100 Refutations: Day 71 | InTranslation
100 Refutations: Day 71 | InTranslation
Manuel Saturio Valencia Mena (1867-1907) was a teacher, a poet, a popular leader from the Chocó region, and the very last man officially sentenced to death in Colombia. As a child, he participated in the parochial choir and learned both French and Latin under the tutelage of the Capuchin priests. He was an exceptional student and the first black man accepted to Cauca University’s law program. He earned the rank of captain while fighting in La Guerra De Los Mil Dias. He was a lifelong autodidact and served in many important positions in the region. In 1907, he was framed for arson—for likely political reasons—and, after a six-day trial, he was executed by firing squad.
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from the article:
I, Who Am Ignorant
I, who am ignorant Need to know If white is virtue true So I can go and bleach my skin
Asks this question, a loyal man Because he needs to know If the black man should not be baptized In the baptismal font
If there is yet another more pure
Going forward, going back Prettier, shinier Where the white man is dipped Will someone tell it straight For I, who am ignorant
Two men and one woman From whom we all descend While only the black man With disdain ought to be faced
The same blood it must be Though the black man alone Is placed forever Separate
If the black man is not baptized I need to know Black was St. Benedictine Black his paintings too And in the Holy Scripture I have never seen a single word writ in white ink
Black were the nails driven through the Christ’s hands Died, he, upon the holy cross Is it possible then, that down he came Not to suffer for the white man’s sins Only this way will I know If the color white is virtue true
When we have to account To my God for every deed How will the black man atone For the white man’s sins
If the black man is then found Without a crime for which to pay Will they say that it’s not true That the white man has no sentence That it’s all been misconstrued So that then I may go and bleach my skin