Just because you don’t know about it doesn’t mean it didn’t happen.
I’m mad, y’all. I am an angry Black woman today.
I don’t know what has gotten into people, but lately I’ve seen such callous disrespect towards Black American history and it has just got to stop. Full stop. I know a lot of people haven’t opened a Black history textbook ever in their lives, and the last time they learned something new about real Black people (not stereotypes in the media) was in the 3rd grade, but it’s time for people to stop flapping their gums about things they know nothing about. It’s not productive and it surely will not lead to progress as a human community.
People’s working knowledge of history in 2025 is despicable. I’m talking about knowledge of cold hard facts. People have no idea what has happened in the past 100 years let alone the past hundreds of thousands of years. People don’t even understand how history works, how it is alive, and how our interpretation of the so-called past is constantly being revised (and always has been). As I have said in past blog posts, this is by design. The capitalist racist sexist imperialist system thrives on ignorance, deception, and illusion. It does not want you to know the truth of its existence. In that case, we must want more for ourselves. We cannot be content with half-truths and false narratives. Black history is world history.
What really bothers me is how instead of people using this turbulent time to educate themselves and decolonize their minds, they would rather get online and blame Black people for the actions of white people. Make it make sense. Instead of questioning where and how they got these beliefs, they would rather use their tiny amount non-Black privilege to attempt to patronize the people responsible for their ability to speak relatively freely. How does that make sense? Again, I know a lot of people are working with limited information, but LISTEN and LEARN. I’m not saying all Black American people are perfect, but as many of our Black mothers told us growing up, “we weren’t born yesterday.”
It’s the false sense of superiority for me. It’s like an identity crisis mixed with the lack of grieving from the pandemic + late-stage capitalism that has made people forget all of the unlearning we did in the 2010s. Apparently history started in 2022? No, history doesn’t matter at all (false). It might also be the fact that the Commander in Thief of the so-called United States does not care about reality or facts, so people think that's the case everywhere. I’ve realized over the past few years that some people, specifically my Gen-Z generation, genuinely believe that we live in a post-racial society. Like that became very evident in the discourse surrounding Beyonce and her Buffalo Soldier t-shirt. There were some REAL AHISTORICAL takes on that mess. I’ve also realized people still believe the myth that Black people don’t know where we come from. I’m not saying that your average Black person can trace their entire blood lineage, but I’ve peeped this puritanical standard of ethnicity that is often required of Black people and no one else. And newsflash: a lot of us do have the tools to trace where we come from. And what about it? What difference does it make? Where did you come from and why? Why are you in Black people’s business? We all come from everywhere (and Africa).
It bothers me when y’all give credit to others for Black people’s labor. Our intellectual, physical, familial, democratic, musical, creative, spiritual, artistic heritage is too often divorced from its source. Everything you love about freedom, Black people paid for with our lives and blood. Y’all think the same white people who are willing to throw y’all in cages with alligators are the same white people who “gave” us emancipation and social security? Nah, get back in them books.
It’s the way people think that because they are ignorant of Black history, they somehow think they know more than Black people… I mean up is down here in America. Mediocrity is supremacy and demons are angels according to this fucked country. Being a moron is a flex and being a failed businessman, convicted felon, sex trafficking pedophile, and rapist is the pinnacle of success here in America. So I can’t blame people, but if you are reading this and you find yourself having the urge to talk crazy about Black people, don’t do it. Check out my recommended book list and be a part of the solution. Black history is world history. Black people are human beings surviving attempted genocide just like many groups of people around the world.
And Black American people know more about America than anyone else in the world. I really want to drive this point home. Yes, we may create the most intoxicating and wonderful culture on Earth, yes we may tell jokes that will make your stomach touch your neck, but there is WAY more to Black history and culture than what meets the eye. Y’all think we’re telling jokes and stories and being “unserious” when we’re really transmuting and disarming violence. There’s a reason why we stand on business when it comes to us and our children. There’s a reason why we call ourselves BLACK and not POC. There is a reason why we're not "going back to Africa." There is a reason why we say the things that we say and do the things we do (like vote). LISTEN to BLACK people and THINK.
Our histories as Black, white, AND brown PEOPLE are wrapped up in a parasitic cancerous regime that is hell-bent on exploiting or destroying us or both. And it’s coming for everyone, not just us as I hope would be obvious based on the current Dump administration’s recent actions. We have been stuck in this fight we did not ask for for over 400 years and we are not giving up anytime soon. That being said, it is not helpful when people who get their Black history from AI posts on Facebook and aesthetically curated Instagram pages try to speak over people who have been doing the work and live this experience. Please be so forreal. Just because you do not know about it, does not mean it didn’t happen. Let’s be serious. Let’s listen and learn from Black history and Black people. Let’s dig deeper than the surface. Let’s understand that Black people are not the bad guys. Let’s help ourselves get out of this mess. Let’s act and not just react. That’s the real revolution.
How to start a revolution:
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Read.
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Listen.
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Learn.
“…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.