A history of the world in 8 minutes and 46 seconds.

And then they came and got us from our homes and they came and got us from the shores and then they took us on the boats and then they took us to the land we didn’t know we didn’t know and then they took us to their fields and then they took us to their homes but they didn’t take us in their homes they only took us to their homes theres a difference you see theres a difference and then they took us all the time they took us to the ground they took us to the tree branch they took us to the floors and they took our bodies and then they took our parts and then they took our bodies and our parts and then we ran away we ran far and far but the other ones who looked away started looking and they helped you see they helped and the ones who looked away helped take us back you see they helped take us back but there was too much land and too many people and there was too much land and too many people so they fought a war and they fought and they fought and many died and many more died and this was the only time we got to blink and this was the only time we got to breathe just a little but only just a little and then the war was won and then the war was lost and then the war was not a war but a new land and this land we could all walk on and then we all walked on this land because they said we could but it was the same people who took us too and there was confusion you see there was confusion and they had to solve the problem like it was math ha ha like it was math and they solved the problem yes they solved the problem because they came and took us again and called it law you see they came and took us again and called it law and we had no homes to be taken from anymore so we ran and we ran some more and some of us made it and some of us made it but many of us did not you see some of us made it but many of us did not and then the ropes came out and more ropes came out and the fire came and the flash came you see the flash came because there were pictures now and the towns had parties you see they had parties and it was just another job for us you see just another job but no one told us we would die you see no one told us we would die and they chased us and they raped us and they hurt us you see they hurt us so bad and the ropes came out and more ropes came out and we kept running and we kept running so far and there were marches now yeah you see there were marches now and there were schools now and there were bombs now and yeah you see there were bombs now and the hoses came and the dogs came and our skin was on fire even though it was water you see our skin was on fire even though it was water and then the wars came and more wars came and they said if you fight you can live for free you see they said if you fight you can live for free so we went and we fought and we fought some more but when we came home they still burned us you see I’m trying to tell you when we came home they still burned us but we kept going and we kept running and we kept smiling because maybe if you smile they won’t kill you yeah yeah maybe if you smile they wont kill you so we smiled and some of us sang and some of us danced and some of us studied and some of us walked and some of us sat and some of slept and some of us woke and some of us ate and some of us starved and some of us and some of us and some of us and some of them were building prisons you see some of them were building prisons and some of us were taken again yeah I’m telling you some of us got taken again and the prisons went up and the bodies went down and the prisons went up and the bodies went down and then and then and then the planes in the sky came too close I’m telling you man the planes in the sky came too close and we all looked up to see the world knew too you see the world knew too and then one of us came along and they didn’t kill him you see one of us came along and they didn’t kill him but we knew and we shoulda known I’m telling you we knew and we shoulda known ya know because it was just like the last time when the war was fought and the war was won and the war was lost and somebody had to pay man yeah somebody had to pay and the bombs came back and the batons came back but they never left and the dogs came back but they were always there and then and then and then the white babies got killed too I’m telling you the white babies got killed too but that was okay because the guns matter the guns always matter and it was always gonna get worse before it got better you see it was always gonna get worse before it got better and right now this is better.

Linda Chavers writes on black womanhood, disability, chronic illness and intergenerational trauma. Her work has been featured in Anti-Heroin Chic, The Boston Globe Magazine, Gawker, Jezebel, The Rumpus, The Offing, Dame Magazine, The Guardian and Elle.com. She lives in Cambridge where she is a lecturer at Harvard University. Visit her at www.lindachaverswrites.com