The Ancestors in Me
Y.Machado-Tuinier
Los antepasados en mi, recognize the ancestors in you
Intuitively sensing your fear, like whispers of our pasts
Shared tears, instinctual pain, our familiar stones recast
The prayers of our Elders, harmonizing with yours to Al Mu’id
Mis mártires del pasado, embrace your martyrs, from river to sea
The ancestors within you know the ancestors in me
We’re bonded through resistance, cultura, vida, y tierra unchained
Restaurados we join your prayers, cien veces Al-Khaliq by name
May peace be upon the survivors, testimonios vivientes de fe
All eyes are upon you, bearing witness, we won’t look away
Descendants of the liberated, emerging as one
Por toda la Madre Tierra the ancestors in us hear your cries,
Gritamos en lucha por tu liberación from the ancestor’s tongue
Surgen almas Indígenas, Indigenous souls arise,
Bearing the weight of shared histories, destined to be free
Danzas unidas de radicalización resisting the oppressor's decree
Reconocemos intuitivamente how oppressors wage war
Plotting battlefields on our wombs, children, lineages, hoy como anterior
Atacando nuestros psyches, bodies, and land, nothing sovereign unstricken
Asesinando la inocencia, malice without inhibition
Historic veils disintegrate, the occupiers' violence unhidden
Claims of sacred endowment expose their colonial mission
Espíritus of the martyred bendicen tu río,
In their honor doy cada pedacito de lo mío.
Tu libertad es sagrada, rising up with the tide
De las cintas del río, life of the sea will revive
Born of shared histories, an ancestral resilience awoke
Decedents of survivors, children of sobrevivientes convoked
Called to your side en lucha contra malevolence, colonialist flames
Movements ignited, demanding your freedom by name
Los ancestros en mí recognize our shared destiny
Palestina divina, we will rejoice once you are free
“A poem of ancestral Indigenous resilience, solidarity, and hope for liberation, dedicated to those enduring shared experiences of man-made suffrage.”
— Y.Machado-Tuinier
Y.Machado-Tuinier
Y.Machado-Tuinier
Yvette is a proud Indigenous Latina daughter of migrants native to Ecuador and Guatemala. A descendant of radical creators, wisdom keepers, storytellers, artists, and revolutionary disrupters, Yvette’s work is guided by her ancestors and elders. She carries her cultural strength, barrio brilliance, and revolutionary voice as a testament of power—daring to thrive within institutions that have been historically withheld from communities that have been marginalized, orgullosa y sin complejos de sus raíces Yvette challenges the notion that one should aim to be self-made, instead, she hopes to inspire others to take pride in being Community-Made. She graduates from the Honors College with a BA in Psychology May 2024, aspiring to strengthen a new narrative in understanding the interplay of grit and resilience within diverse communities. Post graduation, Yvette will attend law school aspiring to invest into international human rights and civil liberties.