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Colored pencil art G.Gaul
This is a factual (and partially fictionalized) depiction of one lynching/killing of Mary Turner, a black woman and her unborn baby, in Georgia in 1918. The recently opened National Memorial for Peace and Justice Museum in Montgomery Alabama chronicles approximately 4,000 lynchings of blacks that took place in Jim Crow South (reconstruction South) from circa 1870 to 1968. Including over a hundred lynchings of black women and children. This is an indication of how deep the "systemic racism" is here in America. The horrific, actual killing account is accurate (as brutal as it is) as reported in the newspaper. Early 1800s Black Anti Slavery Activist Nat Turner was an ancestor of Mary Turner. The Mary Turner Project (MTP), a diverse group of advocates, educators and descendants of Mary Turner, has approved the publishing of this poem. 475 word.
Poem of the day notes: As an advocacy poem, this poem has elicited numerous responses from readers on several sites that I am on other than Poetrysoup (Allpoetry, Poemhunter). These responses run the gamut from weeping in regret, to sudden calls to action, to one reader who had to revisit her psychiatrist. This makes me feel that this piece has the power to make a difference. It's surprising how few readers are aware of this horrific situation that existed in Jim Crow South. And with that I can make a contribution through my poetry to make people more aware of systemic racism and become active at fighting against it. Either by joining action groups or simply through their vote. So when this poem draws responses, wins contests, or is featured on sites like this one, it rekindles my faith that people do care. We can be a more compassionate society and quell the hate of discrimination against all people.