Hello everyone,
Welcome to my first blog post!! I hope you enjoy reading it as much as I enjoy writing it. I want to start off with these quotes that have been in my mind since I heard them and especially throughout this past week:
“…the ax forgets the tree remembers. You can’t have a short memory and be Black. You open yourself up for attack. You gotta have a long memory cause you’re singin a long song.” – Dr. Koko Zauditu-Selassie in Shantrelle P. Lewis’ In Our Mother’s Gardens available on Netflix but boooo Netflix pay your workers!!
“History doesn’t repeat itself, but it does rhyme.” – Mark Twain, who according to Wikipedia, was also once a riverboat pilot. My history peoples around me and I also say this.
The Montgomery Brawl was one for the ages. I love my people and I am glad they stood up for what was right. Anyone who knows me personally knows I am aggressively anti-violent. So before anybody ever accuses me of condoning violence, know who brought the violence. Uncle Co-Captain was literally doing his job and people tried to kill him.
Out of such an ugly incident (that is still unfolding), spectators, instigators, and really anyone who has a smart phone has had pretty much 360-degree coverage of the ass whooping I call, “The Ass Whooping Seen ‘Round the World.” Shoutout to the history and humanities educators because this gig is tough! The result over the past week has been a flurry of era-defining memes, takes, and exchanges. I want to pour my portion into this cultural gumbo. Without further ado, here are my Alabama Slamma (a term I heard first from a Black femme on TikTok) highlights:
My #1 favorite part of the fight is the reactions. From everyone: the people on the boat, the dock, and online. Black people are so expressive. We cannot hide our flamboyance. And why would we? Our dialects, our creativity, our unique perspectives and interests make us very special. I especially love our ways with rhythms and rhymes. The poetry that has come out of this tragedy. The way this has brought together generations. I love to see it.
The second part I love is the poetic nature of the event. It reminds me of Botticelli’s Primavera. That ass whooping was like a ballet the way everyone played their part. The hat signal, AquaMayne, the goddesses, uncle with the chair. Please. As my history teacher dad says, history is oftentimes stranger than fiction. This is why I study history; this is a story that will only get better with time. I look forward to sharing these memories with my students and my great granchilren in the future.
As Dr. Zauditu-Selassie said, you cannot have a short memory. She said and be Black but I argue no one of any color can afford to have a short memory. Especially when it comes to Black people and our long song. Because you will find out. And the universe has an awesome way of showing you what is really going on. "The ax forgets, the tree remembers," remember? There is a moral bend in the universe towards justice. Anything that goes against that arc is doomed to fail. It’s like trying to swim across the ocean: it don't work. That’s how it goes for racist, unjust, unsustainable, thoughts, beliefs, and so-called structures. That’s what true history teaches us. That is literally what history is trying to tell us. And did! Through this Ass Whooping.
Special shoutouts to:
-The trio of goons and cousin who pulled up like the grim reaper coming for what was left of these people’s SOULS.
-Uncle in the CRISP summer whites who was coming for that maggot monster’s eyeballs. That man literally held the paper person’s neck while two other kin uncle’s came through and used it as a punching bag! These clowns were not prepared for that homegrown Southern smoke.
-AquaMayne who really jumped into formation. His freestyle strokes were really just the warmup and he came up out that water like our ancestors’ answered prayers. God bless that baby and all the beautiful Black children fighting the good fight around the world.
-The Goddesses who came in like the three fairy Godmother’s and got those palm-colored princesses all the way together.
-The ancestors in the water and the air and in the trees. The ancestor Women who came together hours before the Brawl to honor the ancestors.
Some notes to take away from this blog post:
Yes, we can laugh at the memes and the culture that has arisen out of this travesty but let us never forget that it is one. It is not funny that a man was literally attacked in public because of unacceptable drunken bigotry. Those people who attacked the co-captain were trying to lynch him. Do not have a short memory when it comes to this event because you just might find yourself getting hit over the head with a folding chair.
Uncle with the folding chair needs to be released from jail. He was defending Black women.
Do not call Black people unserious just because we can turn lemons into lemonade. Black people are seriously and literally fighting for our lives because some people can’t get over the color of our skin. Make it make sense. We laugh to keep going but at the end of the day nothing is funny about bullshit ignorant parasites to society. Especially when racism is literally boiling our planet and trying to call it supremacy. Stay woke. Get on your Zoom. Don’t get your Black history from white people.
In conclusion, I am looking forward to celebrating our new holiday August 5th next year. Gonna get my red drink and sit myself down on a folding chair for the culture. It’s the simple things in life.
Tap in regularly for more bi-weekly blog posts about feminism, history, Blackness, and music brought to you by Break the Seal Press, a womanist press dedicated to transforming the world through quality literature and grassroots activism founded by Spelman grad, local herstorian, and writer, Jacqueline H. Brown-Gaines. If you can’t wait until the next blog post, check out my debut short story, Adventures with the Funk Haus Band, available now for only $5 plus shipping on this same website!! Proceeds from the sale of each book support Black college History programs and HBCU marching bands in need. You can also purchase copies to donate to under-resourced teens! It is the hottest short story of the year, don’t miss the band bus!!!
Thank you for taking the time to read and support Black-owned press. Our stories matter and Black lives always matter! (World) Peace!!
Jacqueline