◆The Barbaric Yawp Project

Well now, I ain’t much for speeches. I never did trust folks that stand up straight and talk too long about what’s good for you. Most times they’re just tellin’ you what’s good for them. I been listenin’ to all this hollerin’ — folks shoutin’ about freedom and flags and who belongs and who don’t — and it sounds powerful grand, I reckon. Powerful loud, anyway. But it don’t feel right. When I was driftin’ the river with Jim, there was a heap of people said they knew what was right. Said they had it written down. Said the law was clear as day. Law said Jim was property. Heart said he was my friend. Now I ain’t educated enough to argue with laws and such, but I know what it feels like to see a man treated like he ain’t a man. And I know when folks start talkin’ about other folks like they’re less — or dangerous just for bein’ who they are — that river water starts lookin’ cleaner than dry land. Seems to me there’s a lot of folks nowadays talkin’ big about strength. But strength ain’t bullyin’. Strength ain’t laughin’ at someone tied up and hollerin’ that they ought to like it. Strength is paddlin’ against the current when everybody’s floatin’ the easy way. I reckon what scares me most ain’t the loud men. It’s the quiet ones that nod along. Back then I decided I’d go to hell before I’d turn Jim in. Didn’t feel brave. Felt sick. Felt scared. But sometimes doin’ right feels like losin’ your place in the world. Maybe that’s the trouble now. Folks don’t want to lose their place. Don’t want to lose their side. But if your side means somebody else don’t get to be human — well, that ain’t much of a side. I ain’t sayin’ I got answers. I’m just sayin’ if you listen real quiet — underneath all the shovin’ and shoutin’ — you might hear that little voice that don’t talk fancy. The one that just says: That’s a person. And if you can’t hear that anymore… Well then the river’s risin’.