a woman stood on the block; a slave for sale once again. This was her third time standing on this platform. Her third time absorbing the penetrating stares of the men determining if she was fit for their use; their bid. Having withstood two masters who’d decimated her will, her trust, her faith in humanity through rape, abuse and misuse, she stood before them in utter defeat and loss. As the final gavel fell on her purchase, she listlessly followed the tall white man through the crowd to the exit.
Once outside he turned to her: ‘You are free.’
Too stunned to react, she stared in perplexed disbelief.
Once again he said: ‘You are free. Go where you’d like. Do what you want. Say what you feel. You are free.’
Coming out of her stupor she asks, ‘free? to go anywhere I choose?’
‘Yes, anywhere you choose,’ he replied.
‘Then I choose to go with you.’
On this day, the woman chose to live the rest of her life as a servant of Abraham Lincoln.
choose the master who sets you free.