SOUTHERN CHAINS
dedicated to my parents
on their inter-racial trans- atlantic passage to the Bahamas
(FLORIDA 1958)

Southern chains
intertwinned with southern charms
florida cays stretch long
like a string of pearls
jim crowin' and Jimmy crackin' corn
soothed in the warmth
of a summer's night
a sera gated knife
splits a world into two halves
eyes cut from black and white
for all to know...cracker comes in all shades
cutting deep an ocean wide
for heart to see the colour red
branding black on a leather hide
upon the soul of holy matrimony
a golden band holds the link
within this rustic Southern chink
a narrow beam of light shines through
flashes fast across a table
severed neatly at the hips
young buck with bride in separate stables
one for coloureds
one for whites
all for the Mann Act
all in a man's act
so far we've come and how we've changed
to have the deck-chairs rearranged
yet echos of a segregated past...
haunts a prison within a prison
from the racist rant of the KKK
"The mulatto is the mark of death
who brings both races down to naught
"to deal the final hateful blow
words that cut from black and white
like Florida's Jim Crow

FLORIDA"S JIM CROW LAWS
#1958: Public Carrier [Statute]Races to be segregated on public carriers.1967: Public accommodations [City Ordinance]Sarasota passed a city ordinance stating that "Whenever members of two or more…races shall…be upon any public…bathing beach within the corporate limits of the City of Sarasota, it shall be the duty of the Chief of police or other officer…in charge of the public forces of the City...with the assistance of such police forces, to clear the area involved of all members of all races present.

#"The United States White-Slave Traffic Act of 1910 prohibited so-called white slavery. It also banned the interstate transport of females for “immoral purposes”. Its primary stated intent was to address prostitution, immorality, and human trafficking. The act is better known as the Mann Act, after James Robert Mann. , an American lawmaker.