Group Economics

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.