Essay by Zahra Ba, published here courtesy of the Halton Black History Awareness Society
This week, Local-news.ca presents the fourth and final winning essay from the Halton Black History Awareness Society essay contest for Halton secondary students, “Local Lens: The Black Experience in Halton.” This week, we’ve got third-place winner and École secondaire catholique Sainte-Trinité/Holy Trinity Catholic Secondary School student Zahra Ba’s essay. Congratulations, Zahra!
The Baobab Tree in the Black Community
Black. A word that has so much depth. Black people. The people who carry courage, love, and passion in their veins. The people who have faced years of injustice and oppression and were able to still shine in the darkness. The darkness that runs through their skin, due to their beautiful melanin, that serves as a reminder of their tribulations, but also as motivation. They were able to give us beautiful symbols, dishes, festivities, as well as chants to remind us of our beauty. Today, we carry our culture with pride and we find varieties of this in multiple Black communities. Our ancestors are able to serve as figures to look up to the same way we are our own idols. This allows today’s generation to reach back to our roots and use the power it contains to fight through hardship but also to empower all marginalized communities. We do this by remembering our history beyond slavery, amplifying off of the cultural influence of our ancestors as well as growing into our strong personalities.
Prior to slavery and colonization, multiple countries in Africa were thriving. They had empires, kingdoms, that were thriving with multiple businesses such as agriculture, hair businesses, etc. My homeland of Senegal is a country that had their rich culture, their identity and their religion. We had fierce kingdoms and leaders such as Ndaté Yalla Mbodj, who was the last queen of Senegal. She was able to lead a matrilineal society and built a resistance to protect her people from the Arabs, the French and the Moors (Muslim inhabitants of the Maghreb), who were all trying to rule the territory. In 1876, her first important and successful act as queen was to oppose the Sarakole people’s free passage by sending a letter to her governor stating their willingness to uphold their respect for sovereignty. Queen Ndaté was successful in repelling the Moors and Arabs, and her victories resulted in the establishment of Senegambia. She was arrested by the French and sent to Ndimb in Senegal’s northwestern region, where she died in 1860. Today, in Dagana, in Senegal’s northwestern region, lies a statue of the Queen as a symbol of resistance and honour. This symbol that originates in Africa was not lost as it was also carried to America with slavery and the aftermath of the slave trade. Beautiful movements and holidays were born in this aftermath, such as the Civil Rights Movement or Juneteenth. They beautifully demonstrate bravery and nobility. The trauma the Black community suffered for centuries provided the pressure necessary to form diamonds that we find in these peoples’ hearts as well as their culture.
Another prime example of seeing Black people rise above trauma is the Oro African Church, located in Hamilton. It is a National Historic Site and a towering representation of North American freedom and equality. It was built to commemorate the Black fighters who defended Upper Canada during the War of 1812. During the American Revolution, black troops not only fought with the British, but also as the “Coloured Corps,” a trusted unit of the Upper Canadian militia during the War of 1812. Despite its strategic importance, the region was both isolated and agriculturally unproductive. The Oro Church was founded in 1847 and remained active until the village died out in 1900. This site demonstrates the hope and optimism that comes after and during struggle. It is a beautiful representation of opportunity as it is a place of worship but also growth. They do this not only in a literal sense, due to the fact that it was a farm with crops and such, but also because it was a place where the Black community was able to grow as individuals and develop their true personality without the influence of negative external factors. It’s a constant theme of growth and prosperity being pushed and propelled by our perseverance and love. Our passion to have opportunities and live in a just world. Our motivation to thrive no matter the circumstances or conditions we are put in. Our desire to be seen the way we are: beautiful, brave, and Black.
All these qualities of bravery and persistence that we fortified in the past despite our struggles lead to the making of traditional activities and rites, art, music, and oral literature. A common symbol of femininity in west Africa is waist beads. Different African communities wore it for multiple reasons such as fertility, sensuality, and spiritual well-being. They could also symbolize stages of life such as a girl entering womanhood through menstruation, marriage, and so on. It is an aesthetic that was also a representation for different body types or women who wanted to commemorate their weight loss. Today, we commonly wear them for beauty purposes using the different shapes of the beads, the multiple colours, and patterns. A colour found in multiple waist beads is red, which represents vitality, passion, bravery, and confidence. Teenagers often wear this colour to help with the confidence of their physical and mental changes. These beads are also very significant when it comes to uplifting the image that Black people have of themselves. It is a constant battle to deal with the shame and negativity that we receive when it comes to our hair, our skin, and our facial features. This jewelry gives us the confidence to treat our physical traits like royalty and it serves as a form of self-care and expression. We feel empowered and capable of proudly being our authentic selves. We feel our worth, our success, our wisdom and we know what we deserve. There is no darkness that could dim our light, as it shines brighter than the stars, but stays rock solid and precious like diamonds.
Unfortunately, our confidence and pride has created the “strong Black woman” stereotype. Multiple Black women have stood up to injustice and fought for equality which led to us being robbed of the opportunity to mature into womanhood, shorn of softness or delicacy. We have been forced to act beyond our age while being treated as second class citizens. The constant oppression makes it necessary for us to display strength, self-sacrifice and the inability to show emotion in order to cope with the stress. On the other hand, people often associate calmness, gentleness and tenderness with femininity, thus anytime we shine our loud, opinionated, courageous or brave personalities, we are deemed as “masculine.” But our voices are worth being heard and our emotions are valid. Therefore I say this, to the Black woman, the issue isn’t that we need to learn to deal with racial discrimination. The issue is racial discrimination itself, as well as the necessity for actions to combat it in the workplace, by law enforcement, and in society. It is imperative that you remind yourself to wear your crown. It is necessary for you to remember your roots. It is critical that you stay true to who you are.
In the Black community, becoming our true selves requires us to stand tall the same way our ancestors did and the same way the baobab trees look high in the sky. We are naturally and effortlessly divine. This same tree is similar to us as it faces dry and arid conditions. Nevertheless, it is during the raining season that it absorbs and retains water in its massive trunk, allowing it to produce nutrient-dense fruit. During the darkest of times, where there are violent storms and floods that tend to feel like a chokehold, it creates life. It has rightfully earned its name as “The Tree of Life.” The branches that face the sky symbolize the roots influencing the future. It stays grounded, but is able to not only store its goodness and wealth, but it uses the harsh conditions to grow a fruit of its own, serving itself, and the rest of the world.
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