Decolonization as Reclamation of Body

Diet culture is a colonized

concept deeply rooted in

racist, white-washed

European standards. I

refuse to erase, shrink,

starve and hate my

body for existing as it is.

To do so would be to erase

the very structure of my

ancestral roots. To buy into

the idea that I have to be

less than to be more

desirable or lovable is

buying into the idea that I

must change the very

nature of the body that

carries the stories of each

woman in my lineage.

It would mean to expunge

the existence and struggles

of those who gave

birth to these curvy hips,

this FUPA, this rotund form,

this face. To hate my

body is to hate them.

And I refuse to hate the

tenacity and perseverance

of the beautiful spirits of

all the women before me,

who fought to exist and

fought for their children.

Colonization has taken

so much from us.

But. Colonization will

not take my history

away from me.

This piece was originally published in the CUNY Lost & Found Light Relief: Series II, June 2021