We are the wounded of a thousand generations
and not those who ever gave up arms
We are the veteran soldiers of a thousand defeats
and not those who ever surrendered
We are the sacrificial lambs of a thousand betrayals
and not the cowards who ever strayed from the path
We are the hardened warriors
who survived amid a thousand penal codes
Ours are the thousand and one springs
among the thousand winters
We're adivasis
We're women
We're dalits
We're blacks
-My translation of the Telugu poem 'mEm' (from the collection 'naludikkula nunchee ranDi') by Dalitbahujan poet and activist J. Gautam.
Tags: J.Gautam