I’d never imagined the day I would describe myself as ignorant

How could I be ignorant-

I’m a first generation college student living in 2016,

A Latina with dark rough skin,

Yet, I never heard of an Afro-Latino

But as the word left her lips, I felt

An association,

A sense of belonging

An identity

In a moment to escape reality,

I wandered the virtual realm and engaged in my daily ritual

LatinoUSA, NPR

An episode on Garifuna

GA- REE- FOO- NA

It’s foreign

But, she continues and explains they’re in Honduras

A still image of my mother creeps into my working mind

A fair skin woman with thick wavy hair

All her stories from the Central American country never mentioned Garifuna

I felt a disconnection from my own culture

I find myself listening to “Accents”

Denice Frohman is

Loud,

Passionate,

And engaging

She’s describing her mother,

But it sounds like mine

A wave of appreciation, smiles, laughs and ah-ha’s

I know who I am

Poetry has given me identity

A new perspective of a new world I never knew I belonged to

People like me snap their fingers and meet eyes

It’s a universal understanding

And we’re one

One family

I’m Afro-Latina

My roots run along

All over the world

I’m connected