ABSTRACT
John Newton was the 18th-century composer of the beloved anthem “Amazing Grace.” He worked in the slave trade in his youth; the song marks his turn from this life to a life of abolitionist activism. The poet addresses today’s heirs of the “amazing grace” that Newton credited with transforming his consciousness, and touches on toxic whiteness, anti-black violence, and white fragility, together with reverence for the divine feminine, ancestral veneration, and resilience.
