Move over BILLI and DIDDY! ANDY and KHADI have arrived!

 

BLACKISM MANIFESTO

For the Black, Highly Melanated and those wanting secure the counter-hegemony of Black Power.

 

THE TEN PILLARS OF POWER:

1. Free the ‘fro.When one decides to go natural release the tropes of Eurocentric beauty. Reject the narrative of straight, long hair. Get to know your curl pattern. Understand that in every strand is a member of your ancestry. Define your BIG CHOP as your reconnection with Mother Nature and your African heritage. Free your scalp from the chemicals of white approval. Our hair in its natural state is beautiful, bold and black.  Live your Nappily Ever After.

 

2. Rise to the top.Control our narrative through the weapon of ideology. Use the powers of mainstream culture owned by the White Man to reclaim and excel our history and our now. Utilise the mediums of music, art, dance, literature, politics, science and technology to ensure our voices are heard. History books have erased our gifted and talented, but that erasure doesn’t mean we never existed.

 

3. Divide, conquer and rule.Let us feast on the fruits of our own labour without falling victim to becoming Black Capitalists. We need to support black-owned businesses but ensure these businesses provide services back to the communities that help them. Become owners of our hair shops, barber shops, international telephone companies, entertainment and social history. Never forget where you came from and make yourself a dominant figure in those areas.

 

4. Reclaim your rights.We are a force of resistance. Take note of the social movements anchored by the universal Black Panther and Black Lives Matter movements. Police Brutality. We will not have it. Institutional Racism. We will not have it. Structural Racism. We will not have it. We must fight back and protest with consistency, group membership and the tolerance of sacrifice. Through this we shall live comfortably and not be stripped of our privileges on a daily basis.

 

5. Empower yourself. Focus on loving yourself. Do not seek social acceptance. Ensure every day that you surround yourself with individuals who will allow you to remain unapologetically black. Our greatness must be celebrated the way you have all championed white mediocrity. No longer shall we be seen as the diamonds from the rough. We are here. Shining! Glowing!

 

6. Reject whitewashing. Deny the motif of colourism which infiltrates itself through our daily lives as highly melanated citizens. Refuse all ways of making ones skin lighter. Object to bleaching. Cast out lighter shades of foundations. Delete those photos that make you look whiter and not brighter. At the same time do not let your blackness be caricatured as ‘dark skin chocolate’. Do not let the ‘others’ objectify you in order to fit with their illogical reasoning of black beauty.

 

7. Be your own superhero.Black Panther and the Europeanised imagined mythology of Wakanda is not real! Stop waiting for ‘White Saviours’ to come and save the day as you will be waiting for a lifetime. Recognise that their act of protection does nothing to your social prejudices and instead raises their social status. Stop waiting for white validation when it comes to black activism. Our voice is strong enough when we shout together. It’s not our duty to educate or be spokespeople. Our only duty is to do right by the humanity that we and our descendants will live in.

 

8. Misogynoir ends here. Anti-Blackness and misogyny are real and it is the long suffering duality of being a Black woman across the world.

 

• The ‘Sassy Black Woman’ is incoherent. Don’t let any non-black woman or man or even black man ever make your right to be assertive into an inherent comedy of female Blackness.
• The ‘Hypersexual Jezebels’ stereotype is historical fake news. White men discuss their want to sleep with black women due to them being ‘up for anything’. Black female sexuality is not monolithic. In order for white men to feel comfortable about their rape of enslaved Black women they inform society that they are insatiable. We must sh** on this perverse, post-modern colonialist rhetoric.
• The ‘Strong Black Woman’ is an unfair meme. All Black women and young girls start crying. Express yourselves. You are not the default rock for your family and peers.
• The ‘Angry Black Woman’ is a figment of our imagination. Stamp out this trope of racially motivated irrationality. Black women’s anger should be respected and not masqueraded as barbaric tantrums.

 

Publicly, shame all those who dehumanize the Black women without acknowledging the bravery of the Black women. Let them know we call it: BLACK GIRL MAGIC!

 

9. Celebrate Black Boy Joy. Stop labelling our young black boys and men as deviant and criminals. Allow them to feel accepted and happy within mainstream society without having to fight off the term ‘gangster’. Let us praise their successes in education, family life and employment. Let us teach our young Black Kings about their right to feel free and not always imprisoned by society’s negations. Remind them that patriarchy is an overrated Western ideology for the White Man.

 

10. Black History Month Vs. Black Mythology. We should not endorse the greatness of fellow Black people just for a month. As a society we use and engage with products created by Black people everyday. Promote ourselves for 365 days a year. Every year.