VOICES: THE SANCTUARY OF TOPHET BY BOBBY FRESH

The sanctuary of Tophet is sacrificial burial ground. Phoenician and Carthaginian Religion requires these sacrifices for the god Baal. The sacrifices would be set ablaze while wearing a smiling mask to hide the tears to the god they were offered. These sacrifices were children.

History has a way of repeating itself in parallel. Our ancestors, post-slavery, were taught to grin and bear it. Smile boy, life is good, you could still be in chains. Our forefathers’ spirits were broken and sacrificed. This trauma has been passed down through cellular memory.

The dilution of this plight came in time. Malcolm X, MLK, Angela Davis, etc., as time went on the people caught up with the leaders. The perfect storm has now commenced (COVID-19, police brutality, unemployment, the ubiquity of white supremacy, etc.) and we are not our ancestors, yet we are powered by them.

Our generation was born into Public Enemy’s “Fight The Power” (and moved) to Kendrick Lamar’s “Alright.” We have experienced the 1992 LA riots and moved) to the marches in Ferguson. We’ve tried the nice guy approach. No more. We no longer just demand equality – we will take it.

In the Information Age, we are equipped with the truth behind the whitewashed history we were forced fed. We are armed with limitless power, and, now, we realize our power. We have no sympathy for those who are not allies. We no longer need sympathy. Our people are no longer sacrifices to build your economy – to reassure your shortcomings. There will be no more smiling masks.

What do you expect? If we were treated as equals (from the beginning) – we wouldn’t react like the oppressed.