I Name Myself

I Name Myself 

I name myself with the power of our Ancestors...

So before the world tries to rename me.

Before history edits my breath,

before systems measure my worth in survival alone.

I name myself

with a mouth full of ancestors,

tongue heavy with memory,

spine straightened by those

who walked so I could stand.

Kujichagulia...

self-determination is not a slogan.

It is a decision I wake up and make

even when fear is loud,

even when doubt knocks like it belongs here.

I choose courage

not because I am unafraid,

but because my ancestors didn’t have the luxury

of waiting until fear left the room.

They moved with it.

I move with it.

-----------------------

I choose faith

when the path disappears beneath my feet,

when the future refuses to show me the whole picture.

Faith is not blind

it is ancestral sight.

It is trusting the hands that carried me here

will not drop me now.

I hear them.

In my silence.

In my decisions.

In the moments I refuse to shrink.

They whisper:

Stand up.

Speak clearly.

Remember who you are.

Kujichagulia is me saying

I am not an accident of oppression,

I am an intentional act of survival.

I am not lost

I am becoming.

I determine my direction

even when the road bends.

Even when the world wants my compliance

more than my liberation.

I choose myself.

I choose my people.

I choose to move with integrity,

to love with purpose,

to lead with memory and vision intertwined.

Because every time I decide

to keep going,

to believe,

to rise

my ancestors rise with me.

And that…

that is self-determination...

Kujichagulia is choosing truth

even when it costs me comfort.

It is unlearning the lies that told me:

"I must be smaller to be safe,

quieter to be accepted,

grateful for crumbs dressed up as opportunity."

I reject that inheritance.

I claim the one that says my voice is medicine,

my presence is protest,

and my joy is a revolutionary act.

Self-determination shows up

in the daily decisions no one applauds

setting boundaries, saying no without apology,

resting without guilt,

and returning to myself when the world pulls too hard.

It is discipline rooted in love,

vision sharpened by prayer,

and a commitment to move in alignment

even when the crowd moves the other way.

So when I speak my name now,

I speak it layered

with the strength of those who endured,

the faith of those who believed without proof,

and the courage of those who dared to imagine freedom

before it had language.

I am not walking alone.

I am walking with.

And every step I take in purpose

is a step my ancestors once dreamed of.

I am, because We are!

A poem by

N'gamê 🦋