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*****
At a distance, Dandara observed her husband.
Zumbi was strong. Not because of his muscles but because of his presence. He was their leader because no one else was fit for the job. When he spoke, everyone listened—even the white.
However, what his strength hid was a weakness—one common to all men. Zumbi talked big, but without Dandara, he was just a lost boy.
Dandara never thought as fair that she had to hide so her husband could shine. But she always understood that fair is a word with no meaning. There was no fair; there was only struggle.
Knowing that she had no place in the sun, she became friends with the shadows. It was in the shadows that she escaped slavery, and it was in the shadows that she guided the strongest man in Brazil.
Last night, Dandar whispered the answer that Zumbi was now yelling at Gunga-Zumba—his uncle.
"NO! NO! NO! We can't trust the white. They may swear something, but their word is worthless. Besides, they may forgive us but not the other slaves. To accept their proposal is to become as evil as the white men!"
Dandara was proud. Zumbi repeated her words. He even stopped where she had stopped last night.
Dandara was also sad. Even though she had befriended the shadows, part of her wanted to be recognized. She deserved. Zumbi would be nothing without her.
Dandara sighed. She wasn't a slave anymore, but she knew that women would never be free.
She silently asked, "Life without freedom is no life at all."
THE END
*****
Dandara was an Afro-Brazilian warrior of the colonial period of Brazil and was part of the Quilombo dos Palmares, a settlement of Afro-Brazilian people who freed themselves from enslavement in the present-day state of Alagoas. After being arrested on February 6, 1694, she committed suicide, refusing to return to a life of slavery. She is a mysterious figure today because not much is known about her life. Most of the stories about her are varied and disconnected. She and her husband Zumbi dos Palmares, the last king of the Quilombo dos Palmares, had three children.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dandara