Afro-Puerto Rican Mantra

By Alexandra Rosado-Román

From our unending struggles to our resilient spirit
From our history of oppression to our decolonized imaginaries
From the pain inflicted upon our bodies to our creative and agential embodiment
Our blackness is beautiful and cannot be taken for granted

From the rejection of our features to our empowered aesthetics
From our submission to patriarchy to our combative feminist resilience
From the tamable conscience to our untamable fierceness
Our blackness is beautiful and cannot be taken for granted

From our colonial past to our neocolonial present