At the Purchaser’s Option | Rhiannon Giddens
by Elouise
It’s worth the fight. I can’t get this phrase out of my mind as we wait. Not just for the announcement about who will be our next President, but for the backlash that will surely follow.
Rhiannon Giddens’ song is about slave trade in the USA. Blatant back then, it’s somewhat more sophisticated today. Yet the bottom line is the same. Being disenfranchised isn’t only about voting. It’s also about being denied full humanity because of race, color, gender, age, religion, wealth, or any other test for who counts most.
Yes, we need a President and Vice President who can help us move in a humane direction. Still, we can’t afford to sit back and coast. The evils of yesterday’s blatant racism are still with us in a thousand permutations, compounded by Covid-19.
In the meantime, here’s a song that invites me to stay strong and focused on the work ahead, not on the ever-present backlash.
Elouise♥
© Elouise Renich Fraser, 7 November 2020
Rhianna Gibbon’s song found on YouTube
Telling the Truth 
I agee. Biden may have won the election but changing the climate will take much more than a change in presidents. We must be vigilant!
Thanks for the important song.
Marilyn
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Oh yes, Marilyn. Vigilant and more engaged than ever in whatever ways we can.
Rihanna Gibbons is amazing. Not just as a musician, but as an educator. 🎶💐
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What a powerful song – made me think of Cone’s long passage on the song Strange Fruit.
As I put it to my son this afternoon (who worked the polls in Philadelphia) – the work is just now able to start again – the door is open to resume a long and arduous and shame-filled and beautiful task.
Thank you for continuing to write. Grace and peace to you.
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You’re welcome, and thank you, dw. I missed responding to this comment yesterday. What you say about James Cone’s passage on “Strange Fruit” is painfully true. Gibbons’ style and spare music heighten the meaning of every detail, making it impossible to ignore or dismiss in all its evil.
As for your son, good for him! I didn’t remember you had a son in Philly! Yes…what comes next will be very difficult indeed. I’m grateful for the opportunity to see at least part of it in my lifetime.
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This is a deep song that shows just how disgusting people can be.
One thing I can’t find anywhere is whether or not her boy was the result of a rape from her owner. The reasons I wonder is the first line when she states “I have a baby but shall I keep him”. I understand that could be due to the fact that the purchaser has the option to buy her without child or sell the child.
The second reason is her question a couple of lines later where she asks “How can I love him any less?”. As if she didn’t want a child but was forced into her situation but being that the kid came from her she will love it anyway regardless of how it was conceived.
Another reason I wonder about this is when she says “You took me to bed a little girl, left me in a womans world”. It seems like she was underage, raped by her owner, and had his child, which makes her owner even more repulsive than if he just used slave labor.
What’s your opinion please?
Thank you.
Holden
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Thank you, Holden, for your comments. Here’s how I see this song.
Ms. Giddens is telling an all-too familiar story as though it were about her. In real life, it’s about the anguish hundreds of young mothers faced when they were auctioned off into slavery to the highest bidder. In this case, the highest bidder got to decide whether the baby/child was included or not.
Often the slave owner’s decision was based on whether this child might bring more wealth later (when old enough to sell), or whether he wants a female slave without a baby or young child. This might make the mother capable of making him (the slaver) richer. It might also mean he now has another female at his disposal. It’s a double-edged sword for the young mother, no matter what.
As you suggest in your first paragraph, it’s possible the new owner may have been the father of this child. However, it seems Ms. Giddens’ song is more about not selling her soul (which includes the young child’s future) than about who fathered the child.
Bottom line: though the young mother may have been forced into this pregnancy and birth, she loved her young baby/child no less. I see Giddens’ last line as the point of it all–her soul is worth more than anything a slave master might offer her. Put another way, she’s prepared to die for this child.
Thank you again for your thoughtful comments.
Elouise
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