By Andrea Jenkins
April 23, 2025
“Heavy Breathing/ Sunset Over Lake Bde Maka Ska” a poem by Andrea Jenkins performed as part of Mni Sota Confluence! in Orchestra Hall on July 10, 2024
May 2025 marks 5 years since the murder of George Floyd in Minneapolis, MN, on May 25, 2020. As week look back with sadness, anger, and reverence, we look forward with determination to a world where all voices are free. Minneapolis City Council Member Andrea Jenkins shared a powerful poem as part of Mni Sota Confluence! at Festival 2024. It offers a moment of reflection for us all.
Heavy Breathing/ Sunset Over Lake Bde Maka Ska
by Andrea Jenkins
“If they come for me
In the morning,
They will come for you
In the night…”
-anonymous
The purple one still matters…
“Dearly beloved we are gathered here
today to get through this thing
called life” [i]
This we accomplish through song
-Songs of sadness and joy
-Through stories of hope and
love, pain and trauma
-We sing with our hearts
pouring like a soaking spring rain
-We sing with our voices reaching
upwards towards some yet unseen force,
some energy greater than what we possess
Searching for answers to the
Inherent injustices we encounter
Each and every day
We are on a journey to disarm hate
And “WE WON’T GO BACK”,
Is the intersectional mantra, linking all
Liberation movements
Connecting the personal to the political
It’s how the murder of George Floyd
Is related to the erosion of a women’s right
To choose her own destiny
Of LGBTGIA+ folks right to love who they want to love
How society is lulled into slumber
While genocide and dictators persist
What is your response to Love right now?
And yes, Pride has a song
Sara Ramirez singing “Somewhere Over the Rainbow” [ii]
Lady GaGa singing “I was Born This Way” [iii]
Elton John singing “I’m Still Standing” yeah, yeah, yeah [iv]
“Sing with me, sing for the year
Sing for the laughter, sing for the tears
Sing with me, if just for today
Maybe tomorrow the good lord take you away” [v]
At the end of heavy breathing
While watching the sun setting over Lake Bde Maka Ska [vi]
I remember Essex [vii] said,
“Nationalism disillusioned me…
You want me to sing ‘We Shall Overcome’?…
Who will be responsible for the destruction of human love?”
At the end of heavy breathing
After the sun has laid down for the night
A song of Redemption remains.
One Love.
[i] Prince, “Let’s Get Crazy”, 1984
[ii] Sara Ramirez, “Somewhere Over The Rainbow”, 2019. World Pride. Brooklyn, NYC.
[iii] Lady Gaga, “Born this Way”, 2018.
[iv] Elton John, “To Low for Zero”, 1983.
[v] Aerosmith, “Dream On”, 1973
[vi] Lake Bde Maka Ska, On May 13, 2020, the Minnesota Supreme Court ruled that the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources had the authority to rename Lake Calhoun as Bde Maka Ska
[vii] Essex Hemphill, “Ceremonies: poetry and prose, 1993