Ago Amee
an essay for THE HEALING PROJECT MAGAZINE
Ago Amee: a West African phrase, a call and response, comes from the Akan people of Ghana. This communal action is where the neat margins of a grant report can stifle the museum walls with hard questions, like: Whose land was this before a flag named it? How much of our humanity was lost? And how do we decolonize this place if we’ve lost sight of the stars?
Call and Response is an emergency system, not a performance. This is what happens when someone says, “I am here,” and the room responds, “We are here with you.”
Call-and-response asks listeners to bear some of the weight of the truth. The heavy insistence that we ain’t going anywhere without our liberation attached.
Call. And. Response. It’s how we find each other through the smoke and noise. It is the body saying, “I cannot hold this alone.” There is an emotional structure to how a call creates space, and a response fills it without changing its original feeling. Following this rhythm—your voice, then mine, then yours—teaches us to take turns and can help lessen fear. There is a physical manifestation that reveals: shoulders lowering, breath moving, jaws unclenching; the nervous system learning in real time. The body serves as a witness and an echo.
That reply, right there, is the miracle of miracles.
Call & Response.
Who gets to talk?
Who gets to live after speaking?
Who is paraphrased into disappearance?
Who is considered reliable?
Who is considered “too angry” not to be true?
Do these questions make you uncomfortable?
The truth is, the way stories are gathered in this country often resembles a raid. There is a sudden exposure, lights on, names taken, context stripped, voices ignored. The person(s) remain in the wreckage of their own disclosure, while the mandated reporter files a copy and moves past the carnage.
Click the picture to read the entire essay.