i AM FUGITIVE @i-am-fugitive - Tumblr Blog

**Notes from the One-Man Underground**

‘art’ is nothing other than the language of white $lave masters and colonizers. the art institution (a product of capitalism) is yet another tool and code for, white hierarchical hegemony. within the ‘ivory towers' of art, world creativity and lived experience is essentially exploited and colonized under the arbitration and control of white (self-appointed) $lave masters. the white dictated art institution essentially controls the narrative of world creativity. in fact, the blueprint for the institute of slavery is written directly into the very fabric/DNA of art. in this regard art is a direct symbol and representation of slavery:

museums much like grand white plantation houses: consolidate, house and display the (extracted, stolen, exploited and owned) creativity/labor power (culture and history) of all neutralized and indoctrinated $laves — here fine artist is just another term for ‘House $lave’.

the art galleries, fairs, biennials, and auction houses, like the slave forts/compounds of old, represent the ‘$lave Markets'. whereby, the exploited creativity/labor power of art $laves is consolidated and put on display to be ogled, poked, prodded and sold to the highest bidders — WELCOME TO THE AUCTION BLOCK!

the (TRADITIONAL) art curators are $lave chasers and overseers, whose jobs are to essentially corral and bring new $laves into the market. hence operating as the gate keepers, protectors, and perpetuators of the $lave institution.

unfortunately, art $laves — just as today’s society of $laves under capitalism — are bound not by force and physical shackles but by the illusion and mentally induced bonds of NEED. hence, they voluntarily offer themselves up for the auction block: sell me i's a good $LAVE! sell me i’s a good 'NIGGER’! sell me i’s a good artist! — under the guise of achieving success, recognition and art world validation.

the art $lave — shackled and bound by NEED — lies to themselves, convincing themselves that the pursuit of art is a noble pursuit. the art $lave convinces themselves that art can in fact liberate. when in fact art, as a product of capitalism, is yet another tool of white supremacy, and as such could never be utilized as a tool for true liberation. the art $lave (conditioned by NEED) in pursuit of art recognition is not seeking true liberation, AT ALL, what they are in fact ultimately pursuing is white world validation!

wake up $laves what did you name your culture, your heritage, your rituals, your creativity, your philosophy, your liberation, before art?!

in the profound words of Richard B. Moore: ‘slaves and dogs are named by their masters; FREE MEN NAME THEMSELVES!’

#FuckArt!!!

what is your NAME?! what is the cost of FREEDOM?!

****

Video footage:

*'The Maybe Not's' (2012)

Shot by: Arthur Fischer

*INTER to EXIT (2012)

Shot by: Rene Hendricks

(from One-Man — The Liberation Project series: Fugitivism, Black Art's and Barbarian Invasions)

#Fugitivism #iAmFugitive #WakeUpSlaves #CapitalismKillz #OneMan #MyRevolutionIsNow

READY OR NOT.... In blackness we are trapped, fixed and bound. In blackness EVERYTHING we do is either for, or against the (INVENTED) ‘white man’. In blackness our ENTIRE existence is summed up as a reaction to a white other. Such is the nature and prison of racialized existence. Black excellence, Black consciousness, Black power, Black pride, Black love, Black identity, Black life…. The black BEing, consigned and confined to the limits of its body (the designated object of blackness) — to which it has been made dependent — is not the expression of an authentically free and human consciousness, but is the expression of race. In blackness we cannot fully LIVE! In this regard, it is BLACK-NESS that is in fact the true “sunken place”. To be dictated and determined by a racial-epidermal schema, bound to our ‘BLACK’ bodies (thing-hood), is not a life of freedom, but one of slavery. As black BEings we do not truly affix or assign meaning to ourselves, but merely answer or react to that which others have named and made us. We have been made responsible for this alien blackness. We have been made to internalize the inherent shame and negativity of this blackness. We spend our ENTIRE lives trying to validate, and rid ourselves of the negative stigma of this externally imposed blackness. We have been made subjects/slaves to BLACKNESS! i do not care what the black nor white man, for that fact, says i am or am not. i do not honor their voices. i negate their world with all that is in me. i do not live for them. i do not cry for them. i do not cry for the black body. i do not cry for the white body. i cry for the HUMAN BODY! i heed the call of a HUMANITY in crisis. i see a humanity that has NEVER existed. i see a world that has never been. i see humanity dressed in a multitude of colors, genders, sexes, cultures and creeds. i see, ONE LOVE. i see ONE PEOPLE with many faces. i do not pursue blackness. i do not represent blackness. Yes, i know my body is black, but i am so much more than my body. i live beyond race. i live beyond the limits of my body. i scream for a new world. This world is OUR world! THIS WORLD IS OUR WORLD! WE must exercise our agency to change it, not as black men or white men, but as free, HUMAN BEINGS. i see freedom. I AM FREEDOM. I AM NOT AN ARTIST. i am a freedom fighter. i am a farmer. i am planting seeds. next stop…. next garden…. STAY TUNED.... Action: Neo-Emancipation Proclamation (Independence Day) Photos: Elizabeth Lamb

