Dear Black People

i’m going to get straight to it. Black people aren’t mad ENOUGH. Black people aren’t aggressive ENOUGH. Black people aren’t crying ENOUGH. Black people do not deserve amerikkka. and amerikkka doesn’t deserve us. this country doesn’t deserve our patience and culture and style and our input and work. we do not deserve the hatred and the unjust and the warfare and the corruption. we deserve way more.

*if you want to keep reading, remember this is a PSA to all Black people

James Baldwin said “to be a Negro in this country and to be relatively conscious is to be in a rage almost all the time.”

Brothers and Sistas. we must spend our money within our community. we must stop making everyone else wealthy while we are left behind. no one is looking out for us. this has nothing to do with other communities. this has to do with us. we must make our own community strong. support Black owned businesses. support Black owned restaurants and shops and stores. it’s imperative. buy Black online. before you purchase something that promotes Black culture, make sure it is sold by a Black person. if this talk upsets you, i don’t know why you opened this and even still reading this. not to say you can’t read and enjoy, but if this upsets you, make like Michael Jackson and beat it. get it. beat it. but buy Black. if you can’t find it in stores, it is online. even if it’s not a .com, someone makes it on twitter or instagram. you can support your own for once and forever. but before spending money, we must have money. save your money. invest your money to make more money. we must move differently to have different lives. we must. cash rules everything around me. cream get the money. dolla dolla bill, yaaaaall. we HAVE TO PRIORITIZE. yes. i KNOW we get paid less than other races although we’re often times more qualified. (the ONLY reason Black people are oppressed is because Black people are Black. that is the only reason Black people are oppressed. it is not because of laziness. it is not because of intelligence. it is not because of “slang”. it is strictly because we are Black. the reason we were enslaved centuries ago was not because we were lazy or stupid or slang. it was because we were Black. same thing here. we often times talk about the effect and not the cause. we cannot talk about a beautiful tall tree and not mention the roots. we talk about poverty and not why people are in poverty. we talk about crime rates and not why people are committing crime. we talk about depression and gang life and early adulthood and not why depression and gang life and early adulthood exist. if you want to stop seeing revolts and rebellions, get rid of the causes. stop the narrative that Black people are inherently stupid or stubborn or violent). although we get paid less, in fact, that is more of a reason to prioritize your money. we are not in position to throw away money or material possessions at the rate we do. i love watches. that’s my thing. i have seven. i have never been the one to say something or urge something and not be a doer of the word i speak. i know my limits. know your limits. please. also, invest. invest. invest. saving money from paychecks will not put you ahead. sad but true. we must invest our already made money and flip it. we are natural hustlers. don’t shy away from that. please don’t. do you have a 401k? is that money making money or just in a 401k that’s growing NO INTEREST AT ALL? now i’m learning, yall. i ain’t got all the answers. but i read every day. and i’m learning from others. please read more. financial freedom to have generational wealth. that’s the key. we don’t have generational wealth. we don’t have money or businesses or houses to pass down. it starts now.

every Black person needs to read. we need to unlearn almost everything we learned in the white amerikkkan school system. we need to UNLEARN ALMOST EVERYTHING WE LEARNED IN THE WHITE amerikkkan SCHOOL SYSTEM. please pick up a book. buy three books by the end of June. finish those three by September. http://www.africanbookstore.net. visit this site. a Black owned book store.

every Black person needs to arm themselves (if yall serious about gun reform, every 20-29 year old Afrikan man and woman go buy three guns and tons of ammo within the next three years. it WILL BE GUN REFORM if that happens. promise. THEY WILL NOT LET US PURCHASE GUNS THE WAY THEY PURCHASE GUNS. but that’s another story). we must arm ourselves. they are. they are prepared to kill us today. and we are hoping cops and the government will protect us? when did we become so soft? so we hate the cops but we bank on the cops to protect us? we get mad at them for “coming late” but not at ourselves for lack of preparation. we know the system isn’t made for us but when we go down, we hope the “justice system” succeeds? be ready so you don’t have to get ready. if you’re reading this, please take this seriously. we are being hunted. literally. you think Korea is your enemy and you don’t know how to speak Korean. how you know they’re your enemy? because a white person with a suit told you. you speak English though. and you’ve been listening your whole life to this country. they’ve been telling and showing you that they hate you. they’ve been showing you to prepare yourself for them. they’ve been, very bluntly, announcing that they are coming for you. you better get ready. cops have guns… for what? answer that question and ask yourself why don’t you.

