Monday, 8th June 2020, 0145
There’s so many levels to this liberation shit.
The average person may not give a second thought to this
Group Economics is often an inconvenient truth to most
Many brush it off but its perhaps the most significant
Delve beyond the surface and deep the power of group economics.
How many times does money circulates within a community?
Reflect on where we get our food and essentials from.
What are the barriers to entry?
How can we gain a foothold in the supply lines?
What’s the benefits of owning our whole supply chain?
We need to supply our community with the products and ingredients that are vital for us to function culturally.
Reflect beyond the reposting and reading of history
Now is the time to act.
Until there’s some form of diasporic economic practices, there’s no real power structure.
Until there’s a concentration and focus on creating a network of resources and skills,
Until we own our supply lines
From food production to consumption
Until we own the real estate and land where our shops, farms and manufacturing bases are
We’ll have no real influence.
Until we practice group economics
We’ll have no influence over policies
We’ll have no bargaining power
We’ll have no real assets
We’ll have no capital to fund legal representation or security
We’ll have no army
We’ll have no voice
We’ll have no strength to ensure accountability is taken against trespass and injustice
We’ll continue to have no control or moderation over our cultural identity and how we’re perceived
We’ll have no true sense of unity.
Without any of the above
We have the perception of begging to be accepted
We have no alternatives than to assimilate into oppression
We are still at war with an invisible and intangible enemy
We are still begging people to see and hear our struggle
They can’t even begin to fathom what we’ve been through as it’s so deeply entrenched into all facets of their existence
All the while we as a people have spent a steady trajectory
Silencing and suppressing ourselves to fit in and seem less threatening.
Reflect on the fact that we’ve lived at polar opposites.
Whilst you spent life being aloof and never having to engage
In any form of conversation regarding race or other issues
We’re faced with the realisation of this
Oppressive state of existence from deep within the womb.
From the choice of schools and hospitals
To the opportunities afforded only to you.
Whilst you live life aloof and always being catered to
There was nothing about us taught in classrooms
The Egyptians were white-washed in ’91 textbooks
It was just before they banned the picture book bibles
Full of white people with no blacks in sight
Meanwhile I had a picture at the top of my stairs
It was a black Jesus
So I never once believed that he weren’t melanated
I saw god in my own image
I realised the powers in me
Thats what happens when you mix Islam, Rastafarianism and Christianity
That’s what happens when you teach a kid about his history
His confidence grows and he’s aware of the world
At age 3
Playing on prayer mats
Khaki fatigues and a rasta badge
Watching Bob Marley and Public Enemy on VHS
I was a super fan
Those revolutionary images were etched in my head
As soon as we learn to speak
We’re taught that black is beautiful
We’re taught about our forefathers and revolutionaries
We’re taught about our freedom fighters and the atrocities
We’re taught that all at home
We don’t learn that stuff in school
We’re made to feel like we can’t call out racism
You’ve branded it a race card, thus making it trivial
Until we practice some form of group economics
There’s no foundation for any real power
There’s no precedent for the next generation to follow
It’s still marching and sharing posts
It’s still being murdered, racially profiled and disrespected
It’s being classified and looked upon as nothing
It’s a perpetual cycle of injustice.
Open up your eyes
Open your ears
Act upon the blueprint laid down before the illusion
Don’t fall for the distraction of assimilation and integration.
We fell deep into that abyss
As if a concrete block was tied to our ankles
Thrown overboard with a few rights
That mean nothing in our oppressors minds
Now you wish to act like you care
I’m dubious that they’re trying to distract us.
Yes you had a dream uncle Martin
But you integrated us into a burning house
That we never set fire to
They locked the doors with us inside and assassinated you
Ironically you were branded the peaceful dude
I hear the hypocrisy in their tone when they quote you
Uncle DuBois believed in the power of education and integration
But you should’ve embraced uncle Marcus rather than
Drag and insult him
Investigate and undermine him
Were you an opp to everyone who didn’t comply with you?
Group economics is what we need to practice
A power base of influence is what we need to establish
The black race is scattered across the world
As if they were fragments from a smashed vase
Patched together
Through the collective belief in one phrase
Black Lives Matter
The urushi lacquer that binds a dispersed people together
Kintsugi birthed from struggles
Makes our expressions sound better
I wonder if we were the people
In the 11th chapter of the old book
Who tried to build the tower to the sky
We defied God’s will
We didn’t have faith that he’d protect us
In case our sins caused him to send another flood
So we built upward to force God close to us
Instead our insolence caused you to disperse us
We stand here today
Many cultures, regions and languages apart
Wondering why three words draw us together
Three words unite and shine light on a universal cause
To liberate the minds of those in a perpetual cycle of abuse
Whilst the human rights and government orgs turn a blind eye
We march, scream and protest to unite hearts and minds
How do we solidify this new found unity?
We practice group economics
We buy products from those who look like us
Who create opportunities for those who look like us
Who invest in and circulate the resources in us
So we can financially empower and protect us
So we no longer have police show up
Rough up and choke us up
Charge us for obstructing them from murdering us
Uncle Malcolm gave a speech in ’62
After two brothers were roughed up outside the mosque
Unloading suits
A scuffle broke out before shots were fired
7 people left with wounds
1 man was killed
40 years on and it’s happening still.
Only way to escape this burning house
Is to pool our resources and identify how
We got here in the first place
What common things we share
What will propel us forward
50 years from now I foresee a new world order
Structured around a balance for all of us.
Group Economics.