Everybody knows ‘The Man’ only cares about one color; green.
The Man – a personified system of oppression used to carry out His agenda, enforced by government, politicians, and the mass media. also known as He, Him, They.
It’s always been Us vs Them. You’re either with us, offering solutions, or with them, as apart of the problem.
I think we can all agree that America was in fact stolen and rebranded by colonizers who murdered in the name of racial biases, resulting in the systematic prejudices that still impact us today.
And in an ideal world, by 2020 the collective descendants of said colonizers long ago would have humbly accepted responsibility for perpetuating (whether knowingly or not) the destructive culture of white supremacy and the resulting trans-generational effects.
Even better, in this ideal world, these descendants would have used every ounce of their unearned privilege to help re-define what a “free nation” really looks like.
Well, I don’t know who needed to hear this but…. The real-world is not ideal.
My attempt to refocus our attention on the bigger picture of the money trail, rather than the surface issues, is not to minimize the impact from centuries of traumatic race relations in our country. Instead, I write this article to challenge us to look at this beast from another angle, in hopes to spark some new creative solutions.
HISTORY
Even the Civil War, which resulted in the abolishment of slavery, proves The Man cared more about green than any other color. The 13th amendment which banished slavery was not an attempt to correct the injustices that allowed the enslavement of an entire race.
In actuality, the North fought to end slavery in the Civil War because they could no longer compete with the South in terms of commerce and business. The free slave labor that benefited Southern business owners presented a real money problem for owners trying to compete in the North.
In conclusion, slavery started and ended because of the same reason, money.
We say “F 12, and the government clique they claim…” but we’re still pleading to them about their whack-ass laws. Why? How long are we gonna wait around for somebody to give us the solutions we demand?
Why spend any more precious time and energy trying to force The Man to take responsibility for his actions AND put in the work to make up for his destruction?
I’ve heard this story before and I’m not buying it again.
We make our demands… The Man “meets” demands…. Life goes on, until… Another black life is tragically taken at the hands of a racist…. Uproar…. Protest…. Repeat.
Are we really trying to convince The Man to help us out? Or maybe a more important question….do we actually expect to receive any real help?
Perhaps The Man grew a perfectly calibrated moral compass and suddenly realized that he is a trash individual and now wants to right all his wrongs…
Or maybe this sounds like Stockholm syndrome, which is described by wiki as “a condition in which hostages develop a psychological alliance with their captors during captivity.”
Yall, we need to be able to identify the Ops. Period. This Man does not discriminate. There might be some extra privilege here and there but at the end of the day, green is the only color that matters to him. Remember that.
Now that we’ve identified what He actually cares about, we can work together to BE the change. It’s time to embrace the magnificent power we wield as a collective body of people. Because it’s gonna take more than just 1 or 2 races to take this guy down.
We’ll hit ‘em where it hurts by taking back control through our spending power. Starting today, we’re now intentional with how we spend every. single. dollar. We only spend it in places we care about and want to support.
REFOCUS
There’s too much beauty in this world for us to spend another second talking about The Man and what he’s up to. I rather spend that energy to advocate for the changes we want, instead of protesting the tragedies we’re sick and tired of seeing.
Protest. Demand change. Be the change. Revolt. Whatever we call it, let’s make sure it’s grounded in the idea of being pro- whatever we want…and not anti-.
Any anti- or hate energy will drain us! And we can’t afford any wasted energy right now. We’ll need it to keep up this level of pressure on The Man. Keeping our energy levels on point during this time will be vital.
These subtle differences in energy and perspective can make or break our revolutionary efforts. Choose wisely.
We’re talking the talk, and it sounds like beautiful music to my ears. Now its time for the walking. It’s time to put our money and actions behind our demands.
This is not a drill.
Here are 5 ways to turn up the heat and make our demands crystal clear!
1 – DECIDE FOR YOURSELF
I don’t care what celebrity, politician, influencer, whoever said what. We gotta take all that with a grain of salt and decide for ourselves how we feel about it. Cause news flash: The Ops doesn’t always LOOK like The Ops. This is why it’s vital for us to critically think and decide how we feel when we’re bombarded with the overload of information and opinions. Plus, with all their fast-talking propaganda playing with our emotions…just think, What Would Big Worm Do? He’d get creative and take control over the change he demanded – that’s what he’d do. Traditional methods will continue to give us traditional results. Or at least that’s what the trend shows.
