The Embodiment of Us-ness
***I wrote this inspired by four phenomenal African activists
working against all odds and spread across this wonderful continent. I
honor you and your brave work. You are the revolutionaries keep us alive, thank
you eternally.***
In a context in which Africa today stands,
With a rich tall history
Yet to be free from colonial and neo colonial excesses,
Where visitors are welcome; expats and tourists
While our visits outside met with antagonism
Where sweat of our brow over thousands of years of generations
Built the foundation of the wealth that is the west
Some of the best of our minds and skills were and still are
The anchors of innovative ideas but we still we remain immigrants.
Where history books valorise Caeser as a military genius (with a
small caption of dictator)
And we know little of our own African heroes for posterity’s sake.
Where we have complicated relations with vast resources that is
‘Africa’
And yet deep poverty synonymous with ‘Africa’ in development
jargon.
Where we know there are strong forces pushing and pulling us
But we remain conveniently silenced to be good recipients of aid
Some which draws its roots from our mines and wells.
But this is not what we will be discussing today.
Today, let us consider African bodies.
A continuous and loose string of things that we embody
With promise of endless possibilities…
We exist but for some they exist much more because they are seen.
We are here but for some they are here more because they are
listened to.
Our African bodies
Our Autonomies ?
Our self-determination??
Or lack of;
Well despite, or depending, because of it, we are here.
Regrouping and reconnecting
To keep this Pan African fire alive
Of our sexualities, our identities and our lives.
But to consciously make our spaces much more mindful
Of the voices and bodies yet to be heard
And counted
And offered a seat on the table
Let us listen,
Let us learn
And lets be part of a practice and not just theory of inclusion
That will keep this space and act revolutionary!
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