Gathering Nat Turner / Back to Himself

WE ARE YOUR COURAGE, NAT.

WE WALK WITH YOUR BRAVERY.

YOU CALLED FOR LIBERATION IN A WORLD DETERMINED TO ERASE YOU, AND WE HONOR THAT CALL. YOU MET YOUR END IN A PLACE NAMED JERUSALEM - A PLACE MEANT TO SIGNIFY PEACE, A PEACE THEY DENIED YOU. WE WISH YOU COULD HAVE LIVED, NAT, LIVED TO SEE THE OTHER SIDE OF FREEDOM, TO SEE THE DAY WHEN THE TYRANNY THAT BOUND YOU WAS AT LAST UNDONE. WE WISH FOR OURSELVES TO SEE IT, TO TOUCH THAT FREEDOM WITH OUR BARE HANDS, AS YOU DARED TO IMAGINE.

THEY SAY THEY TOOK YOU APART. THEY SAY THEY SKINNED YOU, REDUCED YOU TO A MERE OBJECT, EVEN IN DEATH. THEY BOILED YOU DOWN LIKE THEY TRIED TO BOIL DOWN OUR HOPE, UNTIL NOTHING BUT THEIR OWN BRUTALITY REMAINED. THEY MADE WALLETS OF YOUR FLESH - ATTEMPTING TO POSSESS WHAT THEY COULD NOT UNDERSTAND, TO CONTAIN WHAT THEY FEARED, TO CONTROL WHAT COULD NOT BE CONTROLLED. THEY CONSUMED YOU, NAT. THEY CONSUMED YOU AS THEY SOUGHT TO CONSUME US ALL. BUT WE KNOW THIS: THEY FAILED. THEY LOST.

WHAT WE KNOW IS THAT YOUR BODY LIES SOMEWHERE UNKNOWN TO THEM, UNKNOWN TO US.

BUT YOU ARE EVERYWHERE NOW. SCATTERED, YES, BUT ENDURING. NOT BECAUSE OF WHAT THEY DID, BUT BECAUSE OF THE POWER OF YOUR SPIRIT, THE POWER OF WHAT YOU WERE AND STILL ARE.

WE CALL UPON THOSE WHO CONSUMED YOU, AND WE SAY: CHOKE.

MAY THEY CHOKE ON WHAT THEY TOOK FROM YOU, MAY EVERY PIECE OF YOUR BEING MAKE ITS WAY BACK TO ITSELF, DENYING THEM EVEN THE SATISFACTION OF THEIR THEFT. IF THEY DRANK YOU, MAY THEY NEVER AGAIN KNOW THE SWEETNESS OF WATER. IF THEY TURNED YOUR FLESH INTO WALLETS, LET THEIR WEALTH SLIP THROUGH THEIR FINGERS FOREVER, UNSTABLE AS THE GROUND THEY THOUGHT THEY OWNED. IF THEY TOOK YOUR STORY AND TWISTED IT FOR THEIR PURPOSE, LET THEIR LIVES BECOME A COMEDY OF UNFORTUNATE ERRORS. MAY THEY BE HAUNTED BY THE TRUTH THEY TRIED TO ERASE.

WE THANK YOU FOR YOUR COURAGE, FOR YOUR REVOLUTION, FOR THE HEART THAT REFUSED TO BE CAGED.

WE CALL YOU BACK TO YOURSELF, NAT.

WE CALL FOR ALL THE PIECES THAT REMAIN TO GATHER. WE CALL FOR THE SCATTERED PARTS OF YOU, STOLEN BY VIOLENCE, TO COME HOME. MAY YOUR SPIRIT FIND PEACE IN THE GATHERING, MAY YOU REST KNOWING THAT YOU ARE HONORED, ELEVATED, BY THOSE WHO STILL SING FOR FREEDOM, WHO STILL FIGHT.

AND MAY YOU KNOW, NAT, WHAT IT MEANS TO BE WHOLE.

MAY YOU KNOW EMBODIED PEACE, NOT JUST RELEASE FROM THIS WORLD, BUT THE DEEP JOY OF KNOWING THE FIGHT STILL BURNS, AND THAT YOU ARE A PART OF IT, EVEN NOW.

NAT TURNER DAY

HOODOO HERITAGE MONTH

OCTOBER 2, 2024