They tried to break me, she tells
Centuries of invisibility, she stood
Like a seed, she fell and rose again, between the rocks
Ms Resilience, the Shero

They said she was non-white, invented theories about her
But her ways were crystal clear, freedom was her destiny
Meet Resilience, the Shero

They enslaved her, becoming a non-being
Colonized her people, becoming a property of the empire
Centuries of racial subjugation
She is here, Ms Resilience, the Shero

They broke her skull,
her nose, her heart, her womb, her being
Lynched her men, she witnessed
Like a rose, she bloomed
Meet Resilience, the Shero

Looting her history and artefacts
To decorate the gates of the empire
Still, she shines
Ms Resilience, the Shero

Body shaming her ancestors as objects of Caucasian curiosity
An experimental doll of biomedical science
A guinea pig of the pharmaceutical industrial complex
She is still here, unshaken
Meet Resilience, the Shero

Drowning her history
Burning her archives
Burying her heritage
Ms Resilience, the Shero

Like a wet thorn, she stands firm
Pricking her oppressors’ conscience
Asserting her being
Reclaiming her past, the present and the future
Meet Resilience, the Shero

She is here
Forging a future
Building nations, nurturing
Outliving poverty, civil wars and epidemics
Negotiating capitalism and his twin-brother, patriarchy
Ms Resilience, the Shero

She sings, prays, meditates, reads, fights and toils
The mother, the sister, the lover, the leader, the executive, the entrepreneur, the innovator, the liberator!

Freedom beckons, for her and her people
Her story is mine, yours, ours
Her aspirations we share
Her freedom is our future
Meet Ms Resilience, our Shero