Post by Ranahnah A. Afriye

The photos cannot fully capture the intensity of Thero Makepe's work. Today in Tshwane, we gathered across generations to commemorate 50 years since the Soweto Uprising. Lately, I have been reflecting on knowledge creation. We were born to create, yet as a child raised in New York City, I was conditioned to consume. Much of my life has been a journey of rebirth and re-membering. This effort leads me to reconnect with ways of knowing that existed long before we became agents and experts. A reflection stayed with me as we walked through Makepe's documentary photography exhibition, We Didn't Choose To Be Born Here: "Which language do you use to think? Which language do you use to feel pain?" - A poet in the room Although I can sometimes think and dream in Kiswahili and French, my answer to that question remains English. It is an answer that carries more grief than gratitude. Gratitude for the global realities that language has opened to me. Grief for the wholeness of self that may always remain just beyond...my grasp. I share these moments in the hope that we continue to remember our histories, decolonize our narratives, and awaken the flame of emancipation through the eyes and hearts of children. Fifty years later, the imperatives raised by South Africa’s youth in 1976 still call us to think, to create, and to re-imagine our liberated futures. #YouthDay #SowetoUprising #Tshwane #AfricanFutures Asili Africa Advisory #Resilience