Narrated by Charissa Cassels
I am African
I am clicks of tongue
I am clay, hardened
I am gold, mined
And gold mines
I am untold stories
Suppressed history
I am hands, clapping
Hips gyrating
I am feet stomping
Backs arching
I am mouths singing
Lips whistling
I am bodies shaking,
Moving to rhythms
only they have created
I am fertilized soil
Nourished water
I am a product of slavery
I am of freedom
I am hope
I am African
BIO: Charissa Cassels is an Honours graduate in Journalism and Media Studies from Rhodes University. Her work has previously been published in Into.Me.I.See, Different Shades of the Feminine Mind and Best New African Poets 2018 Anthology. Cassels won the 2019 Ahmed Kathrada Foundation’s youth essay writing competition, with her essay titled, Orange. Coloured. Erased.