In the Ground
My daughter wants to be a Paleontologist. She is six so she wants to be a lot of things. As a parent I am always trying to find ways that can both develop her interests as well as ratify my need to accomplish the many projects in and around our house. Digging in the dirt has recently been one of those activities that is mutually satisfying. We have been working in our backyard in the past year or so to try and make it feel more our own. We have uncovered many hidden treasures. Two limestone walkways made from giant limestone rocks fitted together and most recently a brick drive-way. My daughter digs and cleans rocks that could be ‘fossils’ and I furiously shovel and move earth in the hope that I can make headway before her interest fades and we move on. We were unearthing these bricks as well as the wall or foundation of some sort of structure. What could it be?!? We can tell there was once something there, but now it is mostly a big pile of rubble, dirt, and a couple of large trees, whose roots have long displaced the structure that once was.
Heather came out to see what we were up to. “What are you digging for honey?” Partially a reflection that it seemed like I was just moving piles of dirt (which in all reality I was).
“I don’t know. We are looking for something…” I reassured her. Not sure that she felt any reassurance that we were being anything but aimless:)
This activity got me thinking though about the many mysteries that lay under the ground. While diving into this rabbit hole a came upon a project by visual artist Imo Use Imeh called Benediction, highlighted in Orion Magazine. His project includes works that depict a story of angels who have fallen from Heaven; brought here to bear witness to the acts of Black men and boys in modern society.
One of Imeh’s works depicts a Black Man with his ear to the ground. Imeh states that the man could be listening for many things. The sounds of his ancestors and the horrors that could never be fully documented and are laid to rest beneath the earth. Imeh also references the story of Cain and Abel, with which many of us are familiar. Cain kills his brother and tries to bury his evidence from God. When God confronts Cain, he claims he has done nothing wrong. God says, “You are lying. I can hear the blood of your brother… It cries… It cries for justice from the ground.” (Genesis, 4:10)
This is not to say that only horrible acts are buried underneath the ground on which we walk. The joy, the pain, and the mundane experiences of the past are mostly unrecognized but are still a part of the lives of all those laid to rest to be enveloped, decomposed, and reborn in the earth’s cycles. It is impossible to know the life and times of all those who came before but equally important to recognize that we can begin to hear some of those voices once we do a little digging…
Written by ~ Ross Cunningham