"Rematriation starts in the body..."

 

It is her call for Boricuas who wants to find a way back to the island.  A way for Boricuas to reclaim their relationship with the ancestral land that formed them.  Reclaim the land, undo colonialism.  Decolonize.  

 

For me this sentence was a two part call in a new chapter of liberation.  Reclaim to Rematriate Boriken, my island, the cradle of my being.  Reclaim it in my body and undo old ideas of what my plans were.  But additionally, reclaim my liberation.  Or...just claim it for the first time.  While I have already accomplished so much freedom in claiming parts of my true self - My spiritual path, my religious priesthood, my lesbian identity, my LGBTQ/Progressive politics, my womanism and humanism--when did I really do so by extracting myself entirely from the existing systems?  When did I ever dare to be as the Audre Lorde Project named and taught the community to be: Safe Outside of the System.  

 

If I am absolutely honest with myself and everyone - I have always wanted to work with existing systems and try to fix things from the inside.  I wanted to do so for the sake of keeping a functional society where my communities had a chance to thrive.  I wanted to believe in democracy.  I wanted to believe that what is best in people could take over these systems and reform them.

 

This present imperial administration and the society which upholds it tells me that these societies and these governments are not for safety.  They are not for the common people.  They do not care about functional societies where people can thrive.  The empire was born of destruction, made to destroy and will only function for thus.  Any true liberation exists outside of here.

 

I can't say that I can afford a true physical and geographical liberation yet.  I don't have the resources and the financial means to completely exit the empire yet.  But as Yasmin said: I am making space for it inside my body.  I am realigning my beliefs, my plans, my goals, my dreams.  I am letting the flower of liberation finally bloom.

 

This morning I woke up to a challenging question from my friend Jane - what is to be ungovernable.  And I claimed an expanded version of Yasmin’s words in my belief system: I am making space for liberation in my body and spirit.  I am being more aligned with Liberation.  No longer will I believe liberation can exist in electoral politics and fixing the system from the inside.  In this year of Iyaworaje and spiritual observance, I am also aligning with liberation.  A new me with new politics.  A new me to sustain my community in meaningful ways that have nothing to do with the master's tools.  And after my period of religious observance, my Boricua and LGBTQ community will have me visiting, ready to do meaningful work.  I will be ready to engage what Adrianne Maree Brown referred to as the "murmuration".  The meeting and linking with my communities to do meaningful organizing, in a way that is functional and healthy - even if we still have a bit of chaos to figure out.

 

I am redirecting my gift and my talents to better causes.  This body and this life was made to be decolonized.  My ancestors and the great spirits/orishas/nkisi and cemis have been waiting.  This body is ungovernable by an empire.  This body was made to sustain and mother a better life than the one a simple and crumbling empire can give.