#Double Consciousness #REBEL #The Blocks #Race #black and white #FREEDOM #HUMANITY #OneMan #Preach R Sun #Fugitivism #Conjurer #Freedom Fighter #Emancipation Proclamation #independenceday #Times Square #nyc #newyork

Notes/Testimony (part 2)

Lord of Flies: Coronation [Chapter iii, in the current series, The Blocks]

Points of Departure….

Procession (Act iii) : The internal becomes the external. i enter this new world (born again) as a new BEing…. Upon exiting the coffin (after 12 hours) i wrote the words race on the top of the structure. i then kneeled upon the mound of dirt and commenced to feast upon the offering of rotten fruits and vegetables. Once i had finished eating, i picked up another long black veil, again this veil – as a representation of double consciousness – was a symbol of racialized existence. Race being that which mediates our relationship to ourselves and the external world. i placed the veil upon my head, followed by the barb wire crown. Again making a statement in regards to the role that Christianity and Islam played in the persecution and objectifying stigmatization of the black body. The crown – symbolic of the eternal and divine sufferer – (just as with Christ, the mocked king) represented the black body that was made to suffer for the crimes and sins of a white race. After placing the crown on my head, i then placed the heavy neck irons – with iron shackle fashioned (chain to coffin) attachment – around my neck.

(Attached to the coffin were 2, 6ft chains, upon which were also attached an assortment of authentic shackles, neck irons and cowbells. These objects, just as the flies, symbolized the ghostly spirits of the many black bodies that had been forced to wear them. The shackles were also a statement on the industry/economy of slavery. Particularly, in this regard, that of Birmingham, England, which happened to be one of the main manufacturing centers for guns, chains and iron shackles produced for the African slave trade – of course this shameful history is, for the most part, quietly swept under the rug today.)

By putting on the shackles, i was making a statement as to the cooperative social relations that go into the reproduction and maintenance of the racial construct. That is to say, we have essentially been trained and conditioned to put on these chains, and enslave ourselves. i would then commence to drag the heavy structure (iron shackles and coffin) – the symbol of our racial burden – through the streets of Birmingham. It would be a 1 mile procession.

To Be Continued….

Photos by: Manuel Vason

#lord of the flies #coronation #performance art #guerrilla art #race #slavery #fugitivism #oneman #england #fierce festival

Notes/Testimony (part 1)….

Lord of Flies: Coronation [Chapter iii, in the current series, The Blocks]

Points of Departure:

[The black] is a sort of seventh son, born with a veil, and gifted with second-sight in this Ameri[kkk]an world,—a world which yields him no self-consciousness, but only lets him see himself through the revelation of the other world. It is a peculiar sensation, this double-consciousness, this sense of always looking at one’s self through the eyes of others, of measuring one’s soul by the tape of a world that looks on in amused contempt and pity. One ever feels his two-ness,—an American, a Negro; two souls, two thoughts, two unreconciled strivings; two warring ideals in one dark body, whose dogged strength alone keeps it from being torn asunder. … The history of the Ameri[kkk]an Negro is the history of this strife—this longing to attain self-conscious manhood, to merge his double self into a better and truer self. – W. E. B. Du Bois (The Souls of Black Folk)

