"The white liberal lefty men have been smiling their way through something they would like to call anti-patriarchal male "feminist" work for quite some time. I don't much trust what they're building because they don't have radical enough race analysis as far as I can see. So, I don't really talk to them much. I'm invested in Black men creating something that questions the crap that happens in Black community that reeks of patriarchal relations."
- darkdaughta, 1TBM
I (Seminalson)know that I am going to build relations across all colour lines because that is what it will take to have any movement. But really (Black) men, we have to start talking to each other ABOUT PATRIARCHY - and that might mean crying, and being uncomfortable, and being messy - but we come from (and I'm reminding myself here) a long line of folks who went through pain and discomfort...
... ultimately - if we aren't at least talking/ sharing stories , we aren't moving anywhere. . .
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
1 comment:
S2: So what prevents us from talking? I'm curious why we have spoken so little.
I don't know if you know much about jazz/jazz history, but when Charlie Parker, Thelonious Monk and number of other famous and anonymous figures began toying around with a common idea they heard inside of them, they weren't trying to create bebop. They were trying to deal with that thing that was percolating inside of them.
Who knows if they would have found it if they were motivated by a desire to create a movement. ONe of the weaknesses of movements is that too often, people want the movement to do all the work for them. Another is that they join it like its a fraternity or something. They want to belong but not to themselves.
My inner wisdom tells me, keep following the bubbles. Keep dealing with that "splinter in my mind," keep trying to reach it, lay it open, feel it claim it. And yes, collaborate with those who are seeking the same thing. But it is very important to change me and not get ahead of myself.
When we find the internalized racist/patriarch/homophobe within, and begin to heal it, openly claim it the way alcoholics claim their "dis-ease," THAT is the movement. The movement needs that seed right there; the one who does their work on themselves with what tools they can find and is as real as real can get.
I'm committed to trying with healing all by myself or with whoever can deal with me.
Post a Comment