have cash on you. be ready so you don’t have to get ready. prepare yourself for emergencies. have cash; banks will be closed. have food and water; stores will be closed. keep your gas tank on full or at least 3/4; gas prices will skyrocket and stations will be packed. have a duffle bag ready to pick up and go. prepare for an emergency. have a book. have a knife, gun, weapon; people will be desperate and try to take what’s yours. have sanity; a healthy lifestyle and mind will propel you.

Black people. stop lifting others by tearing down others. it’s not necessary and it’s definitely possible. if you don’t like Diddy, you don’t have to compare him to Jay-Z. there was a post saying “Diddy feels Barack short changed Black people” and someone responded “How? we not gonna talk about the artists you played in the 90s….”. what did that have to do with the original opinion? if you like the appearance of Black women with a lighter complexion, you don’t have to bring up your dislike for Black women with a darker complexion. we don’t have to break down people to lift up people. it is immature. it is unnecessary. it is wrong. do better.

next and equally, maybe more important, we have to accept ALL Black people. not just Black folks in amerikkka. before slavery, we were all Afrikan.

yeah. actually that is the most important point. we must FIRST begin to love our people. we MUST HAVE AN UNDYING LOVE FOR OUR PEOPLE. THAT IS THE MOST IMPORTANT THING. BEFORE ANYTHING ELSE HAPPENS, LOVE OUR PEOPLE. LOVE YOUR PEOPLE.

we will not fight amongst ourselves anymore. we cannot fight ourselves and soldiers of white supremacy. i’ll say it again. we cannot fight ourselves and soldiers of white supremacy. we cannot destroy ourselves and destroy this system.

we must be together.

do not publicly disown or disrespect Black people. it happens all the time by others. don’t add. Black women already get told they’re ratchet and difficult and have attitudes by magazines and articles and other races. please don’t add to their stress. media already tells dark skin women they’re not as beautiful as light skin women. don’t add and don’t even think that. get rid of scornful thought processes. Black men already get told they LOOK like thugs. don’t add. Black men and women already get told their hair is wild and their bodies and structure is only desirable for sex. don’t add.

i’m not saying don’t disagree with Black people. i’m saying we have the world against us. literally. do not spend any time adding to it by publicly speaking bad about Black people. it’s simple. let’s not complicate this.

don’t tell me you love Black people and have done no research on Black people. do not tell me you love your people and don’t know anything about your people. you love basketball and can recite history and know numbers from before you were born about Wilt and Oscar. you know numbers from Jordan and Kobe and Lebron because you LOVE basketball. simply because you love basketball. you know rules and referees and the length of the court because you love basketball. you know the size of the basketball, plays, FG percentage, stupid +/- stats. but don’t you lie to yourself and say you love Black people and know nothing and have no desire to learn anything about your people. you love King but your only reference of him is I Have A Dream and non violence. King is the exact leader this country wants you to know. there’s tons more we need to study but King is the exact leader they want us to focus on and all you know is I Have A Dream and non violence. Luuuuuuccyy. you got some explaining to do. the only thing you know about King is what they told you about King huh? figured. they didn’t tell you his speech about Vietnam and capitalism. that’s what got him killed. not his kumbaya speeches. FBI didn’t kill King because he was seeking peace. trust me. but school isn’t going to teach you that. but you love Jordan so you know how many points and minutes and shoes he rocked in 1998 Finals game.

we need to focus on the nourishment and maintenance of Black people. not just Black people in amerikkka. kill that noise. listen. we must stop thinking only of us here in amerikkka. it is bigger than that. it’s more than that. we are a people. i was talking to someone this weekend and i told her her friend, who is Afro-Latina, must accept her Blackness. she said “so you want her to forget her Latina culture.” NO. i want her to accept her Blackness. period. we are not the only Black people in this world. Black people in amerikkka think we are the only Black people in the world. go to Paris and see Black people? they’re not Black amerikkkans. but they are Black. being Black is not synonymous with “Afrikan amerikkkan”. it just isn’t. the Caribbean and South amerikkka are where most Afrikans ended. Brazil alone was a trap house to about 4 million Afrikans. amerikkka had roughly 390k. wonder why Haitians speak French? they were conquered by France. Brazilian speak Portuguese? conquered by Portugal. the Dominican Republic speaking Spanish? see where i’m going. they are Afrikan still. same reason Black people in amerikkka speak english. ain’t no difference. we MUST accept and understand we are the same. we must love each other. the only thing separated us is the ships we were on.

