Being Black to me means knowing that within me lays a great and divine power. A gift inherited by my ancestors, carrying a legacy where they are still living through me. Being Black to me means that to this day I remain still, a being waiting and willing to experience the pain and struggles they felt, knowing that the outcome of those experiences is a more evolved and wiser version of them. Being Black to me means educating my mind with the opportunities that they did not have, and feeding my body and soul while absorbing the extracts of a contradicting surrounding using it as the fuel that drives and ignites the natural force of power that is within me. Being Black to me means knowing that I am destined and that I am capable of accomplishing and achieving whatever I set out to be...because to me, the true meaning of being Black is to be “to be destined for greatness.”
- Zamarla (Shannon) Joseph