LORD OF FLIES CORONATION (PART 2)

Preach R Sun bearing shackles and chains through public street, while others follow behind helping to carry his coffin, during ‘Lord of Flies’ processional (Birmingham England, 2017)

Notes/Testimony (part 2)

Points of Departure….

Procession (Act iii) : The internal becomes the external. i enter this new world (born again) as a new BEing…. Upon exiting the coffin (after 12 hours) i wrote the words race on the top of the structure. i then kneeled upon the mound of dirt and commenced to feast upon the offering of rotten fruits and vegetables. Once i had finished eating, i picked up another long black veil, again this veil – as a representation of double consciousness – was a symbol of racialized existence. Race being that which mediates our relationship to ourselves and the external world. i placed the veil upon my head, followed by the barb wire crown. Again making a statement in regards to the role that Christianity and Islam played in the persecution and objectifying stigmatization of the black body. The crown – symbolic of the eternal and divine sufferer – (just as with Christ, the mocked king) represented the black body that was made to suffer for the crimes and sins of a white race. After placing the crown on my head, i then placed the heavy neck irons – with iron shackle fashioned (chain to coffin) attachment – around my neck.

(Attached to the coffin were 2, 6ft chains, upon which were also attached an assortment of authentic shackles, neck irons and cowbells. These objects, just as the flies, symbolized the ghostly spirits of the many black bodies that had been forced to wear them. The shackles were also a statement on the industry/economy of slavery. Particularly, in this regard, that of Birmingham, England, which happened to be one of the main manufacturing centers for guns, chains and iron shackles produced for the African slave trade – of course this shameful history is, for the most part, quietly swept under the rug today.)

By putting on the shackles, i was making a statement as to the cooperative social relations that go into the reproduction and maintenance of the racial construct. That is to say, we have essentially been trained and conditioned to put on these chains, and enslave ourselves. i would then commence to drag the heavy structure (iron shackles and coffin) – the symbol of our racial burden – through the streets of Birmingham. It would be a 1 mile procession.

Lord of Flies: Coronation [Chapter iii, in the current series, The Blocks]

Originally written and posted November 18,2017