Victoria Santa Cruz would go on to be called "the mother of Afro Peruvian dance and theatre Me gritaron: ¡Negra! Tenía siete años apenas, apenas siete años... ¡qué siete años! ¡no llegaba a cinco siquiera! De pronto unas voces en la calle me gritaron: «¡Negra!» ¡Negra! ¡Negra! ¡Negra! ¡Negra! ¡Negra! ¡Negra! ¡Negra! ¿Soy acaso negra? - me dije (¡sí!) ¿qué cosa es ser negra? (¡Negra!) y yo no sabía la triste verdad que aquello escondía (¡Negra!) Y me sentí negra (¡Negra!), como ellos decían (¡Negra!) Y pasaba el tiempo, y siempre amargada seguía llevando a mi espalda mi pesada carga ¡Y cómo pesaba!... Me alacié el cabello, me polveé la cara, y entre mis entrañas siempre resonaba la misma palabra: ¡Negra! ¡Negra! ¡Negra! ¡Negra! ¡Negra! ¡Negra! ¡Negra! Hasta que un día que retrocedía, retrocedía y que iba a caer- ¡! ¡Negra! ¡Negra! ¡Negra! ¿Y qué? ¿y qué? (¡Negra!) ¡sí- (¡Negra!) soy- (¡Negra!) negra!- (¡Negra!) ¡negra soy! (¡Negra!), ¡sí- (¡Negra!) soy- (¡Negra!) negra!- (¡Negra!) ¡negra soy! De hoy en adelante no quiero laciar mi cabello (¡no quiero!), Y voy a reírme de aquellos, que por evitar – según ellos – que por evitarnos algún sinsabor llaman a los negros «gente de color» ¡Y de que color! (NEGRO) ¡Y qué lindo suena! (NEGRO) ¡Y qué ritmo tiene! ¡Al fin! al fin comprendí (¡al fin!) ya no retrocedo (¡al fin!) y avanzo segura (¡al fin!) avanzo y espero (¡al fin!) Y bendigo al cielo porque quiso Dios que negro azabache fuese mi color, Y ya comprendí (¡Al fin!) Ya tengo la llave: ¡ ¡¡¡¡NEGRO !!! #victoriasantacruz #afroperuano #afropoet #afroperuano #composer #choreographer #afrolatino #blacklivesmatter #blackouttuesday #blm #afrolatinosunidos #latinamerica #african #peruana #arte #art #poetry #poemasenespañol #poemas #peru #peruvian #spokenword #spokenwordpoetry (at Los Angeles, California) https://www.instagram.com/p/CBFO3JZAOhV/?igshid=1dew61t2lwj3w

dropped my suit and focused on my dad's picture hanging on the wall and I was lost in the picture as I stared at the pixels. Then the world woke me with a banging thunder and I remembered my friend again Geoffrey,  wow its really been a long while now and the only time Ive seen him in a while is the second time I had to see him cry in all the years we've spent as friends, buddies, aboki, guys e.t.c as we nomally  call ourselves.  I remember it had just been four years we were in the University and the only woman Geoffrey talked so much about was his mother, even times when we wanna go hanging out, clubbin, road trips and dinners 'mummy was involved' for my friend. We had gotten tired of this mummy thing and told him the next sitting we'll have before graduation he'd have to come with a girl and not mummy girl or gist sef.    Friday nights were hanging out nights and this was the last Friday before grads when we got home from school and started making control (calling em girlz) to suite the night Geoffrey came in and not smiling. 'Wordup hommie', Juelz called, but he wouldnt answer and when I followed him to the lobby and asked what was with the face, for the first time tears rolled out of his eyes as he kept arranging his bag looking like he was travelling some where,  it then dawned on me this was totally not a good news at all. He just whispered with his nose running. My mum had an accident and she's . . . I didnt wait to hear the last word I broke out too and that was when Juelz and the other guys knew this was serious. My friend Geoffrey had lost his mother in an accident today Friday the 13th day of April I wrote in my journal later that evening, it was after this incident we knew what it meant to get attached to someone and loose that person. I felt death too close to me because now who will my friend always talk about with those smiles, laughter and even dimple. I already felt the excitement had been lost until he met her 'Kate' she made my friend smile again after graduation, she was his Joy and his song of hope, in a long while I hadn't seen him so happy like that, he even told me he'd marry her someday if the relationship lasts 4years like school. Hahahahahha, I laughed at him to tease that statement and for real he meant it. For three years now I havent seen my friend and Kate and last time he called me which was yesterday he said she'll be returning from Malaysia after studying her masters and he was gonna give her the ring in the airport like in the movies and Im like 'dude youre acting like Ted Mosb the architect, always planning'. He just laughed and said he'll need us all like in the beginning when he met her at his kid sister's convocation, it takes about 13 hours 5 minutes to fly from Brazil to Nigeria I exclaimed but for you, I'll even take  a bus if I had to be delayed in the airport. He felt very happy and said he'd have to call the others too. No problem I said, Im on my way to the beach with some white chics I dropped his call. Hmmmmm it had barely been 2 hours  since her flight was supposed to land Lagos and we all were getting high on the assorted wines we flew in with when we heard an annoucement that flight 1304 had crashed and there were no survivors.    A homophone of cries was a welcome home, Again in a long while my friend has been crying since the death and up till today at the burial site. The more I think of him the more I see thos pixels fade off the picture of my dad. As I strolled out to church I looked up the sky to ask God why and all that answered me is a gathering of the storm clouds, I just said from the inside 'Comfort my friend dear Lord'.