women of colour run with a million dreams on their backs…….
they run
from scripts of silence
from hands that hinder
with dreams of dreams
with the regrets of their grandmothers
they run.
they run
trapped in prisons of love
sounds of screaming singing in their ears
decades of doubt in their hearts.
yet they run
they run
they run
all they have is hope
hope of the possible
so they run
carrying a million dreams
they run
till their breath runs out
still they run
run
till their strength gives out
still they run
run
till their life runs out
and then
they fall
and the dreams they carry take flight
to be caught by a new set of women
a million million dreams to be carried
on a million million backs
we run
with a billion dreams on our backs
we run.
[…] And this brings me to the crossroads of personal and political. When existence itself becomes protest, the personal is politicized. This brings into question the variable autonomy and sovereignty allowed black women. When the lines between the personal and political are blurred, personal decisions are fraught with political cogitations. For example: As a postcolonial decolonial pan-African feminist (yes, that is a thing…) do I not owe a scholarly duty to be an adherent of the natural hair movement? (In essence to practice what I preach) As an autonomous person, do I not have the freedom of choice to do what I want with my hair? Natural or Textured? But how free is my choice when the structures of society implicitly support one choice over the other? And therein lies the problem and the solution. The natural hair movement will always be political. And that is not a bad thing, because freedom is political. But freedom is life. Freedom like a skylark flies upward. Freedom is aspirational. Freedom is what fighting for. For humanity. The struggle is everlasting. […]