If I hear very rhythmic sounds and music playing, be it African, Latin, or Diasporic, I can’t help but move to it, even if it’s just my little toe in my shoe that you can’t see moving.
I move to it.
My soul sways to it.
I am the mother and father of you all. The big bang was the climactic explosion from a phallus so dark it contrasted against the milky way. My womb was the universal darkness from which you all came.
I make something from nothing, or from the least of what I’ve found. They call what I do improvisation. That’s what I do best. That’s how I have survived. I make magic!
I have survived ridicule, rape, and racism. I have survived segregation, slavery, and slaughter.
I have survived being misunderstood, underestimated, and falsely rated.
I have survived theft of my land, hopes turned to sand, and money leave hand. I am resilient!
I’ve survived it all! Being held back, much I did lack, people who yack… about nothing positive.
I hear life echo in the winds and the waters.
When the spirits call I hear them. They’re in my dreams and come to me during the day as well. They are in my blood, those Dear Nice Ancestors (DNA). They help protect me and send me love.
I have many shades of the colors black, brown, red, yellow, and even white or light. I am the rainbow of colors, yet I am still Black because all of the colors come from me. I have different eye shapes and various shapes of my nose, ears, and mouth, with hair that varies from tight kinky to straight. Yet, I am still Black.
My consciousness is black.
I am proud of my people and aware of all they have gone through and survived. When I was a young girl, my father and mother told me that I was Black. A bad girl from my neighborhood called me black to try to hurt me. I told her, “Thank you.” She walked away surprised and confused.
My father’s mother gave me a pretty white doll. My father took it away and replaced it with a pretty black doll. I gave the doll my name. My mother smiled.
Like the many Kings and Queens before me.
Like the ancestors that my family talks about. Like the dancers, singers, sellers, storytellers, musicians, designers, and cooks who make days festive so that we can enjoy. Like the teachers, athletes, therapists, healers, scientists, inventors, judges, writers, mechanics, carpenters, and tailors in our neighborhoods and beyond who make life better… I AM BLACK!
I AM BLACK!
I am an advocate for my people, and a champion of people, creatures, and creations around the world, whether they recognize my life-giving force or not. I am love, learning again how to love itself. I am a psychologist and healer, helper and holder, of the history and herstory, of the treasures and truths that have come through and from my people before and after the recording of time. I AM BLACK!
Dr. Denise Hinds-Zaami
Dr. Denise Hinds-Zaami, Psychotherapist, has graduate degrees in Psychology, Social Work, and Education. She traveled the world, published 4 books, taught all education levels, and was twice elected president of The New York Association of Black Psychologists. She presented at the 2012 International Psychological Conference in Cape Town, South Africa.
