The Question by Kadari Machen '22

The Question

By: Kadari Machen ‘22

I wrote this poem after studying Gonzaga’s history with slavery in Mr. Donellan’s history class. The question in this poem was posted by Aiden Rafferty to Georgetown’s Professor Rothman in 2016. His question inspired two years of research and deepened our understanding of the untold history of Gonzaga.

Are you aware of any connections between Gonzaga and Slavery?

I’m sure some knew the answer right away,

But feared the consequences if they say,

Knowing the school would be in dismay,

Hoping that if they stay silent, the hunters would be led astray

Are you aware of any connections between Gonzaga and Slavery?

A question,

Concealed behind a wall of fear and ignorance.

Nobody dared to crack it.

Do we want to know?

Are you aware of any connections between Gonzaga and Slavery?

An answer,

Buried under grief and agony.

An answer,

That would break the utopia of Gonzaga.

Jesuits: holy, benevolent, Christian

Jesuits: harsh, cruel, slave owners

The top 5% nationally.

Not participants, but leaders

Of a system meant to oppress, degrade, and break a race.

A race forced to pay the toll of American geographic and economic expansion

Used as a means,

But why am I not surprised,

We were never treated equally, our whole lives

How do we heal these wounds?

Do we act like it never happened?

Well, we’ve been doing that for 200 years.

Then how can we fix it?

We can’t.

There is no way to rectify the pain and suffering that my ancestors had to endure.

But there is a way to rebuild the broken spirit of Eye Street,

We must confront with passion our past, present, and future

And make sure that things do not remain the way they are.

Imagine if we had a black headmaster

Or an all-black board of trustees

What if we had a strong black woman as president

All ideas that seem so easy… but are inconceivable.

This is not just Gonzaga,

This is America.