Happy New Year Beautiful People!
There is a lot of noise in the world. It
is almost impossible to not get pulled into the daily racist, white
supremacists statements. When my Sistren Chioma shared that there was a slot
left in the ‘BBnB’ Women of Color Writing retreat I said, YES, immediately. Not
only to write but to pause and get away from the noise.
The day before the retreat, I was one of
the storytellers for the WGBH/PBS show; Stories from the Stage. It was an
unforgettable experience on many levels. The story I shared was my first time
venturing off campus and facing the ‘I thought you were Black, you don’t look
Panamanian’ exchange. I realized in preparing to stand on that stage, that the
pain and sadness from that moment is still a part of my movement. It is a daily
trauma, a constant kick in the stomach that makes you rise up ready to fight
for your space and your full voice.
This same incident happened a week before
preparing for the show. This has been the ongoing narrative since I have been
in Boston. As I reflect on the experience of the show, 2017 and our current
affairs, I arrived at this place that it is not enough to talk about it; we
need to go back and fetch it, Sankofa, to truly find ourselves and see our
commonality. Once we arrive at this place, we need to tell our stories in our
own way, using our own words that might not make sense to many who pretend to
understand our journey including those who look like us.
I dedicate this to the young women of the
HER project of 2017-2018. In discussing black history, I realized that they
only know about Malcolm X, MLK Jr. and Rosa Parks. They only know the accepted
white washed narrative that makes them safe as black leaders and activists.
This is a major step for these girls. They have been moving through life as
White Latinas with Black experiences. They don’t have the words or the history
to validate these experiences.
When
I showed the film ‘Scattered Africa’ by my mentor Dr. Sheila Walker, I saw the
amazement in their faces when they heard the numbers of Africans brought to the
Americas. I saw them sit up when they heard their country mentioned. I then
shared the process of the program which strives to create a space for identity
formation and leadership development. Two of my young women asked me, Can we
learn more about Africa? Can we learn more about the trans-Atlantic slave
trade? I was moved by this ask and their willingness to challenge what they
have been taught and what they hear on a daily basis in their homes and in
their community.
Their ask led me to these questions; do we
understand that we were dropped off everywhere? Do we understand that the
language we speak is based on who colonized us? Do we understand that our
stories were told by those who do not see our humanity? They did not know this and many adults, teachers;
community leaders do not know this in the way that places them and their
ancestors in this truth. My young women made me realize that for them to truly
identify as Afro Latinas then they need to know Africa, they need to see Africa
in Santo Domingo, Puerto Rico, Colombia, Haiti and the US.
Together we are going back to fetch it so
that we can know thyself on a deeper level.
Moving in this direction with this group
of young warriors, led one of them to say to me, ‘Ms. Yvette I feel bad about
the way we speak of Haitians.’ She then
shared that she got into a disagreement with her family about the push for
deportation of Dominicans of Haitian descent and how this is the same as them
fighting as Americans of Dominican descent.
In my own reflection of these
conversations with my girls, I realized that I failed my baby, Encuentro
Diaspora Afro. I failed it because as I was growing deeper into my identity, my
light as an African, I did not bring it fully along with me. I wanted it to fit
into this Afro Latino identity that still over emphasized this need to be
invited to the colonizers table. That is no longer a priority of mine. Nina
Simone said, “You have to learn to get up from the table when love is no longer
being served.” If your love for my
blackness, my Africaness is not present, then I do not need to share space with
you. Afro Latinos stand loud saying, Soy Afro Latina, but do you see Africa in
that? It is time to ask, what is most important to you?
My experience filming ‘Cimarronaje en
Panama’ allows me to stand with complete confidence saying, Colon is Africa. It is in the movement of the people, the
voices, the smell and the love. Yes, the region is mixed but how many of us
speak of our ancestors as enslaved Africans and not something outside of
ourselves.
One of the many gifts of 2017 was the
founding of Regional Council of Africans in the Americas (RCAA/ARAAC). As one
of the co-founders with Jesus ‘Chucho’ Garcia and Damani Aaquil this space mirrored
my movement by placing Africa in the center of the Latin American and Caribbean
experience. Encuentro Diaspora Afro has joined this drum beat.
The drum beat was extended in such spaces
as National African American Reparations Commission (NAARC), #40 Acres and More
(Reparations Strategy Group), the Boston Coalition for Freedom and the ongoing work
of the Red de Mujeres Afro (RMAAD).
I give thanks to the young women who are
daring to join me. I say ‘daring’ because when your eyes, your heart and mind
are open to this truth, you will react to anything being said about any person
of African descent that could mean a level of sacrifice that no one prepares
you for.
It is important to also give a shootout to
the young men of the Hermanos in Solidarity (HIS) Project. After seeing the
film I shared something Mr. Richards, my mentor in Panama shared with me. He said,
‘we were not dropped off as a family. Your father was dropped off in Jamaica,
your sister in Haiti, your brother in Panama and your cousin in Ecuador. One of
the young men out loud said, ‘that’s deep.’ He then said, so that means I could
be related to you Ms. Yvette and I said, Yes, he then said, that is really
cool.’ If you pause, like the young women and young men of project did to truly
understand that statement then you can feel the need to know thyself, to go
back and fetch it.
I closed out 2017 standing with Black
women/ African women from NAARC, #40 Acres & More and community organizations
that stood together reading the statement that highlighted 350+ years of being
viciously raped during the enslavement era and beyond. It was powerful. We
followed that up with a ‘Sistahs Statement’ following the elections in Alabama that
spoke to us always having to ‘show up’ not to save others but to take care of
ourselves. All of this fed the warrior/Ogun in me.
I fell in love, deeper in love with the
spaces I entered and with the men and women that gave me room to exhale. I also
began sharing my Yoruba name, Lepolata Aduke. This was important to me. It was
another expression of being unapologetically African.
My ‘loc’ journey which I started on my mother’s
birthday is also about embracing this African light. The reactions have been
interesting. Even those who say they are ‘Woke’ carry a European standard of
beauty that says this is not attractive; this is not clean and professional. It
has been revealing of my own sense of beauty. I love the way it sticks up one day, I love
the way it feels when it’s fed water and gets kissed by the sun. I love the way
it is doing its own thing. It is an extension of me. Doing my own thing, my
spirit keeps rising with a grounding smile.
My identity has led my purpose and my
purpose has filled me with a love that at times I am not able to really express
to you. To be honest and vulnerable in this reflection, it has not been easy.
It is exhausting yet; I am willing to commit to these young people so that in
some shape or form they will be better prepared to respond to this racist,
white supremacist noise both externally and internally.
As Encuentro Diaspora Afro, the young
women and young men of the HER and HIS Project join me to a deeper journey of
Knowing thyself, I ask you to join us on this journey. Our campaign, our song
for 2018 will be Know Thyself, Descubrete! We will go back and fetch it and
hopefully land in a place that will have all of us rising to this synchronized
song, I am an African in the Americas.
Ifa teaches us that our Ori (spiritual head)
leads our journey and opens the roads for all good things. May 2018 bring us
clarity and ground us in our African light. May we tune out this racist, white
supremacist noise. May we continue building together and sitting at the table
with love. May we find each other, see each other and embrace each other in
this New Year. Ase!
In light and love,
Yvette ( Lepolata Aduke)
