Imani

Habarigani
Imani.....Faith.....
Belief in our elders, family, friends, leaders, our community.
Yeabo

For those honored to carry this name, I salute you, for this is a mesmerizing responsibility a promise to never say never.
Imani is an absolute affirmation of "A Luta Continua".
For us who wage righteous struggle, there is no defeat, there can be no retreat.
This conviction, as it has come forth, in this journey of humanity that our people started, has been an ever present inspiration.
In the joy of victory, or even when it has illuded us. Our people have kept
the faith, and with heads held, high integrity intact, even in apparent finality of demise, we have been able to embrace that offering with grace, knowing that the circle is unbroken, there is no end.


Imani: Affirming Victory

It was Auset, affirming Imani
Gathering dismembered personage of her beloved Ausar Aset
Believing that, it is not over, not the end
Convinced that we today
Would continue this most tender love story
Of gathering together
Reuniting the dismembered parts of our circle
Our African family

It was in the cry of the children of Soweto
As the rose against the obscenity of settler colonialism
"They can't kill us all"
Something inside was so strong (Labi Sifre)
And Bob chant, "it's the fyah that's burning down everything"

Imani
In the hearts of our beloved
Stranded in the onslaught of Katrina
And the filth of/abuse neglect by rulers
But reaching through slimy waters
Believing that hands, our hands would be there
And youth were among those that came
Came to the rescue

It was Imani
in the hearts of ancestors
Facing the MAAFA of slavery
Heads bent, but hearts still defiant
Daring to believe in deliverance
Some day, through us

It was the audacity of faith,
Here in the belly of the beast
Here in the USA
Our people faced down
White supremacy
Exposing vile entrails, contradictions
Derailing oppressor's agenda
Self determination
Equal Rights and Justice

It is faith in
Resilience of our people in Congo
Sisters beaten, raped, brutalized
Rise and recover bringing forth the dawn
Aching, but unstoppable in conviction
We can
We must create better tomorrows

It was faith
Certain of victory
Our ancestors rose in Haiti
To rebel against the military/industrial might
Rebel against empire
Threw off the shackles of oppression
Broke it's back

It was Imani
In hearts of Women of Liberia
As they prayed the devil back to hell
Belief and Conviction
The standard,peace and justice held aloft
Commanded the world
"End the carnage"

No morbid obsession
This is promise to the future.
The captive, enslaved ancestor, daring to resist
Knowing only, if death found them, trying to be free
Their bleached bones would signal the path
The path to liberty
For us following in their wake
Demise...never in vain as long as we struggle

It is faith
Principle, Imani
Facing certain death, our people rallied
They, always carried on
In Grenada still we remember Julian Fedon
.."The hour will strike again"
But if the end came,
Claude McKay's words came, too:
If we must die, let us die
''Like men we'll face the murderous, cowardly pack,
Pressed to the wall, dying, but fighting back!''

Imani
Lives on forever in the promise to carry on
It is in the pledge we make
To the ancestors, to each other now and to those on their way

A Luta Continua

I suggest Labi Sifre's "Something Inside So Strong" as a wonderful complement to
the Principle of Imani.

Respect and apreciation