Beyond being the once key ingredient in soda, the colanut has a long history with our people that goes deeper than any sugary drink.

It's a symbol of peace, prayer, and justice.

This is two-minute black history, what you didn't Learn in School. In Igbo, they believe the Kola tree was the first tree on earth.

The Kola Nut goes beyond sustenance.

It symbolizes peace, prayer, and justice. A famous Igbo is saying,

Unye Wataray Ujee Wester Uda,

which translates

To he who brings cola brings peace.

So typically as a visitor,

you'd bring an offering of colanuts to someone's home.

Highly regarded in Igbo spirituality,

colonnuts are typically prayed over before rituals and ceremonies,

and there's a deep belief that they're a favorite of God and the ancestor.

While some diasporic religions use cattery shells during deviation rituals, the Igbo traditionally

used cola by breaking them into lobes and casting them onto the ground to be interpreted by the readers.

Cola nuts are also used to settle disputes and oath-taking.

When those involved in a dispute, break, share, and eat the nut, it is considered an oath

that peace must reign, and going back on this bond is frowned upon.

The sacredness of the Kola Nut reminds us that for all of our people to thrive, we must

exist in community.

Coloniality and whiteness teaches us to value individuality over one another,

but we must always return to our indigenous ways in which

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