Wrote this today in honor of my great grandmother, Juana Torres,whose eyes sparked my desire to find my ancestral roots.

[Isolina Gonzalez Rich]

The Awakening  by  Isolina Gonzalez Rich

It all started with a Pow Wow
There, while watching all the dancers, something in me stirred
I felt like a puzzle piece that they were missing
And thus was the beginning of my journey

The passing of my grandma only helped to fuel the fire burning inside of me
Who was that woman looking back at me in the mirror?
Yes, I know, "I have my grandpa's brown eyes, and my popi's dark skin"
And yet, the question still remained in my heart

I heard someone once say, "why does it matter, you are you and nothing else"
If that were true, then my ancestors don't matter
Yet they do matter, since they are the ones staring back at me in the mirror!

So let the story be told after hours of ancestry research and tests,
I am proud to claim my Native American Arawak/Taino ancestry
I am a living testament to their existence and story

Who I am is because of them
Their spirit is what you see when you look into my brown eyes, and gaze upon my brown skin
Thank you, my ancestors, for awakening in me what always there..

[Kahlil Crawford]