Bloodhounds
Bloodhounds are known for their ability to track an individual over many miles. They can pick up the scent of one person and not get sidetracked as other people's scents are around them. There is something about a person that makes them so distinct that they can be found by their own smell.
In the days of slavery, these dogs were invaluable to capturing runaways. We've seen this depicted in films about that era in America. People would try to find a river to hide in so the dog would lose their scent. While a slave was hunting freedom, a dog was hunting his capture.
I've got European descent in my blood. We can't trace any of our family to white relatives, but there is a significant enough amount to prove by DNA that I am certainly related to people who have no trace of African descent in their blood. I don't know if this was voluntary, but what I do know is that it was a secret no matter if it was by rape or consent that brought me here to this day.
People imagined, yet couldn't fathom a time where Africans would be free, let alone considered anything more than 3/5 of a person. Whether or not that thinking was in favor of slaves or not is another topic for another day. But, certainly no one ever considered that there would come a time when their descendants would uncover their secrets. Did they think they could look away, pretend the baby wasn't theirs, separate families and call it a day, not include blacks on a census, not consider the child they created white, create this "one drop" rule where if you have on drop of black blood in you then we would just consider you black... no questions asked?
Well, I am the bloodhound. I have picked up on your scent. I see you when I look in the mirror. You tried to hide under my brown skin, but you came out in the shape of my nose and the curl of my hair. Your fingerprints are all over my blood. You tried to hide inside of me. But, I am going to find you. You will not find freedom in me. I will capture you and I will own you. And, when I find you, I will not call you master. I will name you who you are. My great-great (or greater)grandfather(s) (or grandmother--let's be progressive here, after all).
Bloodhounds used to search for us all night. I am your bloodhound. I will not rest until I find you. And when I do, I will not kill you. I will not cut your legs off. I will not try to sell you to the highest bidder. I will forgive you and I will love you. I will not be ashamed of myself and I will not be party to your shame of me by hiding you in my blood. Even as I pick up the scent of the other people in my blood, I will narrow in on you. A hound you have never met before. And while you were hunting your freedom to do as you pleased, I came to hunt the prison of your secrets and open them up.
When I find my cousins (as I only know them by name now and not exactly how we are related), I will welcome them and love them as my own. Because after all, that's who they are. They are me and I am them because we are...YOU.
In the days of slavery, these dogs were invaluable to capturing runaways. We've seen this depicted in films about that era in America. People would try to find a river to hide in so the dog would lose their scent. While a slave was hunting freedom, a dog was hunting his capture.
I've got European descent in my blood. We can't trace any of our family to white relatives, but there is a significant enough amount to prove by DNA that I am certainly related to people who have no trace of African descent in their blood. I don't know if this was voluntary, but what I do know is that it was a secret no matter if it was by rape or consent that brought me here to this day.
People imagined, yet couldn't fathom a time where Africans would be free, let alone considered anything more than 3/5 of a person. Whether or not that thinking was in favor of slaves or not is another topic for another day. But, certainly no one ever considered that there would come a time when their descendants would uncover their secrets. Did they think they could look away, pretend the baby wasn't theirs, separate families and call it a day, not include blacks on a census, not consider the child they created white, create this "one drop" rule where if you have on drop of black blood in you then we would just consider you black... no questions asked?
Well, I am the bloodhound. I have picked up on your scent. I see you when I look in the mirror. You tried to hide under my brown skin, but you came out in the shape of my nose and the curl of my hair. Your fingerprints are all over my blood. You tried to hide inside of me. But, I am going to find you. You will not find freedom in me. I will capture you and I will own you. And, when I find you, I will not call you master. I will name you who you are. My great-great (or greater)grandfather(s) (or grandmother--let's be progressive here, after all).
Bloodhounds used to search for us all night. I am your bloodhound. I will not rest until I find you. And when I do, I will not kill you. I will not cut your legs off. I will not try to sell you to the highest bidder. I will forgive you and I will love you. I will not be ashamed of myself and I will not be party to your shame of me by hiding you in my blood. Even as I pick up the scent of the other people in my blood, I will narrow in on you. A hound you have never met before. And while you were hunting your freedom to do as you pleased, I came to hunt the prison of your secrets and open them up.
When I find my cousins (as I only know them by name now and not exactly how we are related), I will welcome them and love them as my own. Because after all, that's who they are. They are me and I am them because we are...YOU.
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