Freedom in Chains

On this day of freedom celebration from oppression we must never forget those who we oppressed and denied the same freedom.

Freedom in Chains

By

Carlos Lorenzo Estrada 

I'm not even human in the eyes of hate,

Seen as three fifths of a man; other colors can relate.

The shackles may be gone, but the hate still remains. 

I can see it in their eyes; should be locked up in chains.

As a lighter shade of brown I just want to be free.

But I'm thrown in a cage and stripped of all my dignity.

I'm not even human in the eyes of hate.

They took my freedom, my family, my will to retaliate.

But as long as I can think, I will always be free.

You can chain and hang this body, but It'll always be me.

So let me elucidate

What others may proliferate.

You see my mind, is as free as a bird

But freedom to me...is just another word.

Author's Note

Inspired by Maya Angelou's "Caged Bird" as well as the haunting Billie Holiday song "Strange Fruit". The words we write are inspired by the voices which came before us. They are our Muse.

Reviews

[Laz K.]

I am not American, but lived there for a while. The issue of racism is an interesting one to me, but it is one I observe from the outside. I have read your post about your personal experiences, and it must have been very hard. I also understand the perspective of the lady who questioned the existence of "white privilege" in her comment. The best we can do is to honestly express how we feel and think about the issue, and try to understand the perspectives of the "others." Maya Angelou was an amazing, captivating person, and your poem honors her work and legacy. It is amazing to me how politics seeps into everything, and art is no exception.

[Carlos Lorenzo Estrada]

Thank you, Laz, for your comments. I totally agree with trying to understand the perspectives of others. Open and honest discussions on racism and politics have to be approached with empathy and a willingness to be open as well as sympathetic to the plight of others. Our perspectives and views come from individual experiences lived in societies fraught with multitudes of ideologies and biases. Some gain from them inherently while others don't and it is prudent when conversing to take into account one's place in them. And those who are not granted the same entitlements. It is not to generalize or implicate an entire ethnicity for the continued promulgation of a broken systematic ideology but to come to an understanding that it exists. In that way a consensus could be achieved to resolve and move forward in order to be more unified. To be better in equity, within a diverse culture. We get no where standing behind walls cursing at each other. We must remove them and come to see the humanity in one another and the value of each individual life. To live in our better angels. Art allows us this opportunity. It is the open door, but we must choose to walk through it to Providence.

[Neville]

.. there are so many contradictions in this world of ours and so many juxtapositions and injustices too .. your captivating title in its own write is a perfect example of what I mean .. and what followed is the kind of stuff that should not be consigned to locked cupboards and drawers .. but rather shared and explored and used as some kind of sounding board in order to inform and help others see what is in fact nowt but truth ..

[Carlos Lorenzo Estrada]

Thank you, Neville, for your comment on this poem. I wrote this to spark conversation on this subject, which is well needed, especially here in the US. For hundreds of years we have refused to listen or carry constructive meaningful dialogue on the subject of racism. Even as it permeates and worsens within our nation people still bury their heads in the sand refusing to see the perspective of the other side. We are seen less American or unpatriotic for revealing our grievances which are legitimate in nature. Year after year people of color are killed simply because of ethnicity and culture. Many ridiculed and told to go back where they came from. As Americans it is our right to be treated with equity and humanity afforded to us by the constitution. I am sick and tired of seeing abuses and killings of Asians, Hispanics, Black Americans and Muslims. We need to have a serious discussion and find common ground on this issue of hatred. No matter how hard a segment of our society tries they can not erase these injustices by obfuscating the truth with lies, and being disingenuous. Such behavior only encourages the hatred more and in their silence make these people culpable to it, as well as reflects their true beliefs on the subject. If we don't attempt to come to terms with this issue then we will cease to exist as a country. And deservedly so.

[NotUsinganymore]

Interesting poem about being mistreated and having no freedom. Even today many places stil have 0 freedom for others.

[Carlos Lorenzo Estrada]

Yes so true Junglee we at times don't truly appreciate the freedoms we do have and are lucky to have in our society. We should strive to be better people and more unified because of it. Instead of trying to tear each other a part. Thank you for your kind comment.

[NotUsinganymore]

You are welcome. I posted a new poem! Please check it out c:

[Meenakshi Dutta]

Our mind, heart and soul can truly be free when we adore every tradition, culture, race wholeheartedly . We can only rise by lifting each other up.!!
It touched my heart.
Thanks for sharing this work.

