I Am Both I am what’s left of slaves and slave owners, the sellers, the buyers, the bought and the sold. I am what’s left of those who cracked whips and those who met the crack of the whips on their backs, the ones who worked the fields tediously and the ones who reaped the benefits idly. I am both. I am the remnants of the lynchers and the lynched. Of race riots, and those rioted against, I am the remnants of the murdered, and the murderers. I am a part of those who rode proudly in the front, and those who slumped miserably in the back, part of the ones who quenched their thirst on the pristine fountains that donned the word “WHITE”, and those who sipped from the decrepit fountains that seemed to be stained by the word “COLORED” I am a part of the one’s who walked, ran, and marched towards freedom and justice, and those who turned their backs, stubbornly treading towards treachery and hate. I am both. Whembley Sewell ’11
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