budd there;
maybe not whipping Uncle Tom to death;
maybe resisting global war.
One day looking for prejudice to slip…….one day looking for
hatred to tumble by the wayside…….one day maybe the
whole community will no longer be vested in who sleeps with
whom…….maybe one day the Jewish community will be at
rest…….the Christian community will be content…….the
Muslim community will be at peace…….and all the rest of us
will get great meals at Holydays and learn new songs and sing
in harmony
We’re going to Mars because it gives us a reason to change
If Mars came here it would be ugly
nations would band together to hunt down and kill Martians
and being the stupid undeserving life forms that we are
we would also hunt down and kill
what would be termed
Martian Sympathizers
As if the Fugitive Slave Law wasn’t
bad enough then
As if the so-called War on Terrorism
isn’t pitiful Now
When do we learn and what does it take to teach us things cannot be:
What we want
When we want
As we want
Other people have ideas and inputs
And why won’t they leave Rap Brown alone
The future is ours to take
We’re going to Mars because we have the hardware to do it…
we have
Rockets and fuel and money and stuff
and the only
Reason NASA is holding back is they
don’t know
If what they send out will be what they
get back
So let me slow this down;
Mars is 1 year of travel to get there…….
plus 1 year of living on Mars…….
plus 1 year to return to Earth…….
= 3 years of Earthlings being in a tight space going to
an unknown place with an unsure welcome awaiting
them … tired muscles … unknown and unusual foods … harsh
conditions … and no known landmarks to keep them human …
only a hope and a prayer that they will be shadowed beneath
a benign hand and there is no historical precedence for that
except this:
The trip to Mars can only be understood through Black Americans
I say, the trip to Mars can only be understood through Black Americans
The people who were captured and enslaved immediately
recognized the men who chained and whipped them and herded
them into ships so tightly packed there was no room to turn …
no privacy to respect … no tears to fall without landing on
another … were not kind and gentle and concerned for the state
of their souls … no … the men with whips and with chains were
understood to be killers … feared to be cannibals … known
to be sexual predators … the captured knew they were in
trouble … in an unknown place … without communicable
abilities with a violent and capricious species …
But they could look out and still see signs of Home
they could still smell the sweetness in the air
they could see the clouds floating above the land they loved
But there reached a point where the captured could not only not
look back
they had no idea which way “back” might be
there was nothing in the middle of the deep blue water to
indicate which way home might be and it was that
moment … when the decision had to be made:
Do they continue forward with a resolve to see
this thing through or do they embrace the waters
and find another world
In the belly of the ship a moan was heard … and someone
picked up the moan … and a song was raised … and that song
would offer comfort … and hope … and tell the story …
When we go to Mars………it’s the same thing….it’s Middle
Passage
When the rocket red glares the astronauts will be able to see
themselves pull away from Earth … as the ship goes deeper
they will see a sparkle of blue … and then one day not only will
they not see Earth … they won’t know which way to look …
and that is why NASA needs to call Black America
They need to ask us: How did you calm your fears … How
were you able to decide you were human even when everything
said you were not … How did you find the comfort in the face
of the improbable to make the world you came to your world …
How was your soul able to look back and wonder
And we will tell them what to do: To successfully go to Mars
and back you will need a song … take some Billie Holiday for
the sad days and some Charlie Parker for the happy ones but
always keep at least one good Spiritual for comfort … You
will need a slice or two of meatloaf and if you can manage it
some fried chicken in a shoebox with a nice moist lemon pound
cake … a bottle of beer because no one should go that far with-
out a beer and maybe a six-pack so that if there is life on Mars
you can share … Popcorn for the celebration when you land
while you wait for your land legs to kick in … and as you climb
down the ladder from your spaceship to the Martian surface …
look to your left … and there you’ll see a smiling community
quilting a black-eyed pea … watching you descend](https://issues.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/Giovanni-Quilting-the-Black-Eyed-Pea-Were-Going-to-Mars.png)
Timothy Makepeace, JWST Vertical Primary Mirror, 2017, charcoal and pastel on paper, 49 x 49 inches.
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