[Carlos Lorenzo Estrada]

Thank you, Saga, for your true and beautiful words. You are correct until all of us come together and learn to see with better eyes that we are all the same then this world will always suffer through the difficulties of hatred. We must learn to accept every culture, every color, every heart as beautiful and equal in that beauty.I don't want to continue to live in a world where human beings are hated to the point they feel like this poem inside their soul. That is no way to exist and it only breeds more hate. And less love. Thank you for the kind comment. You truly are a kind and enlightened spirit.

[Meenakshi Dutta]

Truly, carlos, i completely agree with you on the point that even I hate to live in a such a society where racism is deep rooted..
Actually, we being a spiritual person consider someone as human, and a beautiful soul... And not otherwise.
So, I feel lamented when I see people around, who are crying and boasting over petty issues like this.. Not thinking even once that we are all going!!

More power to you and your pen.
Best wishes, love always.

[lightsong]

freedom is not in the body, freedom comes from within, when your mind is aware, when your heart is open, when your soul is soaring. if You have hate, fear, guilty... etc... and all those negative devastating feelings which wight You down instead of building You up, You are not free, and You will not be unless You get rid of them, moved away from them and be healed. powerful poem my friend specially this line, "I'm not even human in the eyes of hate" amazing and brilliant.

[Carlos Lorenzo Estrada]

Thank you, my friend, for your thoughts on this poem. Racism and hate is a powerful subject to broach and have a constructive and meaningful discussion on. Because our experience is so individualized that not everyone has gone through such things up close and personal. So some don't understand how destructive it can be. How it can put chains not just on the body but the mind as well, figuratively. Hateful words tear a person down and binds them, defines them in negative connotation. You start calling someone the N-word they start to believe it every time that word is thrown at them. They begin to see themselves less and less human and they start to believe that because in the eyes of hate their life has no value. This poem tries to speak not just of the physical actions but what the mental anguish does to a person who experiences hate in their life. And as you say nicely they must free their mind and rebuke what the hate has done to them spiritually in order to be at peace and recognize they are equal in humanity as anyone else. The color of their skin does not describe the content of their character and the love in their heart.

[mattavelli]

Hello, Carlos! :)
Racism is dumb. Hate is a lazy emotion. The USA has a tradition of hating the new groups that immigrate over. Most of the blacks didn't immigrate, but the transition out of slavery was similar. Anyway, imagine the cultural unity we could have if we could come together and hate some people, as a nation.

[Carlos Lorenzo Estrada]

Thank you for being my eyes, Matt. Even with these reading glasses and reading this thing over 30 times I still miss things. It was supposed to be Elucidate, this tablet screen is so small. And yes the of is missing. I'm going to fix this right now. I really do wish hate and indifference to others was eradicated from this world. It truly is a scourge that rots us from within and keeps us from being just better human beings. As always thank you my friend, your eyes are always needed to see the things I miss.

[Foxemerald]

Just curious why exactly you relate to being shackled in chains? What in society has caused you to think this way? The phrase white privilege seems to be thrown around a lot in the media these days but I have never gotten a full understanding of it. Whenever the questions is asked the explanation given is something about how white people just can't see it, because it's been so systemized that they are automatically racist without knowing. How can you be racist without knowing? I just don't buy it. I am personally tired of people thinking that white people are racist because of the way the system is set up. Not their fault- just like it isn't anyone's fault today what happened in this country a hundred and fifty years ago.
Anyhow, regardless of the political stuff behind it the flow and quality of the writing is very good. I encourage you to keep going, my friend.

[Carlos Lorenzo Estrada]

I respect your curiosity and candor on the subject, I can only equate my experience in life as a person of color. This is by no means an indictment of an entire ethnicity or culture of people, but to deny bias tendencies or racial thought does not permeate within a system of society would deny the actual oppression that defines aspects of our past. I gave a previous example where in the 80s I was pulled over by a white officer who told me his reasoning behind the stop was due to me not having my headlights on during a stop at an intersection. It was 6:45 pm on a summer day. The sun doesn't set till a little passed 8 pm. My friend who is Caucasian was in the car ahead of me, which I was following. He didn't have his headlights on either as the officer was sitting in his car scanning vehicles that went by at this stop. I will preface this with the fact I have never ever received a traffic citation in my entire life. Ever and I'm currently in my mid 50s and still have yet to be ticketed. Another personal example is in one of my previous jobs I worked in this company for over ten years at a credit card embossing company. A person who used to do the inventory suddenly quit his position giving a days notice. I volunteered to do the job while they searched to fill the position. For the next 8 months I worked completing orders and preforming the duties required of the job. My supervisor who I had worked for several years with praised the work I did, especially during the difficult holidays. When interviews started to fill the position with someone internally in the company I and another person applied. He was a new higher with about 9 months in the job as an embosser. He was straight out of high school with no college or previous work experience. I had been with the company for ten years with high reccomdations for productivity, conduct, punctuality. I was never late, nor ever sick. He got the job. I don't know your life experience, nor would I make any assumptions. But I have been called w*****k, field N-word, Spic, talked down to as if I didn't understand English. In kindergarten the teacher asked of the students to individually stand and say who they were and where they are from. I stood up presented my name and said proudly I'm American. She said no, that I was Mexican. It didn't matter that I was 3rd generation American, nor the fact that I was even born here. She could have said I was American with Hispanic roots, but she didn't and only doubled down when I tried to correct her. What hurt the most to me was my mother having to come to that school and apologize to that teacher. It was then that I realized at such a young age that in the eyes of some I wouldn't really be seen as fully American. In my 55 years of life there are more things I can say, but again this is only a reflection of my experience. I hope this small slice gives you a bit of what people of color have to endure on a daily basis. And I appreciate your curiosity on wanting to broach this subject that has so divided this country. Because in my eyes we are better then this, and we simply need to aspire to be so. Thank you for your kind review and words. I truly do appreciate it.

