WEBVTT

00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:00.610 align:middle line:90%


00:00:00.610 --> 00:00:03.450 align:middle line:90%
This is a poem I like.

00:00:03.450 --> 00:00:06.450 align:middle line:90%
It is called "Slave Ships."

00:00:06.450 --> 00:00:09.240 align:middle line:84%
And I like to explain that
I was reading something

00:00:09.240 --> 00:00:12.270 align:middle line:90%
about slave ships.

00:00:12.270 --> 00:00:14.730 align:middle line:84%
These are the ships,
notice what I'm not saying,

00:00:14.730 --> 00:00:18.780 align:middle line:84%
these are the ships that
went to the African continent

00:00:18.780 --> 00:00:21.870 align:middle line:84%
and brought back free
people to this shore

00:00:21.870 --> 00:00:24.450 align:middle line:90%
where they were enslaved.

00:00:24.450 --> 00:00:26.670 align:middle line:84%
I am not saying it went
to the African continent

00:00:26.670 --> 00:00:28.470 align:middle line:90%
and brought back slaves.

00:00:28.470 --> 00:00:29.860 align:middle line:90%
There's a difference.

00:00:29.860 --> 00:00:31.890 align:middle line:84%
Went to the African
continent, brought

00:00:31.890 --> 00:00:35.100 align:middle line:84%
back people who were
free, who had been freed,

00:00:35.100 --> 00:00:37.530 align:middle line:84%
and brought them here
where they were enslaved.

00:00:37.530 --> 00:00:41.100 align:middle line:84%
Certainly not here
but other places.

00:00:41.100 --> 00:00:43.200 align:middle line:84%
The names of these
ships were because I

00:00:43.200 --> 00:00:45.210 align:middle line:84%
think things should be
called what they are,

00:00:45.210 --> 00:00:47.470 align:middle line:90%
you know, like Amistad.

00:00:47.470 --> 00:00:49.290 align:middle line:90%
You know what Amistad means.

00:00:49.290 --> 00:00:50.550 align:middle line:90%
Friendship.

00:00:50.550 --> 00:00:52.200 align:middle line:90%
You know, can you believe that?

00:00:52.200 --> 00:00:55.770 align:middle line:84%
Now why shouldn't it be
called like, your children are

00:00:55.770 --> 00:00:57.060 align:middle line:90%
in danger.

00:00:57.060 --> 00:00:59.535 align:middle line:84%
You know, everybody
lock their window.

00:00:59.535 --> 00:01:01.680 align:middle line:90%
[LAUGHS]

00:01:01.680 --> 00:01:05.970 align:middle line:84%
Three of the ships about
which I was reading,

00:01:05.970 --> 00:01:10.590 align:middle line:84%
one was called "Jesus,"
one was called "Angel,"

00:01:10.590 --> 00:01:13.350 align:middle line:84%
and one was called
"The Grace of God."

00:01:13.350 --> 00:01:15.240 align:middle line:84%
And of course,
many of these ships

00:01:15.240 --> 00:01:18.390 align:middle line:84%
were piloted by
ministers; the man who

00:01:18.390 --> 00:01:24.900 align:middle line:84%
wrote "Amazing Grace" was
the captain of a slave ship.

00:01:24.900 --> 00:01:28.290 align:middle line:84%
And that's why I think he
probably knew a lot about grace.

00:01:28.290 --> 00:01:30.452 align:middle line:90%
I was certainly hoping for it.

00:01:30.452 --> 00:01:31.035 align:middle line:90%
"Slave Ships."

00:01:31.035 --> 00:01:34.010 align:middle line:90%


00:01:34.010 --> 00:01:37.790 align:middle line:84%
Loaded like spoons into
the belly of Jesus,

00:01:37.790 --> 00:01:41.480 align:middle line:84%
where we lay for weeks,
for months, in the sweat

00:01:41.480 --> 00:01:44.930 align:middle line:90%
and stink of our own breathing.

00:01:44.930 --> 00:01:50.780 align:middle line:84%
Jesus, why do you
not protect us?

00:01:50.780 --> 00:01:53.750 align:middle line:84%
Chained to the heart
of the angel, where

00:01:53.750 --> 00:01:57.080 align:middle line:84%
the prayers we never
tell are hot and red

00:01:57.080 --> 00:01:59.600 align:middle line:90%
as our bloody ankles.

00:01:59.600 --> 00:02:07.820 align:middle line:84%
"Jesus," "Angel," can these be
men who vomit us out from ships

00:02:07.820 --> 00:02:16.700 align:middle line:84%
called "Jesus," "Angel," "Grace
of God" onto a heathen country?

00:02:16.700 --> 00:02:23.720 align:middle line:84%
"Jesus," "Angel," ever
again can this tongue

00:02:23.720 --> 00:02:30.740 align:middle line:84%
speak, can these bones
walk, "Grace of God," can

00:02:30.740 --> 00:02:35.080 align:middle line:90%
this sin live?"

00:02:35.080 --> 00:02:37.000 align:middle line:90%