I am the raven blackness of night
the thick ebony of gaboon roots
I am the dark pigmentation of skin
and the apparent identity of race

I am that river that will never run dry
flowing from firm origins
I am the uncracked kernel endowed by earth
I am the blackness of charcoal on coloured canvas

I am the hands waving in the air folded into a fist
I am the resistance and the uprising chant
in battle against prejudice
I am the raised voices denouncing institutionalized oppression

I am the protest parade of the streets in camped colonies
the stand of solidarity for lost soldiers in the struggle
heaving without retreat or surrender
refusing to be silenced

I am a community in continuity
a thriving kind that will never go extinct
made of melanin and more
like the rich blackness of obsidian

Yewande Adebowale is an inspiring young female Nigerian Poet and Author, who uses metaphor to epitomise the black race which in recent times has increasingly come under attack. She stands in accord with ‘soldiers of struggle’ while denouncing ‘institutionalised racism and inequality’. Going further, she admires the dark skin, juxatapositioning it to ‘obsidian’- a black stone that symbolises a strong protective stone that shields against negativity, brings clarity to the mind and clears confusion. She also affirms that the black skin is as pure as an ‘uncracked kernel’.

The original poem has been published in Lumiere Review: https://lumierereview.com/yewande-adebowale?amp=1 and can be found on my reading list too.