[Foxemerald]

Hi Carlos
Thank you for your thoughts and giving me such a thorough explanation of how experienced led you to what you think.
I have seen a lot of current topics about race today sensationalized in the media, and have asked the question about privilege to many people, and most of them cannot give me a response. Most of the time when I ask it I am demonized or immediately called out as a racist and/or any idiot for having the gall to even ask such a ‘biased question.’ I’ve seen this happen to other good hearted people in my race as well, and older folk for their politics, who meant no harm.

I grew up next to Detroit. The African Americans in the neighborhood of the city where my dad lived growing up would attempt to beat up my dad when he was coming home from school for years. He told me horror stories of this and of blacks robbing the grocery store where he works for 25 years, coming in with trucks and making off with hundreds of dollars worth of merchandise. My Arabic side of the family had several stores in the area and told me like stories. The police never did anything about it, in fact the uselessness of the law was so predictable that my cousins that owned the stores would go to the site before the police was even called, they knew it was going to take so long.

My boyfriend grew up around similar territory in Steubenville Ohio, and experienced similar problems with the African Americans who lived there.

Whites tend not to talk about their experiences because the media villifies them.

So you see, there are similar problems experienced on the other side of the aisle. I do disagree with the idea that you are racist without knowing- if we had no clue that we were being racist, how would we make any determinations? It’s simply having good versus bad morals and ethics, and what we should all be striving for.

I do NOT and will NEVER condone anyone being a racist, and I have friends from many cultures. I appreciate the differences between us immensely and continue to learn from culture that are different than my own.

Thank you again for your thorough response and sharing your experiences. Also for being respectful, because I don’t get that very often. It was nice to hear from someone REAL.

[Foxemerald]

Sorry I accidentally posted this comment above and not in response to what you wrote me:
read moreSorry I accidentally posted this comment above and not in response to what you wrote me:



Hi Carlos
Thank you for your thoughts and giving me such a thorough explanation of how experienced led you to what you think.
I have seen a lot of current topics about race today sensationalized in the media, and have asked the question about privilege to many people, and most of them cannot give me a response. Most of the time when I ask it I am demonized or immediately called out as a racist and/or any idiot for having the gall to even ask such a ‘biased question.’ I’ve seen this happen to other good hearted people in my race as well, and older folk for their politics, who meant no harm.

I grew up next to Detroit. The African Americans in the neighborhood of the city where my dad lived growing up would attempt to beat up my dad when he was coming home from school for years. He told me horror stories of this and of blacks robbing the grocery store where he works for 25 years, coming in with trucks and making off with hundreds of dollars worth of merchandise. My Arabic side of the family had several stores in the area and told me like stories. The police never did anything about it, in fact the uselessness of the law was so predictable that my cousins that owned the stores would go to the site before the police was even called, they knew it was going to take so long.

My boyfriend grew up around similar territory in Steubenville Ohio, and experienced similar problems with the African Americans who lived there.

Whites tend not to talk about their experiences because the media villifies them.

So you see, there are similar problems experienced on the other side of the aisle. I do disagree with the idea that you are racist without knowing- if we had no clue that we were being racist, how would we make any determinations? It’s simply having good versus bad morals and ethics, and what we should all be striving for.

I do NOT and will NEVER condone anyone being a racist, and I have friends from many cultures. I appreciate the differences between us immensely and continue to learn from culture that are different than my own.

Thank you again for your thorough response and sharing your experiences. Also for being respectful, because I don’t get that very often. It was nice to hear from someone REAL.

