Their empires rose from our
Whip cracked backs
Calloused & bleeding hands and feet
Spent limbs on the verge of expiration
Their claim to glory was premised on our lynched bodies & wounded souls
Woeful faces worn from dawn till dusk
Hearts depleted of hope
They conquered us with a diluted, distorted & degenerate version of self
Words sharpened as assegaais took aim at the self-love of Africa’s children
We were flagellated into accepting ideas manufactured in “white” minds
Our knowledge was appropriated & with their thieving hands they wrote their account of our history
They stripped us of our dignity with politics of skin variations that gave birth to the ranking of human beings
“Whiteness” was set as a standard for all to follow
Female bodies were reduced to jungles where depraved sexual predators hunted
These are the days of slavery
Refiloe loves writing creative pieces. She has always been fascinated by the ability of words to fashion worlds and experiences. She recently decided to go back to her first love:poetry. She is in her “happy girl era”.