For George Floyd
By Chandramohan S.
I join an entourage into the past
wide-eyed, curious,
like a child
checking himself in the mirror
ascertaining how shiny his skin
could get in available light,
and dream,
if I will ever outshine the rising sun,
and how my name could ever be free
warped in a different shade of melanin.
Chandramohan S (b.1986) is an Indian English Dalit poet and literary critic based in Trivandrum, Kerala. His accolades include a shortlist for Srinivas Rayaprol Poetry Prize 2016 and the fellowship at the International Writing Program(IWP-2018) at the University of Iowa. Letters to Namdeo Dhasal, published in the year 2016 was a shortlist for Yuva Puraskar of Sahitya Akademi.
Lewis Gordon
Lewis R. Gordon is Chairperson of the Awards Committee of the Caribbean Philosophical Association and Board of Trustees Distinguished Professor of Philosophy and Global Affairs and Head of the Department of Philosophy at the University of Connecticut. He is also Honorary President of the Global Center for Advanced Studies and Distinguished Scholar at The Most Honourable PJ Patterson Centre for Africa-Caribbean Advocacy at The University of the West Indies, Mona. He is the author of many books, including, most recently, Freedom, Justice, and Decolonization (Routledge, 2021); Fear of Black Consciousness (Farrar, Straus and Giroux in the USA, and Penguin-UK 2022); Black Existentialism and Decolonizing Knowledge: Writings of Lewis R. Gordon, edited by Rozena Maart and Sayan Dey (Bloomsbury, 2023); and “Not Bad for an N—, No?”/ «Pas mal pour un N—, n'est-ce pas? » (Daraja Press, 2023).
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This poem by Chandramohan has been amazingly penned in the memory of George Floyd. The idea and the words have the potential to weave a planetary impact on the readers.