I can’t look away either. Vincent Woodard’s work on cannibalism and slavery is in my mind. Flesh monger was not a figurative term to enslaved people. They knew that enslavers were epicures of Black flesh, that they derived sustenance from carefully curating and consuming us. https://twitter.com/nrookie/status/1385611636933857284

I’ve woken up with this on my mind every morning since the news broke. @DainaRameyBerry’s writing about Ghost Value is one way to language how these faculty/departments/institutions turned a profit on these children’s remains.

But “juicy” brings to mind consumption, pleasure, and taking delight in the handling of the remains of children. And that is what has been with me each morning. The part where possessing, handling, and using their remains was pleasurable.

When officials executed Nat Turner, his remains were famously taken as medical specimens, his skull and skeleton separated. For generations story of his skin being made into grease, coin purses, and other items were spoken of among Black people.

We’re those items made of him...some other enslaved person? The story goes that he sold his body for a few hoecakes. But he didn’t own his body in life. How could he negotiate the sale of his remains in jail...convicted of violent rebellion?

And so, in 1985...in 2021, the question of consent echos. But let’s both forget the delight, the profit, the pleasure taken...STOLEN. Because that’s the point—he juicy, greasy, sensual point. Handling the bones, using the remains, was delightful.

*not forget. (Why don’t we have an edit button?)