Luckily, we’re in the Age of Information where they can’t censor us like they used to. There is virtually an unlimited number of ways to contribute to this movement.
Some take it to the street. Some have super uncomfortable conversations with friends and co-workers. Some gather with their family for intentional and healing convos. Others might express themselves online. By taking pictures or painting pictures. By recording music or videos. Whatever your method, use your voice for all the people who were robbed of their right to speak out.
2 – START NOW
We don’t need to WAIT for a future blackout date to start making our economic impact felt today. We don’t need to wait for a bill to become law [or whatever TF Schoolhouse Rock said] before we change the way we behave. If we’re not paying careful attention, our spending might be indirectly supporting The Man’s agenda. Let’s make the switch to intentionally shop with our black, women, minority, locally owned businesses. Purchase by purchase, we’ll slowly but surely deprive Him; and fuel Us
3 – UNLEARN & BE GENTLE
No big deal….just The Man we thought was operating in our best interest turns out to be sleazy AF and has no interest in fixing the problems he’s responsible for causing.
There’s so much BS about our country’s “official history” that they teach us in grade school. BS meaning one-sided and hella biased. What they teach as the true story of our nation’s history is white-washed at best and at worst – used intentionally as a tool of oppression to maintain their systems of persecution. Or somewhere in-between.
Like in the Art of War, we have to educate ourselves about The Man’s strategy. This way we can better prepare our defense and plan of attack. If we don’t educate ourselves to know exactly what he’s capable of… any and everything will surprise us.
Google “cointelpro” or “operation mockingbird” for prime examples.
It can be shocking to realize the great Wizard of Oz is just a pathetic little man behind a curtain, but whatever we do… we gotta be gentle with ourselves during this turbulent process.
4 – PLAN & ACTIVATE
Proactively plan for long term solutions that will build up your own community. Just like we protest for what we don’t want, let’s keep that same energy when its time to put in the groundwork to build what we DO want.
And we can choose whatever community you feel most comfortable working with right now. Or the community that you think your creative solution ideas will best align with. Maybe it’s a virtual online community, or your physical neighbors, or your college alumni chapter. With whomever, you decide to join in activating the real-life solutions we demand, be intentional, and help cultivate the safe and supportive spaces we’ll need.
5 – PROTECT YOUR PEACE
By any means necessary. When we tune into the talking heads on the 24-hour fear-based news media cycles, we’re paying attention to more than just the latest on the current events. We’re picking up on their body language, the intention behind their words, and the tone in their voices.
Their words translate to sounds before translating to the frequencies that our energetic bodies pick up on. And we carry this weight unless we recognize it’s there. This is why I prefer to read the news to stay up to date. It keeps the brain sharp AND it removes that extra layer of opinion or influence. This will help us discern for ourselves how we feel and what we wanna do about it. We gotta be able to decipher the relevant information from the BS propaganda.
Traditional street protest is a great way to make sure our voices are heard. The next step is to make sure our impact is felt. Join us on the Economic front as we battle The Man [yet again]!
*Observes a moment of silence to recognize all the lives that we’re fighting for – past, present, and future.*
PS: I recognize my own privilege of living in one of America’s blackest cities, but I didn’t always live here so trust me – I get it! It’s not always easy to find what you’re looking for outside of the large corporations. Just remember, be gentle and patient. And that baby steps are still steps.
Here’s a resource list for the person wondering “where to start?”
Peace and Love to All.
Books
Miseducation of the Negro – Dr. Carter G. Woodson
Outwitting the Devil – Napoleon Hill
The Memo – John Hope Bryant
48 Laws of Power – Robert Greene
The Four Agreements – Don Miguel Ruiz
Richest Man in Babylon – George S. Classon
Documentaries
13th (Netflix) – Ava Duverney
Hello White Privilege (Netflix) – Chelsea Handler
The Black Panthers: Vanguard of the Revolution (PBS)
Who Shot Malcolm X (Netflix)
Websites to Shop
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