We're Down but Not Out

I really enjoy reading literature from Black contemporary authors, especially within the Diaspora but predominately outside the African American literary cannon. As I perused through the poems of Abani, I noticed an ever-prevalent theme in the works, resistance. In "Aphasia" which literally means loss of speech, according to the OED.com, I noticed that although the protagonoist's language "was dying"(Abani) there were rudimentary seeds planted by allocating indigenous words within the lingua franca, to keep the aboriginal language relevant. People always say language is power, but I then have to further ask, "To whom is language power for?" And if language is to be power for me or any other subjugated, oppressed, or marginalized peoples, we must first have the ability to communicate amongst each other and then direct it to the establishments. Yes, many of our indigenous tongues may have been subsumed into a dominant language, but what is revolt without reclamation? For Abani to guide the protagonist effortlessly through the poem while using the colonizer's tongue, and then to end it with one simple solidifying phrase, from the Hausa people, "Uwa'm"(Abani), which means, father, cousin, close relative(depending on location) is truly an act not of acculturation, but of liberation. Abani is taking the colonizing weapon of choice, language, and strategically employing its most obtuse and non implicit meanings, so that the reader relegated under the grip of colonization, may discern its true meaning. Kinda reminds me of the old "Negro" folk tales, like the "Uncle Remis" tales, or our "Negro"spirituals, feels good to be on the outside lookin in, when there's not a two-way mirror in place.