Trinity: The Black Reality
by Guest Contributor Cheryl Lynn, originally published at Digital Femme
*Warning: Spoilers Ahead*
“Baby, you can fall down in the mud, but you don’t have to wallow in it.”
“I’m tellin’ you. It ain’t easy.”
Two sayings. Two grandmothers. Both mine. Both true.
One more saying. This one’s true too.
“This won’t kill me. I won’t die here.”
Martha Washington. The Black Reality.
Like my grandmothers, Martha Washington grew up in a hostile environment–America. More specifically for Martha, she was raised in an alternate version of the Cabrini Green Housing Development, which existed as a cordoned off area of Chicago intended to house those that the government deemed to be undesirable. The Green was relegated to those who were black and those who were poor. As a child, Martha received substandard housing and substandard healthcare. She attended school in a decrepit building outfitted with exposed pipes and outdated school supplies.
But what did Martha need with a decent education? To her country and to her government, she was simply fuel for a brick and mortar Ouroboros. Like her father before her, she was raised to live and die in the Green. Nothing more than a lump of coal to keep society’s dirty engine running.
Funny things happen to lumps of coal when you apply enough pressure. They get hard, durable and sharp enough to cut anything.
Martha cuts her way out of the Green by stabbing a hook deep within the murderer of her teacher and mentor. For her violent act, she’s sent away to a correctional facility for the mentally ill. She moves from a metaphorical prison to a real one, but she is out of the Green. She is one step closer to freedom.
For the Black Reality is that freedom isn’t given, but it can most certainly be fought for. And Martha is the most skilled of fighters. The Green has honed her to perfection.
And when Martha finally escapes the confines of the correctional facility, she does what she has been trained to do. She becomes a legally sanctioned fighter. A soldier. Her record is wiped clean and she takes one more step towards her liberation.
“I’m telling you. It ain’t easy.”
For the Black Reality is that you have to work twice as hard to get half the recognition. Martha works four times as hard and gets all of it. She saves her country numerous times. She exposes her detractors for the dangerous and deluded beings they are. Not for glory, but because her will and desire for freedom is simply that strong. She is that special.
“Baby, you can fall down in the mud, but you don’t have to wallow in it.”
Just because it ain’t easy doesn’t mean it’s always hard. For the Black Reality is that joy can shine through like a jewel even in a setting of heartbreak and pain. And Martha is able to find love in the harshest of environments from her mother, her mentor, her lover and her friends. Even when the weight of the world is upon her shoulders, in her small circle she is cherished and admired and appreciated.
“This won’t kill me. I won’t die here.”
The Black Reality is that sometimes the fruits of our labor will be the ones to enjoy the fruits of our labor. Yes, technically we do die. However, we live on in the ones we leave behind. Every freedom I enjoy was fought for by my mother, and my mother’s mother. And so on. Never ending. Immortal. Martha does not get to see peace in her homeland, but she knows that her progeny will take her wisdom and one day forge a peaceful nation with it. She endures the Black Reality so that her descendants may become the Black Ideal. And a new Reality will be formed by those who follow the blazing path Martha set before them. For she shines like a diamond.
Because she is one.
(Image Scans from Give Me Liberty)
Carmen Van Kerckhove is co-founder and president of
Alston wrote:
I remember this series. I bought it in 1990, and still own it, although it is at my parents house. Thank you for helping me relive this intriguing story, and for bring a new flavour to it.
2008 seemed far away, then…
Posted 28 May 2009 at 11:01 am ¶
Big Man wrote:
Man, this looks interesting. What is it called?
Posted 28 May 2009 at 3:10 pm ¶
Barbara wrote:
Man, I recognized Gibbons’ artwork immediately, but I didn’t realize it was Frank Miller who wrote it. I’ve been avoiding him lately because he’s gotten so freaky nationalistic, but I think I really need to add this to my collection. Thanks for lifting this up!
Posted 28 May 2009 at 3:39 pm ¶
Pheagan wrote:
Yay! Martha Washington! That is all.
Posted 28 May 2009 at 3:42 pm ¶
asada wrote:
I get alittle worried when blacks are portrayed as super hereos . Sometimes I get the message the only way to be great is to simply be a super hero. Of which I am not.
I belive I will read this series, Im already in a library might as well.
Thanks for this post.
Posted 28 May 2009 at 5:59 pm ¶
SR wrote:
I was also leery of Give me Liberty when I heard that Frank Miller wrote it. I took a chance and was surprised. It’s the only good thing Miller has ever written.
Posted 28 May 2009 at 6:03 pm ¶
skoog wrote:
Wow. I had no idea that Miller and Gibbons did this! I’m pretty irritated that not one of my comic geek friends told me until know, because I have a feeling I know why. :/
So excited to read it, though.
Posted 28 May 2009 at 10:48 pm ¶
RJG wrote:
Give Me Liberty is an amazing graphic novel and Martha Washington is a kick ass character.
I really really don’t recall the last four images from the comic, though. Were those from one of the sequels? I only have/read the original Give Me Liberty series.
This comic is also an interesting read for some of the sub-plots. The “Apache Nation” is a group of even further disenfranchised Native American who went revolutionary, the Surgeon General sees things like homosexuality, drugs, and music as diseases which must be purged from the nation, and an interesting take on how a “good” president can spiral into something pretty damn bad.
Posted 29 May 2009 at 10:44 am ¶
Cheryl Lynn wrote:
The last four images are from Martha Washington Dies (http://www.darkhorse.com/Comics/14-722/Martha-Washington-Dies-one-shot).
Posted 29 May 2009 at 12:08 pm ¶
RJG wrote:
@Cheryl Thanks! Are the later one-shots as good as the original series?
Posted 29 May 2009 at 4:42 pm ¶
PatrickInBeijing wrote:
It has been so long since I saw this, that at first I didn’t recognize it. For a fantasy based series, not bad. I wish that publishers would do more reality based series.
I remember (when I was in the states) meeting POC artists, writers and publishers with tremendous talents at comic-cons. Alas they were always stuck in the “indi” ghetto, unless they wanted to work on Spiderman.
It left a bitter taste in my mouth for the industry.
I pretty much stopped buying the mainstream companies products, and bought as much indie stuff as I could until my money ran out (it did). As cool as these short sheets are, they are nothing compared to what was out there then, and what still may be.
Hmmm, i would like to hit a comic-con and see who among the folks I met in the 90’s is still there. Some awesome talent!!
pace,
Posted 30 May 2009 at 8:00 am ¶
Cheryl Lynn wrote:
@RJG They aren’t as good as the comics in the first series, but I enjoyed them.
Posted 30 May 2009 at 9:38 am ¶
RJG wrote:
@PatrickInBeijing: “I wish that publishers would do more reality based series.”
You may want to check out Joe Sacco’s graphic novels on Palestine, Bosnia, and Sarajevo.
Posted 02 Jun 2009 at 12:42 pm ¶