I AM PROUD OF MY ROOTS
Long before ships, before borders, before systems that tried to measure human value, there was rhythm. There was drum language. There was circle. There was the earth under bare feet and the understanding that sound could carry memory, prayer, story, and community. Africa is a starting point of civilization, artistry, spirituality, and joy. What slavery interrupted, it did not create. Modern scholarship makes clear what our bodies have always known: Before chains, there was rhythm. African culture did not begin with slavery. We may watch dances, rituals, and moments of history and still frame them only through oppression — but I choose to uplift them as something far greater. Bomba lives in our truth — the truth before chains. Bomba is not the sound of oppression. It is the sound of life. Survival. Growth. Community. Earth and beyond. It is the sound of continuity. A door to what was and what can be. It is the sound of a people remembering themselves in real time. It may even be a path ...