I am Myself

This reflective narrative takes childhood mistreatments as analogous to that of the insidious waysinstitutionalized power subjugates marginalized peoples. It centers the voice of a young girl who is yet to be proficient in English and thus uses her body as a key source of knowing, activating her embodied rage to articulate the fullness of her humanity. The narrative locates the body as a matrix of cultural-historical-self knowledge that recognizes its own sovereignty; as that which reminds us of our sacred place within the world; and therefore, acts as a spiritual gateway for collective liberation. As we look through our multiple screens and witness the current state-sanctioned atrocities and many genocides unfolding, this piece asks: what does the body do? What does it do when children are killed, and people are actively erased? Does it feel sick? Numb? Outraged? Shocked? The intellectual mind alone cannot recognize the depths of such complex abjection. It requires a corporeal awakening to remind us of our sacred existence.