There
are two venomous words that came out of the 20th century.
One
of these words for some people has been carved down to an acronym no matter the
context it rarely used. Others use it as a term of enduement in the hope to remove
its venom. No matter the context it still maintains its sting.
The other one became lost in litterateur.
In the early years of the 20th century, this word back then had the same
sting and venom contained in it as the N-word does today. Not much isn’t said
of it today like much of many stains of history we are embarrassment by, so we
push it out of the way, and turn our backs. Instead of facing it and use it to
learn from the mistakes of our ancestors and strive to accomplish true peace in our
world.
This
word came innocently enough from a children’s book called Little Black
Sambo in what I researched it wasn’t intended to be published at all.
It
was written by Helen Bannerman in the mid-1890s. She wrought it for her kids
to entertain them on there long journeys across India where they lived with her
husband William who worked at the India Medical Services in Sothern India. She
showed it to a friend and that person took to back to London and had it
published.
Langston
Hughes the inspiration for this Busboys and Poets said I paraphrase, that it is
a children’s story to teach white children to make fun of black children. But the
original story has nothing racist about.
Here
I tell you a quick summary of the story.
Sambo
was a little boy whose parents got him an outfit that he was proud of. It was a red
shirt, blue pants with blue shoes and a green umbrella. So, he went for a walk
to show it off and along the way, he was threatened by four different tigers each
one threatening to eat him alive if he does not give them something. He gave each tiger a part of his outfit one
with the pants another with the shirt. But the other two could not figure out
about the shoes and the umbrella. The one with the shoes wore on its ears and
the one with the umbrella carried it with its tale. When the tigers saw each
other that stared to argue who looked the best. Then they started to fight and
dropped what each of them had they fought so hard they turned into ghee
(clarified butter). So, Sambo gathered up is outfit and him and his dad
collected the ghee and took it home and his mother maid pancakes.
Nothing
remotely racist the only one who should be offended by this is Tigers.
It
wasn’t until it came to America and was manipulated into a racial slur. But that
is not what I want to talk about. I want to talk about the true origins of the
name.
The
origins of it come from the Hindi language and it is pronounced SHAMBO and in
one of the other many languages of India Telugu, it is pronounced SAMBO.
They
say in India Shiv Shambho which means Great God, the auspicious one.
Sambo bullied by controversy
His name appropriated by a culture to destroy history
To shame our ancestor's genealogy
Why use a child's name to create shame
Pancakes and ghee
About to have breakfast with Bhenji
Free to be everything even family
Sambo bullied by history
Another culter steels his story
Blamed for the generations pain
His story never told the same way again
Pancakes and gheeBlamed for the generations pain
His story never told the same way again
About to have breakfast with Bhaeeji
Free to be everything even community
Sambo bullied by society
So offended they grabbed pancakes for the mouths of children
Now this is where education ends and ignorance begins
Hate starts to spreads, even between friends
Pancakes and ghee
About to have breakfast with Mataji
She is so much wiser than me
Sambo bullied by a stereotype
Worked so hard for the things he liked
A green umbrella, red shirt, blue pants with shoes to match
All the way home he would dance
Pancakes and ghee
About to have breakfast with Dadaji
Knowing the inner strength is the way to be free
Sambo bullied from the left and right
Four tigers with black and orange strips come out to fight
He gave them all he had so he could hide
So they had a parade to show who is most fashionable
Pancakes and ghee
About to have breakfast with khaas dost
Sharing is what life is all about
Sambo bullied by the things he felt
The Tigers fight over their own pride
As everyone fooled by their own lies
No longer is freedom yours or mine
Pancakes and ghee
About to have breakfast with me
So many pancakes I only have three
Sambo no longer bullied by life
Turn off the outside to see the inner light
No material things can take the place of peace, love, and purity
Freedom should never be a dream
©Copyright Thomas Dooley 2018
