The Return—The Bronzes Speak: “Omawale” ©Dawn Minott

On By Dawn MinottIn Poetry

Benin City
1897

They came with guns and greed
Tore through shrines like storms
Pillaged palaces with no regard for what they plundered
Gods wrapped in grates
Our story shipped to museums
Our ancestors labeled “exotic”

They took the cockerel—Okukor, majestic, defiant
They took the warrior-king, still standing in bronze
They took the birds—
The symbols of vision and flight
But they could not take our sky

Now—
Now they come, not with swords
But with ceremony
They bow
They “symbolically” return what was never theirs to begin with

The bronzes have come home
Like prodigal children who were never wrong
The wooden ancestral head—sculpted memory
Let the Okukor crow at dawn
Let the warrior stand tall again—
Feel the soil of Edo again
Feel the air hum with remembrance
Let the Oba receive them
Not as trophies, but as
Truth

Truth is …
The return is not just about objects
It is about dignity
It is histories reclaimed
It is altars rebuilt from fragments that refused to forget
It is about names restored

We are not relics
We are resurrection
And this—
This is just the beginning

So let the bronzes speak:

“Omowale”—the child has come home!

Afterword: When I lived in Nigeria, I was given the name Omowale, a Yoruba word meaning “the child has come home.” This name embodies the experience of reconnecting with one’s heritage and the profound sense of belonging it brings.

Thousands of brass, bronze, and ivory sculptures and carvings were looted from Benin City—priceless pieces of history scattered across the world for decades.

See my first post “The Wall They Couldn’t See” for more.

These Benin Bronzes, described as individual plaques that each read like a page in a book, together tell the rich, complex story of Benin.

Now, after years in foreign lands, these treasures are beginning to make their way back home. Their return marks only the first steps in a growing movement for repatriation—a movement that seeks to restore stolen heritage and heal historical wounds.

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In creative solidarity, Dee

19 thoughts on “The Return—The Bronzes Speak: “Omawale” ©Dawn Minott”

  1. Pingback: The Wall They Couldn’t See ©Dawn Minott – Poems & More

  3. messamn's avatar messamn

    A thousand cocks will crow and the ancestors will dance. We celebrate the beginning of this movement to restore elements of our culture, our history, our dignity. Madaase!

    Liked by 1 person

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    1. They absolutely do. Now it’s what current day African leaders do with these heirlooms that I’m interested to see. One thing for sure is to amplify the through media, museums etc. Too many people still do not know this history including Nigerians I’ve spoken to about it.

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply

    1. I do like my new name—it connects me to my history!!! Yes I’m glad too. Hope the current leaders create spaces to house them and to re-tell and rewrite history. Thanks for dropping by Sadje! 💖🙏🏽💕

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