we came to this country as Afrikan. you are still Afrikan. you must accept being Afrikan. cultures were forced on us. white people names were forced on us. languages were forced on us. understand that the last name you possess was not in your bloodline before colonization. my last name (currently) is washington. do you really think my great great great great great grandfather last name was washington? seriously. do you think your last name was Davis? or Williams? or James or Jackson or Jefferson? if you met a Chinese man and he told you his name is Michael Murphy or David John or whatever, you might think to yourself “i KNOW that is not his real name. why does he have to have an amerikkkanized name?” you see a Latinx person with a last name Johnson? or Smith? or Singh? no. you don’t.

you must have the same thought when you see a Black man with the name of washington or Jackson. we must not acknowledge these amerikkkanized names that was passed down white men. we must get attuned with who we are. we must define ourselves. we must research ourselves the same we do sports stats and fashion and hip hop. we must dig.

i plan on dropping my last name soon. i do not know my real last name. and my father does not know his real last name. and his sperm donor left him before they met. and his father did not know his name. our last names were effectively stripped from us.

i no longer identify with being called Afrikan amerikkkan. do not add amerikkkan when referring to my nationality, race or ethnicity. i want nothing to do with the amerikkkan dream. i don’t want the amerikkkan pie. i am not racist or difficult for thinking the way i think. i am, in fact, responsible for thinking the way i think.

for centuries, we have tried to peacefully exist in the united states. and for centuries, we have been treated with hostility, aggression and violence. there has been NO progress for Afrikan men and women in the united states. change, yes. progress? negative. change. we are no longer literally getting whipped with an overseer on a horse standing above us. no progress because we are currently getting choked to death and tased by police officers. change because we can live in areas where white people live. no progress because when white people move into Black neighborhoods, Black people can no longer afford to live in their own community. if a white person is walking around in a Black community, it’s okay. no one is alarmed. if 2 Black men are in a white community, it’s suspicious. Jay-Z said “feeling like a stranger in my own land. got me feeling like Brody in Homeland.” when are YOU reading this going to stand up for life? folks before you did. they didn’t get as far as they got for us to chill and watch reality shows and be on snapchat hours a day to distract us from the horror we live in. that’s why these things exist. that’s why media is so powerful. as soon as something serious happens, boom. distracted and you won’t think about it anymore.

weak soft demands and garbage smiles at work and code switching makes others believe everything is okay with you. it makes coworkers and friends and society believe all is fine. that time is over.

if you’re still reading this, we must define ourselves. this is what i want to drill home so listen carefully.

stop joining the army. stop fighting and putting your life on the line in other countries when your country won’t fight for you.

Ali once quoted

“you my opposer when i want freedom. you my opposer when i want justice. you my opposer when i want equality. you won’t even stand up for me HERE in amerikkka and you want me to go somewhere else and fight. you won’t stand up for me here at home.”

joining the army is exactly what they want us to do. they provide harsh conditions and tools to kill ourselves HERE and then “offer” the army like it’s a way out. it’s removal. “urban removal” is what Kwame Ture (previously Stokely Carmichael) dubbed it. the army is just a way for them to try to make us feel important and if it works out for their benefit, we’ll fight to our deaths and won’t make it back home. and if we do make it home, they’ll just disown us and throw us in the streets.

