Loss of life at the hands of a system that is driven by misogyny is so easily linked to martyrdom. The criticism of associating an undeserving death to martyrdom is necessary in a climate that has stripped innocence and fragility from the identity of black womanhood and rather has defined it through strength and being “imbokodo”. The deaths and theft of innocence of women is not accompanied with willingness. We are stripped of life without our consent and we are made to be the martyrs of our society.

The unwilling martyr lies on her couch, at her home. This is her space of comfort and her space of being. This is the space she gave life to.

I don’t know who she is, but her face is so clear and vivid in my mind that in some way she is the identity and the face I’ve clothed my fears with. The fear of being an unwilling martyr.