Mostly we tell our story the way the colonizers and slavers tell it. As if we only came into existence when they arrived on our shores. They mean for us to be enthralled with whiteness and its projects of modernity. That is the intention: for every living being to be prostrate to the project of patriarchal white supremacist capitalism aka modernity. Our involvement, though, is at the fallacious level of non-human, the kind of non-being, which has its particular and many violences.
“Our cultural roots are the most ancient in the world.” ~ Marimba Ani
However, the historical context of African peoples is actually measured in millennia. In fact, we are literally the oldest people on the planet. Historians of western civilization and scientists alike are clear about the origins of human life. The fact that every human being alive today is a descendent of a person who was born on the continent of Africa is well known. They just rarely, if ever, say it like that.
“The first light of human consciousness and the world's first civilizations were in Africa.” ~ John Henrik Clarke
The realm of deep time is one of many useful places to interrogate “blackness”. It simultaneously allows us to situate ourselves in a much longer arc of time (the origin of everything) and a vastly larger field of existence (the entire universe).
In the beginning was blackness Black hole Blackness Blackity black blackness In this blackness was all the things. Not void, contrary to popular belief.
Our history, measured from the first appearance of human civilization, has less than 20% contact with the European. Shifting our self-concept from that of mere shadow in the story of western civilization to a more accurate conception that includes a rich and varied history is foundational for efficacious dreams. In this context, we can start to imagine a way forward that is not merely a response to the sophomoric project of modernity and it’s inherent deficiencies, but rather to dream our way into a near future outside of the familiar bankrupt visions of who we are inside of narratives that are already crumbling under the sheer weight of the unsustainable hubris.
And sure, you would know that if you let your mind wander off the plantation reservation corporation organization holy nation site of education prostration Nah, not void. In this Blackness was all the things: All the colors All the lights All the knowledge All the blueprints All the motion All the power All the desire All of creation In the blackness Black hole Blackity black blackness
Further down the path of deep time and quantum physics, we find space here to include ourselves specifically. It’s quite common today to hear philosophers and thought-leaders rhapsodizing about how we are all stardust. Let us say it plainly, though, African diasporic people consist of the original matter that emerged out of the birth of the universe.
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