I Think of Freedom
Mary Kunz
—
inspired by a photograph taken by Nona Faustine –
“From Her Body Came Their Greatest Wealth”I see Nona.
She is standing on a crate
in the middle of a busy Manhattan intersection.
She is black. She is naked.She looks directly at me
as I hold her photograph in my white hands.
Her face is full of – not defiance –
presence, intensity, sorrow.
She seems to say:
See me. Remember me.With her body she bridges two worlds.
She creates a memorial to the thousands of African and Native people,
the original stock,
who were bought and sold here for over 150 years.
Here, the original Stock Market of Wall Street.I wake from a dream with these words:
The Goddess Reclaiming the World,
and I think of Nona standing there,
in that desecrated place.Wendell Berry says “there are no unsacred places.
There are only sacred places and desecrated places.”
I wonder, how do we repair a desecrated place?
A desecrated soul, a desecrated culture, a desecrated country?I look into Nona’s face.
I will begin with the story. I will know the story.
I will begin with my presence.
I feel the pull to look away, to run away.
And yet.
I see you Nona. I will remember.