ROOTS explores the intersectionality of black women in America, the unique double discrimination that they experience based on their race and gender, and the consequent omission of the black female voice from American history. Drawing inspiration from the African Diaspora and the 1960’s Civil Rights Movement, ROOTS highlights the erasure of the black woman’s narrative and her journey in rooting her place in American society.
"Woman be black
Woman be ripe and swinging
From the tree of life
Like berry for the picking
Behind her eyes are two supernovas
All seeing portals to the workings of life
Like knowledge is born in her mouth
Like teeth gnashing behind sealed lips
With the secrets men have tried to hide
In the temple of her skull
They rattle around like a deadly cry
But she was raised to endure
The constant sensation of death
Her mother before her warned
Of the deceit and ungratefulness
Of man
She'd say to her
Close your mouth for no one
For they will use your silence as power
They will cradle the curve of your spine
Only to break it
To make themselves seem taller
They will mask
The richness of your heritage
Behind watered down names
That are more palpable
To their tongues
Never let them name you
Tell them who you are
Before they can utter anything else
Her daughter asks her often
Why men who come in the dead of night
Like to disguise themselves as sheep
When they are really wolves
Frothing at the mouth with greed
Why they bite and beat at her skin
Like she is both forbidden fruit
And festering feast
Why when they look at the dark onyx
That is her skin
They flee with tails between their legs
Woman says to her
You be fierce
You be the beam of light
In the dark void of night
Beneath your skin
Maps the history of existence
Your veins hold deposits of gold
That shimmer like the sands
Of where your ancestors were born
In the crux of your thighs
Lies the heart of world
Men do not wage battles over you
Because you ARE the war
You are the first and the last
And the beginning and the end
Men are apt to forget
Where they came from
And are known to be ignorant
Of their finales
Do not fear the way they look at you
My precious sun and moon and star
You are black and hauntingly divine
A creature the world will always need
And often forget to marvel
But when everything comes crashing down to nothing
Black woman
Will always be."