[Carlos Lorenzo Estrada]

You are very welcome. Despite what differences we may have, and I believe there are few, we share a common love for writing. And we aspire to move people with our art. And I know you have a profound love for this wonderful country that graces us with the ability to accept friendships and a bond that asks of us to simply be better toward one another. Because it's not about color, or culture, or choosing sides. It's about hope, and that every life has meaning, and value. We are two individuals who have experienced what we recognize as living the ideas of being American. Our paths are different but our love for writing the same. I would be no better then those who speaks with hate in their lips if I were to falsely accuse you of racism for simply asking me a question. How can we even begin to have a conversation on these matters if we can't even start to talk. If we can't respect one another and simply see the basic humanity that defines our hearts. I have never walked in your shoes, nor experienced your hardships. To speak profanely and accusatory toward what you say and simply ask would reflect on me that I am no better then those who hate. I know you from your writing and from the compassion you exhibit in your art. It is through artists like you that we can start conversations and seek a peace and change for all of us. To find common ground, respect differences, and admire the art we create from it to be just better people, and better Americans. To hope again. Thank you I truly appreciate this conversation with you, because in my eyes we are peers with a sheer bond for the love of writing. Continue to always speak truth, and live it. Because it will make your art that much more beautiful.

[mattavelli]

Come on, guys, this is thunderdome. Somebody go for the chainsaw…

[Carlos Lorenzo Estrada]

You are an anarchist true and true, Matt, unfortunately I would greatly disappoint you. But I'm sure you have already figured that out by now. Hahaha

[Foxemerald]

Thank you, Carlos! I appreciate having the conversation with you as well. Thank you for your honesty- your experiences are your experiences and I respect them and how they’ve molded your thinking and the role they played in your perspectives.
I appreciate you not judging me without taking the time to understand what I am trying to say, and realizing my question was not coming from a place of any bias towards you (or anyone who’s walked in similar shoes to you). Thank you for your kind words about my writing as well. Namaste 🙏 and much love 💕

[Carlos Lorenzo Estrada]

You are very welcome. Art is created to spark conversation to open dialogue. How can we ever come to understand each other if we can not listen. If we can not share each other's experiences and perspectives. We are flawed imperfect human beings born to fail in portions of life. It is in these struggles we search for little victories which help us grow to be better people. Our roads in life are individual but our hopes are not. They bind us all. Enlightenment is a road traveled by many and it is a shared experience which we all can be a part of if we choose. Thank you for sharing your thoughts and most importantly your truth. Continue to write your art and thank you again for this conversation. It really meant a lot.

[Foxemerald]

You are welcome, and thank you as well for the share! You are one hundred percent dead on I think in your analysis of the human state and it’s hopes and dreams (shared hopes and shared dreams) for betterment. Take care ~

[Davidgeo]

White privilege is still a very real thing. The percentage of the population incarcerated is still very disproportionate in terms of color and class.

I'm glad you spoke of your influences in the author's note. Those are some pretty good one's, you had a good muse(s) for this one.

[Carlos Lorenzo Estrada]

Thank you for taking the time to comment on this work. Believe me I totally know all to well of which you speak. Back in about late summer of 1983 I got pulled over for driving brown. When I asked the officer politely why he stopped me he said I wasn't driving with my headlights on. It was about 6:45 pm in broad daylight late June where the sun didn't actually set till a little after 8 pm. To make it even worse an issue I was driving my car following behind my white friend's vehicle who also didn't have his headlights on, but wasn't pulled over so some odd reason. Coincidence? Highly unlikely. The officer had the audacity to say after that I should consider myself lucky he was in a good mood and would let me off with a warning. Funny how things never change, well, except for the fact now a days I would be in handcuffs asking an officer a question, or maybe even shot. We need drastic reform of our entire societal system so that it is equitable for everyone, no exceptions. Systematic racism has no place in any portion of our government and society. As long as I have voice I will continue to advocate and speak out on injustice for those who no longer can; because they are dead. Thank you again for speaking the truth.

[Davidgeo]

Ironically just a couple days ago, I was re-reading an old sociology book of mine called Street Level Bureaucracy by Michael Lipsky. It's an older text, from 1980 so some of the stats are a little off, but it's still very relevant on a myriad of social topics. If you can deal with the boredom of academic style text I highly recommend it to you.

[Carlos Lorenzo Estrada]

Thank you, DDay, I will check that out.

[R.J Calzonetti (Siniste..]

I loved this, thanks for sharing.

[Carlos Lorenzo Estrada]

Thank you sincerely R.J. for reading and commenting on this work. I truly appreciate it.