Rachel Dolezal, I was over your fake tan and tacky hair weave foolishness a few years back until I awoke this morning to your Anglo-Saxon bullshit, fuckery and shenanigans.  You in your “I wanna be Black so desperately” ignorance just TAKING a West African name. You don’t just TAKE an African name. How are you just going to take something that is NOT YOURS? Typical White people bullshit. Our history is NOT your history! Just Stop! Try as you might, you will never be a Black woman.

When I returned to Senegal with Roots and Wings I immediately felt at home. The moment I placed my feet on African soil I knew this is where I came from. It was as if something in me connected with the air, the soil, the spirit of Africa. Finally, there was a place where I belonged. Where I was not an outsider. Where my face looked like other faces. Where my actions, my mannerisms made sense. Even the food I ate all my life, the jewelry I wore made sense. It was like I found something I had been searching for my entire life.

My daughter standing in the Door of No Return

My daughter being blessed in the waters

A few days into our trip we were told that we would be given our Senegalese names. I remember the deep emotion that we all felt. Our names. Not names passed down to us through slavery but names from our people, our home, our culture. Selecting a name in Senegal is not just randomly picking something that you think SOUNDS BLACK Rachel! Names in Senegal are based on your characteristics. We didn’t choose our names. The elders chose for us. Our names were selected based on who they saw us to be and who we could grow into. Our names were placed on us like a cloak and we were partnered with our namesake. The name given to me is Binta which means seeer, spiritual healer, leader. We stood with our namesakes and gained a new family. We gained a sense of purpose. We became grounded in our history that was STOLEN from us by people that look just like you! We cried tears of joy because we finally were connected and we cried tears of pain for everything that we lost.

Roots and Wings Naming Ceremony

My Senegalese Namesake and Family