I am Africa

Because I am a human being,
And attempting to separate me from Africa would be like attempting to separate me from the atoms which compose my being.

I am Africa

Because even though my ancestors were robbed of our heritage, stripped from our homes, ripped from our families, shipped across a vast ocean, and whipped into slavery…

That does not change the fact that Africa is embedded and inherent into the essence of my being.

I am Africa

A fact that no survey, census, application, employer, sneer look or remark, or racist attack has ever let me forget.

I am Africa

Because not only is my mamma, my mammas-mamma, my mammas-mammas-mamma, my mammas-mammas-mammas-mamma, and ad infinttum is Africa

But also because my white/Irish daddy can, if he looked hard enough and long enough find that he too is also Africa

& So, I must necessarily be Africa

I am Africa

Not because I am black, because you can well see that I am mixed

And not because Africa is black because it is not, the definition of “black” is a human construction and as such lacks the sufficient force and power to be the essence of what makes me Africa.

And while it is true that people of dark skin complexion do live on the continent called Africa, Africa is so much more than a place.

Africa is a state of being, a set of values and rich, vibrant cultural traditions that ground us in what it means “to be”.

Africa is the epicenter from which all essence springs forth.

& so, I am Africa
Because I am Africa.