A while back a friend shared this video with me. The story and passion with which this song is shared is inspirational.
As I listen I am reminded of a visit to New Orleans. The youth group and I were traveling back from a mission trip and our night's stay was in this colorful city. As we charted our course through the historic district (ok, I took the group to the French Quarter, before it got dark). We found a restaurant we could afford on our budget and we went in. Maspero's welcomed our troupe of about 25 teens and adults. I scanned the menu and passed along the limits to the kids so we could expedite our ordering. Before long the hurriedness of the day turned to nearly a calm. At least in comparison to travelling with all of us in one vehicle. I bega to peruse the menu and found some history on the back cover. Maspero's had been a slave trading house.
It was this place that spawned the thoughts that grew into my class called Auction Block. Below is an excerpt from a dining guide website referencing Maspero's.
“And on my left, the Slave Exchange.” — So say the carriage drivers as they pass by one of the French Quarter's tastier landmarks. Inside the bar-restaurant, where people once bid for slaves, you can now order some of the thickest, juiciest, meatiest sandwiches in town, and some of the hottest chili. ...
It was here that Andrew Jackson plotted the battle of New Orleans and later on conspirators met to foment revolutions in neighboring countries. It was also here that thousands of human beings, fresh off the slave ships, found themselves in the entresol (the hidden room tucked between the present restaurant and the spacious apartments above) awaiting their fates in the slave exchange below, where they would be sold to the highest bidder.
As Phipps sings the song my being is carried into the bowels of a ship. I am transported below deck to the smells and sounds of those imprisoned there. I sit among the captives. My shackles burn me as the flesh is raw from the salt water and sweat. I am stripped of my rights and my dignity. I am among strangers and friends, yet we all feel very alone as we hear the constant waves against the the boat for more than a month. I sit in the darkness wondering where I am going, what my life will be, wondering about my family, my wife, my children.
I can't help but wonder what the words may have been to this old hymn/spiritual. What deep spiritual sentiment of suffering and loss it must be meant to convey.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment