Plog Number 129
Black History Month…and then some
Hello Ploggers, hoping that you are all doing well. It seems like I am writing and talking a lot about 📖 books. That is a good thing because books elevate our minds. I want to talk about a book written by my nephew. He wrote it from a rare point of view that is never talked about. As far as I have read, no one else has ever written about the topic in the way that my nephew did. His name was Robert L Sheeley and he has since died at a way too young age. He was gay 🏳️🌈and died as a complication of AIDS. His death never should have happened, because he had access to the combination of successful anti-viral 💊 drugs. He took them for years until he stopped in favor of more natural methods such as juicing and raw foods. I will miss him for the rest of my life. He was smart, funny and the best walking 🚶 partner ever.
My nephew self-published his book called Rainbow Plantation Blues in 2015. I remember that he and his publisher spent endless hours getting the book just right. When you self-publish you have to do all the 📝 editing yourself. It is a big job but people do it all the time. The book is about a slave named Kumi. He is the main character and he is gay. Yes a gay slave. The story goes on to talk about him being raped by a hypocritical slave owning minister. Also about him falling in forbidden love with a white consort who was closeted and gay. The book speaks of how it might have been in the 16th Century as a gay male slave.
We often hear of female slaves being raped and forced to bear their rapists child. We know that as 21st Century African Americans that our blood is mixed with Caucasian blood. Our female ancestors had no control over who used their bodies. But little is ever said about males from that time being gay or raped. That aspect has gone under the radar. It is a fact that gay🏳 people have been around since the beginning of time. Between the start of the slave trade until chattel slavery ended, where did the gay people go, what did they do? They were there in the slave population and the slave owner population. They were over looked. If you want to have a fictional 👀 look into their world get a copy of my nephews book Rainbow Plantation🏳️ Blues. When I read it, I felt closer to my nephew. But you may read it and discover yet another horror of Black History that deserves to be 💡 shared. Thanks 💓 for doing just that Bobbo and RECLAIM!
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