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Kalamu ya Salaam's information blog

 

photo by Alex Lear

photo by Alex Lear

 

 

 


Ruby Dee Eyes


/the 9 march 1996 ruby dee tribute


at umbc organized by acklyn lynch/


 


the room went dark &, as we tried to guess what to expect, the program


         opened with a snatch of ruby in the jackie robinson story projected


         on a screen at the rear of the stage


 


there she was, a very young quiet fire bright eyed ruby ready to face


         whatever the morrow may bring


 


jackie says he’s about to head south for training camp & he’s sure there’s


         gonna be trouble, so maybe they ought to get married after he gets


         back


 


ruby doesn’t skip a heartbeat, “let the trouble come”


 


you know black women have been saying that for centuries


 


black


         man


                  if we


                  can be


two-


gether


         then


                  let


the


         trouble


                  come


let


         it


                  come


 


my redness


         will


                  squelch


their


         crossburning


                  flames


 


my deep


         rubyness


                  will warm you


 


during this winter


         of our


                  captivity


 


& scene after scene was shown in between speeches & poems, following &


         before dramatic sequences & musical interludes, ahead of & behind


         the presentation of plaques & portraits


 


scenes from buck & the preacher:


 


it’s like there’s poison in this land


sweet ruby scowls


it’s like the ground is poisoned


 


&


 


for freedom, i’d go all the way


to the ocean


& walk away from here


 


from this land that is poisoned


 


such rough vision is a deep seeing we all some-soon day will have to face,


         now that it’s nearly three hundred years of military rule later


 


(i do not mean to offend those who consider america a democracy, but i


         know how the west was won, why every pilgrim had a gun & that


         they gave thanks to their warrior god not for native charity but rather


         for their socalled civilize christian superiority, their inate ability to


         conquer / nearly five hundred years of genocide against the red and


         three centuries of blacks made slaves can not be erased by a mere


         thirty years of half-hearted, about to be fully rescinded, affirmative


         action / i mean if you don’t pledge allegiance to uniting with


         conquerors and the descendants of slave masters, then there is no


         democracy here / troubled spirits inhabit this soil, restless souls


         whose wrongs must be righted / actually the poison is not in the


         land, but rather in the evilness of those who seek to ignore or to


         distort the course of justice with manifest destiny arguments & great


         nation shibbolets about how america the beautiful has made


         amends when it’s still a blood drenched plundered land)


 


but, oh say can you see


can you stand to see


to see our world


the world where we


struggle to be, to survive


see our reality beyond the blues


past the whites through the red


of ruby dee eyes


 


see not just what this nation has achieved but acknowledge also how it


         came to be


see the birth of democracy in a stolen land of slavery


see the rulers of oz for what they are actually are, sinister washington grand


         wizards continuing the reign of death for any & all who refuse to


         bow down


see that philosophically we are diametrically opposed, for us life is dearer


         than gold, & for them ownership is the goal of life


see how capitalist connivance is constant & unswerving in commodifying &


         commercializing the value of every body’s soul


 


i say can you see what ruby dee eyes


eyes eyeing reality


eyes eyeing dreams


eyes open


eyes closed


eyes watching the beast enter


eyes watching her man leave


eyes watching her children issue forth into a world aflame


 


ruby deep red eyes forced to swallow rape


red deep ruby eyes learning to love the child the master made


deep red ruby eyes challenging maimed males to be fully men


deep eyes ruby red teaching abused girls to be whole women


ruby eyes red & deeply ready to survive, to live, to love, to go down to the


         sea & walk the water if that’s the only way to get free


 


do you think you could see the world through ruby dee eyes


see your life on stage as maid, as po’ child who just grew, as mother,


         prostitute, lover & lesser other


see your talents more often miscased & under-utilized rather than given


         something elegant to portray, something real to say


 


brother could you stand the world if you had woman eyes


brother could you rise every morning if you had to lay down each night with


         your legs open because you have no other way to shelter your


         children


brother could you be ruby & see the potential of a man’s smiling face


         betrayed by the disappointments of his back walking away


brother could you speak to brothers without screaming if most black male


         images portrayed you as a whore


 


if you wore ruby deep eyes you would know how constant cutting is the title


         bitch spewed out of the black holes of male mouths


if you wore ruby red you wouldn’t be able to count the times your behind


         is the first thing many men see as you walk toward them


if you wore ruby deep ruby how long could you watch television without


         flinching


if you a man with deep eyes were treated like a woman but you thought like


         a man, how long before you sliced some motherfucker’s thang clean


         off


if the only royalty you could achieve was welfare queen, how long before


         you gave up on the kingdom coming


 


brother how long could you cope with this hopeless insanity before it drove


         you stone mad


brother how often could you dry your eyes and keep on keeping on, steady


         stepping soft strong into tomorrow


brother how wide could you open your eyes & welcome face all your


         people in sorrow


 


could you look at yourself in the mirror without thinking of dying


could you


could you wear ruby dee eyes & not just survive but also grow, glow &       


         thrive


& love


& live


& climb on a stage, turn to face the camera & be beautiful, be tender, be


         real, be black


 


if you looked at the world through red ruby woman eyes


could you still stand to be black


could you


could you be ruby dee at sixty


could you make it that long, that strong


could you hum the lyric, remember the rhythm, & harmoniously chant life’s deep song


 


should you survive


how would you survive


could you cancel the cold & revive


arise the morning after, wide awake with nary a regret clouding the


         clearness of your vision


should you


could you


would you


with your ruby deep eyes wide open


be able to truthfully say


 


         “we’re


                  still


                           standing


         we’re


                  still


                           standing”


 


not standing still


but still standing


& ever ready to forward move


 


could you wear deep ruby dee eyes


& sixty years after their opening


still be standing


be standing


 


despite the terrors of the night


despite the heat of the night


despite whatever happens in the night


 


rise fore day in the morning


buckle on your traveling shoes


regardless of how your feets may feel


surmount the hurt


rise & still be standing


standing


still


standing


 


& ready


ready to rise


raise up out of here & fly


ready to go


to journey


to the shore


ready & ready


to meet the sea


ready & ready


to walk across


 


if that’s the only way


         for you


                  to be free


 


could you


can you


will you wear


         ruby dee


                  eyes

 

—kalamu ya salaam