African soil, I AM SORRY

See we stand here today, celebrating the diverse cultures that paint the African soil but...when the sun sets,  curtains close, we go back...Pack our little blackness in the back, the back of our minds, hearts and souls so let me start off by saying
I AM SORRY
I am sorry for keeping you at arms length and bringing you out when it was convenient
I am sorry for not knowing puo ya segae(home language) because
I let my teachers make me believe that my language belonged in the townships cause
IN THIS SCHOOL, "we ONLY speak English"

I'm sorry for only eating mogodu,maotwane le ting behind the comfort of the four walls I call home, cause
Dare we say this is food, in the presence of  our "white friends" who pierce our food with disgust,
I mean "who eats chicken feet, euuw"
I'm sorry it took Viola Davis in 2014 to strip down her make up and wear her natural hair LOUD
Before I could say "Maybe MY BLACKNESS is in fact BEAUTIFUL"
See I take this time to not only apologize
but WELCOME YOU BACK
Back into our classrooms,our social circles, more so back into OUR HOMES

No more will we have to wait for Zahara or Thandiswa Mazwi to release a track before we AFFIRM OUR BLACKNESS or wait for fashion runways to display OUR AFRICAN PRINTS to remind us of our beauty...
TODAY, we embrace YOU
and TOMORROW you WILL LIVE ON