so many of us are told who the enemy is. we are told our hair is untamed. we are told what “proper grammar” is so whenever we speak how we speak, its dubbed slang or improper. we never define our life. others always do. white men always define our lives. do you understand that? we didn’t define what proper grammar was… stop living a life that wasn’t made with you in mind. dunking was considered bad in basketball back in the day. so THEY outlawed it. white guys couldn’t dunk. then when it was noticeably exciting (made money), it was okay. weed was illegal. Black people are in prison, are without their families because of weed. now white people are becoming millionaires legally. we are told clothes define us. when meeting THE MAN we must dress unlike us just to impress THE MAN. we are told how to ACT. we must ACT a way. if we don’t, we’re ghetto and uncouth. we must ACT and TALK differently because who we are is just not right or good enough. we are the best actors. we act no more. we submit no more. we celebrate the 4th of July because we’re told it is the day of independence. FOR WHO? we don’t know what Juneteenth is because we weren’t told to know. but we know July 4th. we were told Vietnam were enemies. without asking, we left, fought and killed strangers. came back and was treated like the enemy right at home. we didn’t question was this violence because we didn’t define violence. government told us this is not violence because you can’t be violent to an enemy therefore kill the enemy. we must define who we are.

get rid of that slave name you possess. do not be ashamed of your hair. do not hate your melanin. show off your lips. embrace your ego. show off your curvaceous figure. shake those dreads. rock those gold chains and rings. be intrigued with your history. go to functions and town halls where a Black speaker is speaking and be inspired. be moved. be unapologetically Black. dance like you James Brown or Janet Jackson. embrace your culture. embrace who you are. wear your braids at work. rock your Afrikan colors in public. that BLACK music that everyone else love? play it loudly when you’re driving. that food that people call soul food? tear it up. go to New Orleans and feel culture. next time you plan a trip outside the states, plan it to the Motherland. where people are Black as night and beautiful as gods and goddesses. go home. go home. go home. i was talking to my Unc Jerrod and he said a lot of times people want to go to another country or continent, they opt for Europe. and that’s true. but no longer. explore the world, yes. but go where people look like you. go where you can feel at home. drop amerikkkan from Afrikan amerikkkan when people ask what is your ethnicity. ask a Vietnamese person, they’ll tell you they’re Vietnamese. ask a Filipino friend, they’ll tell you they’re Filipino. you’re either amerikkkan or Afrikan. define who you are. stop letting others define your life.

you are not a thug. you are not ugly because society tells you everything white is beautiful. you are not ratchet because you don’t ACT like a white woman. you are not ignorant because you don’t SPEAK “proper English” although you’re understood and majority of people don’t even speak standard english. you are not stupid because you sag your pants. you are not aggressive because everyone else is 5 foot 4. your body IS fine. just because your body and booty fill out those shorts or leggings and your friends and other women you see who are thinner don’t does not mean your attire is ratchet. you do not have to be a sports phenom. you can be a basketball player. you can be a lawyer. you can be a financial consultant. you can be an entrepreneur. you make your own definitions.

if your sister or cousin or mother is getting raped and you turn your head or put your hands in your pocket, you are against them. if you see your brother or cousin or father getting jumped and you turn your head and put your hands in your pocket, you are against them. period. agreed? what is the difference when we are talking about our brothers and sisters? we live in a society where Black people believe “well i ain’t a cop. i don’t spew anti-Black rhetoric. i ain’t joining the army. i love dark skin women. i ain’t selling crack to my people” is being for their people and it stops there. there is no gray area. at a time when your people need you to be active for their and your freedom, for their and your life, for your peoples oppression, and you are inactive, you are against them. this is not a time for individualism. not a time for “well i’m good. i got money. i’m not like the other Black people.” Black people, we are at war and there is a draft going on all over the world. you are needed. we can no longer let the world work itself out. we can no longer be passive. we can no longer have gray area in our love. we can no longer let our people slide.

ima end this reminiscent of a DMX concert or album: Dear Lord, thank you for creating us. For the wisdom and heart and patience and love we possess. Thank you Lord for the personalities we have. the fun we have. thank you for giving me dark skin. for nappy hair. for a big nose. big lips. the fight. the dog in me yet the tenderness. thank you for putting me in this era in the situation I’m in. Thank you for the insight and information we got from our parents and the access to information that our parents did not have. thank you Lord for providing. for delivering. for another day with my health and legs and sight and arms. for another opportunity to fight and make a better future for Black people around the world. give me the strength and patience and confidence desire to continue fighting despite the odds. for the friends and family you put around me. thank you for love. Amen.

*now, back to our regular scheduled program.

*Lil Yatchy or Lil Uzi playing in the background.