Suppose Sorrow Was a Time Machine

"Suppose Sorrow Was a Time Machine" by Amiri Baraka is quite the interesting read. It narrates his grandfather's life through a unique point of view. Its like he's speaking to his grandfather Tom Russ but at the same time about him. He speaks about a certain vibration he felt about 34 years before being born. When I heard that I thought of maybe an earthquake or some form of destruction because he also talks about how Tom's store was burned. It turns out some people who want him out of town burned it down. However, through his tenacity he managed to rebuild it again, and again it is burned down. I think what Baraka is trying to do is show us how much racism was prevalent. He did this by starting out the literature by saying "You are a negro who has felt the ground vibrate, and you are trying to interpret the vibration". I am honestly still not quite sure what the vibration is. It might have been the struggles they were facing, because a physical vibration is often linked to a disturbance or interruption, but on the other hand, a non physical vibration is linked to creativism, like music.