Blood at the Root

by LaDarrion Williams

The late, great Toni Morrison once said, “If you find a book you really want to read but it hasn’t been written yet, then you must write it.” I carry those words with me everywhere I go. Black boys surely deserve stories filled with magic, wonder, and warm summer rain. Black boys deserve to have their origin stories. Black boys deserve to have the fullness of their power revered. They need to remember that they are magic, that “Blackness is magic.”

Let them spin magic from their fingers. Let them hold stars in their hair. Let Black boys be the alchemists in their stories. Let Black boys be seen. Let them be colored softly. Let them fall in love. Let them have adventures. And let Black boys be the heroes of their own stories.

Life is your birthright, they hid that in the fine print. Take the pen and rewrite it. —BEYONCÉ, “Bigger,” from The Lion King: The Gift

When it comes to Black folks in Helena, Alabama, the Fourth of July ain’t got shit to do with patriotism.

Maybe there’s a reason why Black boys like me don’t have magic powers. Because no good ever comes from it.

“What you have, Malik, it’s generational. It’s a part of who we are. And as the old folks say, we are descendants from a mighty tribe. Your great-grandma Miriam, a powerful slave woman, had the magic ways of Kaave too.” Her hands circle over me, and she looks at me, deep. Her eyes are like a thousand mirrors.

They say love is like the sea. Because of its vastness, we really don’t understand it fully. But we know it moves with a rhythm, and it’s deeper than anything in this world. It’s endless, and it always comes back to shore. But how can you love something that’s been away from you for so long?

Me and Alexis are like the sea and the land. Distant for a while. But always meet at the edge of the world.

“Voodoo, which is from the original word Vodun, is a religious belief system originating in Africa. The motherland. Whereas Hoodoo is a derivative of the teachings of Vodun. Enslaved folks and their descendants took what they learned in their native ways and modernized it and mixed it with Christian ideology. The origins being from Kongo/Igbo.”

Whatever Brigitte is cooking up, it’s got my stomach touching the back of my spine.

Whatever Brigitte is cooking up, it’s got my stomach touching the back of my spine. 😂😂😂

‘We as a people always had to make a kingdom out of nothing.’ A kingdom built on the bones and the river of blood from those who came before us, and those who comes after.”

‘We as a people always had to make a kingdom out of nothing.’ A kingdom built on the bones and the river of blood from those who came before us, and those who comes after.”

“Dear Black girl, you are wrapped in gold. Your hair twists down your head like roots from a tree—you are wonderfully and fearfully made. You are the living image of God herself. Dipped in honey and mahogany. The standard, even when they try to tell you you’re not. Black girl, you are the foundation. The lineage that holds a million generations.”

I restore all the good in you. I restore all the brokenness that’s been passed down from your mother and your mother’s mother. I restore goodness into you, nephew. I restore the innocence that was taken from you, nephew!” He slips into Kreyol. “Mwen retabli li! Mwen retabli li! Mwen retabli li.”

I restore all the good in you. I restore all the brokenness that’s been passed down from your mother and your mother’s mother. I restore goodness into you, nephew. I restore the innocence that was taken from you, nephew!” He slips into Kreyol. “Mwen retabli li! Mwen retabli li! Mwen retabli li.”

“I go by the name of…Tituba Atwell.” She faces me with a set of piercing eyes that chills my blood to ice. A whole buncha surprised whispers reverberate around the room. “And I’m here to teach you the real truth. Because this magical revolution that’s comin’…will not be televised.”

“I go by the name of…Tituba Atwell.” She faces me with a set of piercing eyes that chills my blood to ice. A whole buncha surprised whispers reverberate around the room. “And I’m here to teach you the real truth. Because this magical revolution that’s comin’…will not be televised.”