My heritage was birthed from the motherland. 

The brown richness of my melanated flesh, the seasoned savory ingredients cuisines grown from native soul, the curvaceous queens with body and soul and the rhythmic sounds of my rooted music.

 The birthplace of so much influence, deserves her grace. We preserved what was made by us, for us. Instead of appreciation, appropriation has been enforced and tolerated, after ridiculed and erasing what was created by God. 

My heritage, is my hoops.

 To some, it may be a piece of jewelry, but to me, it’s a celebration of what makes me whole. It was something, that was embedded into me. I hadn’t always taken the best care of them, my mother always reminded me to never leave the house without them and to ensure they came back home. 

She taught me the significance it held as a Black woman.

My Bronx upbringing, was momentous, from running through the summer landmark, freezing cold  fire hydrants during a heat wave, sweating out my pigtails tot the bodega to get a quarter water while we rockin robbin and mail man mail man do your duty until we go voiceless. 

It encompassed fun, but through all the fun antics. In the back of my mind I always remembered my small 14 gold little hoops. Its almost me hearing my mami narrating in the back saying Jenay don’t forget them hoops.

Meaning during double dutch if it dropped believe no matter how tired we were me and my chulitas was looking for it everywhere. My hoops went everywhere I did, even to sleep. It was apart of my story and I ensured that I continued the legacy of embracing and preserving what was made for us, by us.

To some they may categorize it as  Ghetto, to me it was Ghetto Fabulous. It meant value and no matter how much society tried to classify it in a negative light. To those who grew up in the urban culture, it was valuable, expression, resilient, fashionable and a cultural phenomenon. 

No matter how the media tried to destroy a Black Woman’s identity, from her hair, curves, freedom, they couldn’t break what was unbreakable. Hoops held a staple for Black women and so many other women of color, it highlighted our journey.

It meant being unapologetic. And it still carries on its legacy.  And it will.