NOTTOWAY PLANTATION BURNS

     The day was just like any other day, scrolling through social media, looking to see what was trending. I started to see mention of a glorious fire at Nottoway Plantation, a plantation

located in Louisiana. In my mind, the song that immediately came to it was: “the roof, the

roof, the roof is on fire. We don’t need no water let that motherfucker burn....” Am I alone? I must be more honest and let you know that I sang it aloud and laughed at the fact that this building was on fire. Yes, that was my initial reaction. As some may be puzzled, others may relate. Either way, it is so.

I wasn’t quite familiar with Nottoway Plantation at the time, but with the word “plantation” in the mix, I already knew some of the things that most likely happened there to our Ancestors. Across America, especially in the South, plantations were known as places where slaves were terrorized just for being alive. Not only where they held against their will they were murdered, raped, humiliated, tortured, sold, and treated like nothing more than property. At times, property gained more respect than our Ancestors. Just like this plantation did. More people worried about the building burning than the bodies that, at one time, held the same fate.

     As I watched social media and different news outlets, I saw overjoyed Black people, and I saw white people who were in shambles over the fact that this building had burned to the

ground. I found irony in the fact that it burned for 40 hours, and it made me think about the 40 acres that we were promised for reparations for the miscarriages of justice, deceit, and

disgusting ways of the forefathers of America. I laughed along at the memes, showing Black people congregating, and having a barbecue as the plantation burned in the background,

and shook my head and scoffed at the white people who were almost in tears over this building of torture becoming dust.

America has a bad habit of continuing to want to live off Black people's pain. Please correct me if I’m wrong, but are there any places in America that symbolize the holocaust in which people go and visit the site as a bed-and-breakfast? I truly wanted to know. I decided to hit up Google and ask if there were any types of resorts in America that included the holocaust and this was the answer that it gave back: “the concept of a "Holocaust resort" in the US is not a recognized term, and it's not accurate to portray the Holocaust in a way that suggests a place of leisure or tourism related to the genocide. The Holocaust was a horrific event, and places associated with it are typically sites of remembrance and education.” (Google,2025). Ain’t that some shit? How easily they can take these plantations and turn them into bed-and-breakfast tourist destinations and places to hold weddings or take scenic pictures, as if it were not a place where horrific things happened.

 I’m glad that it burned down to the ground. I wish all of them would. I wish all the places that America and abroad turn into “profiting off our pain” tourist destinations would burn to the ground. They just can’t seem to take enough from us; first, it was many of us from our Motherland, then us from each other, and in time, they tried to take our dignity. In current events, they try to take our rights, our lives.... But we can hold our own, and we’ve always been able to, which has always been one of the biggest fears, our strength, especially when

we come together. I often wonder if part of the reason these plantations and monuments of murderers still exist is because they are trying to break our spirits and remind us of the time

of slavery. You know, the time they want to commemorate how they see fit but want us to “forget.”

I learned more about Nottoway as it continued to burn. The World Wide Web was on fire. As I maneuvered through the Internet, I started to see different news about the plantation fire. A conspiracy started, which professed that this fire happened in an attempt to get rid of the proof of the horrid history of America. I didn’t entertain this idea at all because I know that our history is deeper than the plantation, and even if they burned all of them down, the history of those places would still resonate because we, the people, hold the pages in our minds and our hearts. Nottoway burning down doesn’t make our history disappear. A “landmark” should not have to prove our existence. However, if we don’t prove our existence, it will disappear. So, the smoke that rose from the top of that building was not

smoke from our history, forgotten. It was long overdue, and now a new part of our history has been created.

So, goodbye Nottoway Plantation, may the souls of our Ancestors finally be at peace now that the site of many of their pains, heartaches, and bodies are all free from the capitalistic

hands of America. Burn motherfucker.... burn. All Power to the People.