Unknown African American when interviewed:
“You know you still got the disease honey,
I know you think you cured, but you not cured.
You can’t give me the right to be a human bein’
I’m born with the right.
Now you can keep me from having that.
if you got all the policemen and all the jobs on your side,
you can deprive me of it but you can’t give it to me
cos I was born with just like you was.”
Fountain Hughes:
“My name is Fountain Hughes. I was born in Charlottesville Virginia.
My grandfather belong to Titus Yeltson.
My grandfather was 115 years old when he died,
And now I am 101 year old.
Colored people didn’t have no beds when they were slaves.
We always slept on the floor pallet
here and a pallet there.Jus t like a lot of uh, wild people
We didn’t know nothin’. Didn’t allow you to look at no book.
We were slaves. We belonged to people
they would sell us like they sell horse and cows and hogs and like that.
Off the auction bench and beat on ya and they bid on ya like cattle
Night never comed out, you had nothing to do.
Time to cut tobacco if they want you to cut all night long
out in the field, you cut.
And if they want you to hang all night long you hang tobacco
It didn’t matter ‘bout you tired being tired.
You’re afraid to say you’re tired.
Now I couldn’t go from here across the street,
or I couldn’t go through nobody’s house ‘out I have a note or somethin’
from my master,
And if I had that pass that was what we called a pass
If I had that pass I could go wherever he sent me and I’d have to be back
you know whoever he sent me to they, they’d give me another pass
and I’d bring that back so as to show how long I’d been gone.
I remember when the Yankees come along and took all the good horses
and took all they throwed all the meat and flour and sugar and stuff out in
the river and let it go down the river
And they knowed the people wouldn’t have nothing to live on
but they done that.
When we were slaves we couldn’t do nothing you see.
After we got free we didn’t know nothing to do.
My mother she then she hunted places and bound us out for a
dollar a month.
We didn’t have no property We didn’t have no home.
We had nowhere or nothing .
We didn’t have nothing only just uh like your cattle
We was just turned out and uh get along the best you could.
On May 25, 2020, Minneapolis Police Department officer Derek Chauvin murdered George Floyd by kneeling on the back of his neck for about nine minutes. Police body camera video showed that Floyd said that he couldn\'t breathe before he was on the ground and under Chauvin\'s knee.
Oh God on high receive my spirit,
I wish to come home tonight.
This world has ceased turning.
It is unwinding.
It no longer has air to breathe.
Minneapolis is in darkness,
The Devil fires are burning.
I see you Momma in the distant light.
I will try to come to you.
I can’t breathe,
I can’t breathe,
Oh God Almighty.
I can’t breathe.