I was raised to have a profound love for Black people. Over the years; especially recently, I’ve learned that profound love is practiced. Unconditional love is something you have to work at every day. One member of Black Sovereign Nation in particular has taught me that loving Black people unconditionally often looks like meeting them where they are. Nothing I do is revolutionary if it isn’t done from a place of love and willingness to understand. That lesson was humbling and I now constantly remind myself that there are people who are meeting me where I am and doing so with patience, with love, with understanding, and with hope. Malcolm X advised us all to refrain from condemning those who don’t do what we do, think as we think, or as fast. He reminded us that each of us has grown into the knowledge we presently possess and that there was a time when we were less informed, less woke, and less experienced. Even more important for me to remember is that I still have so much growing to do as an activist, as an organizer, and as a Black woman. I don’t know everything. What I don’t know, I am committed to learning through study, through experience, and through relationships with people who stand with other soldiers on the front lines. All of that notwithstanding, my guiding principles and driving force must always be primarily influenced by what my conscience dictates.
There are some things that I will not compromise on. There are some things that I will not apologize for.
I find myself aghast at people who implore and expect me to open my mind and heart to indoctrination.
No, I will not internalize and consider propaganda spewed by bigots.
No, I’m not interested in “open dialogue” with those who adamantly believe that my life is less important than cigarillos I stole from a damned corner store, than a law that says I can’t sell loosies, than my failure to signal a lane change, than the fear of officers who see me playing with a toy gun, or than a hyped up security guard who feels his weapon and his prejudice give him the right to take Black life without consequence.
No, I will not entertain or participate in debate over how valuable our lives are, whether we are entitled to basic human rights, or even whether or not we are justified in our choice to resist forces that come to infringe upon those rights. I refuse to endure any further abuse by engaging those who have to consider those questions even for a moment. I will not participate in any exchange with people for whom those questions aren’t accompanied by obvious answers.
I’m done talking to our enemy.
If conversation driven by Stockholm syndrome, pacifism, or apologist behavior was ever appropriate, the time for such discussion has now definitely passed.
Many of us fight tooth and nail, every day to unload social conditioning and decolonize our minds. What reason do we have to make ourselves susceptible to further intellectual and spiritual attack? Why are my brothers and sisters not only willing to subject themselves to that trauma, but offended when others don’t join them in their masochistic behavior? Yes, masochistic. Because when you’re willing to endure racially charged aggression, emotional abuse, and advocacy for violence against you and yours, you are VOLUNTARILY subjecting yourself to undue pain.
I find myself dumbfounded by those who somehow think that distancing and protecting ourselves from agencies that unflinchingly execute us is a radical concept.
No, I will not work with the police. To say it is detrimental to me and to my community to collaborate with those who pledge their allegiance to entities that are not only responsible for Black genocide, but are founded on principles that guarantee the perpetuation of it, is a gross understatement. Will I walk my people into the lion’s den? Absolutely not. Will I talk to Black leaders, activists, and organizers whose ideologies differ from mine? Of course, I will. Always. But unity, even within the activist community, will be based on common principles, common goals, and common interests. I will not join others in advocating for strategy that will ultimately preserve and sustain systems of oppression. Period.
In case I haven’t already made it clear or somehow you missed the message,
I am UNAPOLOGETICALLY militant.
I am UNAPOLOGETICALLY nationalist.
I am UNAPOLOGETICALLY committed.
I am UNAPOLOGETICALLY Black.
That means my love for you endures, but you will not guilt me for being intolerant of blatant disregard for my life and my liberty.