By: Ebrahim Aseem
“Light privilege is real,” a dark skinned man exclaimed, as he stood in a long line in front of me at CREAM, an ice cream sandwich parlor that stands for “Cookies Rule Everything Around Me.” Let’s call him “Tical”.
Tical stared at his phone, scrolling as he continued, “Why do niggas think a mulatto endorsed by Nike is a win? The revolution will not be publicized.”
“It’s not a win or an L, It’s a Muhammad Ali, rope-a-dope tactic,” I interjected.
“Ever notice women will know us men are lying & hiding something, yet she won’t mention it. She’ll wait until our ego gets so comfortable lying, our sloppy actions get us caught. Our strong pride was used against us.
Using your opponent’s strength against them is the most powerful strategy in war, because it exploits the momentum your opponent’s ego.
Nike seeks to exploit Colin Kaepernick’s divisive notoriety to sell their product. Their wealth & influence is their strength. Fake woke sleepwalkers feel Kaepernick should resist Nike to spite the corporation hoping to exploit him. But to resist your opponent due to their strength is to forfeit the fight before the war is won.
In the same way Muhammad Ali defeated the more powerful George Foreman during the Rumble in the Jungle boxing championship, by using Foremen’s strength against him to make him fatigued & ripe for the knock out;
Colin Kaepernick is defeating his opposers, whose only strength is their white privilege. They set their Nike apparel & shoes on fire in videos, burning their own foot to spite their swoosh. They’re unintentionally advertising Kaepernick’s message like a commercial, that these eugenicists rather burn Nike apparel they paid for, than donate the clothes to homeless troops they claim their standing for the anthem supports. Their inner snake is revealed. Reptilian.
Speaking of animals, Donald Duck & birds like him, call Colin a threat to making America great again as a land of the free & home of the brave. He’s unintentionally advertising for Kaepernick’s message that this country is the land of the hypocrites & home of the enslaved. The revolution will be strategized.”
After multiple failed attempts to interject, Tical finally got a word in edgewise.
“I don’t need your history lesson, Red,” Tical replied, dismissively throwing shade to my naturally red beard, “the only reason white folk loved Ali is, because he was light skin.”
Ebrahim: “Love Ali? No, toilet seat colored people hated Ali, until Parkinson’s silenced his truth speaking mouth. He was labeled a draft dodger and called anti-American, the same way Kaepernick is.”
Tical: “But the difference is Kaepernick is a half breed, mixed mulatto. “Stay woke. Light skins can not fight for the struggle. They ain’t real Black. Don’t let memes convince you Kaepernick is some civil rights martyr like Marcus Garvey or Fredrick Douglass. Them niggas were the real freedom fighters.”
Ebrahim: “Fredrick Douglass’ was bi-racial, his father was white. Yet his melanin & self love was blacker than midnight,” I retorted. “Fredrick Douglass was the 1st Black nominee for Vice President of the U.S. He not only fought for the black struggle, he also fought for the women’s suffrage movement, because there was always two forms of slavery in America, Black people owned by white men and all women owned by their white fathers, then sold to their husbands.
Fredrick Douglass was proof a bi-racial black person with one white parent can fight for the Black struggle.”
Tical: “At least Douglas looked brown skin though. I mean it’s hard to know for sure, all we have is pixelated photographs of the brotha, but still. He look real black. So he couldn’t pass. Kaepernick is light as a white person, with that appropriating Afro he wears. He can pass. That’s why light skins can’t lead the struggle.”
Ebrahim: “Angela Davis is light skinned, yet she lead the Black Panther movement in the 1970s. Malcom X was light skin as well. Just because a person’s skin is light, doesn’t mean their dna isn’t Black. It’s their regal spirit that makes them black on both sides. Mos Def voice.
Michael Jordan is darker than the back of Forest Whitaker’s neck, but his spirit is whiter than the plaque colored people he tap-dances for. Jordan takes Black money for his shoes, but he never speaks out or stands up for Black issues. Jordan is proof having dark black skin isn’t what makes you black, it’s loving your self, melanin and your ancestors with unapologetic blackness.”
Him: “Angela Davis was a pretty face used to ponder to the white man’s idea of beauty being light skin. Light skinned women are not real black. And no woman can lead the revolution. That’s the man’s job. He’s the leader. Her job is in the kitchen, keeping the family structure together.”
Me: “What you’re not going to do is come for Angela Davis. She’s Blacker and realer than you’ll ever be.
Light skinned women are black, because her DNA carries the melanin to give birth to a child darker than Idris Elba, or lighter than Steph Curry. An apple is one because its apple seed can produce apples. Light skin black women are black because her seed can produce infinite generations of Black excellence.”
Him: “Light skin blacks like her or Malcolm could only lead the struggle, because they embraced their Blackness and didn’t act white.”
Me: “What’s acting white?”
Him: “Using big words for no reason is acting white.
Turning the other cheek instead of clapping back with force is acting white.
Going to the white man’s college for a degree is acting white.”
Me: You have to use your opponent’s strength against them.
It was illegal for Black slaves to learn to read. They stole our language from us & hung us if we learned theirs. Little black toddlers would be burned along with the books they were reading in front of their families. Why? So they could change the Bible, manipulate the laws, hide our rites and rewrite history.
Using big words isn’t “acting white”. Words sounds have power. When you speak with understanding, the spirit can flow out your mouth, with the power to move mountains.
Going to college or earning a degree isn’t “acting white”. Half the white philosophers learned at the feet of The Moors. The other half stole their knowledge from the safes, libraries and archives of Nubian rulers. College teaches you half truths, but when you have knowledge of self and activate your pineal gland, you’re able to take those seeds of half truths & plant them with the seeds of knowledge of self to awaken innate wisdom & cultivate mental ascension into fruition.
The last thing I said to Tical was, “There is no one style or format that makes you black. Blackness is innate and intrinsic.” But I stopped there. Not just because it was my turn to order ice cream but, also because the hardest person to wake up is the one who’s pretending to be sleep.
Black is your culture, not your identity. You are a spirit, wearing this human form like clothes. Spirits have no race. No gender. No age, because time doesn’t exist in the universe. But on this realm, our culture is our GPS map. It leads us to knowledge of self, so we can know how to operate all our gifts hidden deep inside our DNA.
Props to women fighting anxiety, depression, cancer or migraine yet find strength to pour energy in work, school, bills, grinding for a future or freedom fighting for the struggle. I see you. I know you don’t get credit for doing it alone but you’re appreciated. Stay unbreakable.
Every form of pain you face, rather it be anxiety, stress, disease, sadness, self doubt, abandonment issues, there is an intangible weapon hidden deep inside of your DNA to help you overcome that pain. The greatest artist in this universe hand painted you to be a work of art. No matter the color of your skin, love yourself for the spirit you are within. You are strong, beautiful, unbreakable and unfuckwithable.
Love your culture. Learn your history, and embrace your women, they are the key to life, light and mental ascension into the universe. She’s the portal chosen to give life, and all human life came out of the womb of the strongest being on this planet, the Black Woman.
Us brothas don’t say this enough, but Black Women; you are so beautiful, giving, spiritual & selfless. You’re not too picky, too difficult or opinionated. You’re strong minded & enough. #EbrahimAseem All life springs from your womb. You are loved, because you are love.