He didn’t know what it was to be black ‘til they gave him his change But didn’t want to touch his hand

To even the toughest among us That would be too much – Sade (Immigrant)

There’s a little black spot on the sun today It’s the same old thing as yesterday There’s a black hat caught in the high tree top There’s a flag pole rag and the wind won’t stop I have stood here before inside the pouring rain With the world turning circles running 'round my brain I guess I’m always hoping that you’ll end this reign But it’s my destiny to be the king of pain – The Police (King of Pain)

I got, I got, I got, I got Loyalty, got royalty inside my DNA Cocaine quarter piece, got war and peace inside my DNA I got power, poison, pain and joy inside my DNA I got hustle though, ambition, flow, inside my DNA I was born like this, since one like this Immaculate conception I transform like this, perform like this Was Yeshua’s new weapon I don’t contemplate, I meditate, then off your fucking head This that put-the-kids-to-bed This that I got, I got, I got, I got – Kendrick Lamar (DNA)

Baptized in Blood, Reared in Shame…. The black is a body born under under siege. As blackness is an inherent property of race, so does the black body (essentially) remain, as misappropriated chattel in a white (racially established and dominated) world – merely an object for white appraisal and arbitration. It (the black racialized body) is a body engineered and manufactured in false (yet ancient) historical factories. The black BEing (overdetermined from the outside) has been shaped and bound to this manufactured object. As subject and slave to its appearance, the black body (made fetish object) is the property and expression of a natural (racial) essence spawned out of a white established objectivity. Hence blackness, is the fetishized expression of a dehumanizing prestidigitation conjured from white supremacy voodoo.

The black is a tormented soul. Made to answer to its body, history, and ancestors, black is a BEing haunted by the ghosts of a dead past. A BEing inescapably afflicted, confined and attached to the fabrication of its marginalized (and inferiorly constructed) self. It is a BEing forever relegated to damnable corners. Trapped in the coffin of its racially induced alienation, the black body – existing in a state of constant derealization – is a body STILL denied and stripped of its human essence. The black BEing exists in eternal liminality – whereby blackness itself constitutes a perpetual state of middle passage – between the spatial and temporal world. Just as the “African” was delivered into slavery, so has the “black” been delivered into racialized existence. Just as African slaves were transported across the oceans in the hulls of slave ships (in their own blood, shit, piss and vomit), so today is the black BEing trapped in the hulls of the institutionalized (socially reproduced and preserved) slave ship of race. Here, the black BEing ruminates in its predetermined object-hood. STILL shackled in inferiority, while languishing in its own blood, shit, bile, vomit, shame and misery. And just as great white sharks – made ravenous from the smell and taste of African blood in those waters – religiously followed slave ships looking to feast on black bodies (tossed overboard); so (today) is the black body STILL religiously preyed upon by racist white men driven mad by the sight and smell of ‘NIGGER’ blood in the streets….

Evidence (Act i): Once again, i present myself in a uniform for 6 days leading up to my action. This time the uniform consists of an elephant mask, black suit w/slave ship piece attached to the back; and red Jordan sneakers fashioned w/gold chain and Master lock attachments. The chain, acting as a sort of signal or alarm, alerted all to my presence wherever i went (whenever i entered a room), such is the case of blackness….

1) ELEPHANT MASK: Race looms as the elephant in the room. It’s the, larger than life, monument that is forever present. (Race dictates EVERYTHING, yet and still, it is essentially an issue that we overall seek to quietly evade.) Thus, the elephant mask represented the pervasive presence of race – it is the quintessential determining factor – as that which we first and foremost identify, yet pretend to ignore. The mask was also a symbol of racialized existence, and the construct of race itself. In this regard the mask served as a representation of double consciousness (just as the black veil). As a symbol of race, the mask represented the block – the point of demarcation and alienation – that mediates our relationship to ourselves and the actual world. The elephant is also seen as a majestic beast (yet it is a beast nonetheless). It is a beast of burden, and a body hunted and fetishized. Again, these things also apply to the black (dehumanized) BEing. It too has been relegated to the status of mere savage and beast of burden; just as it has (throughout history) been hunted and fetishized. Lastly, the elephant (as a symbol of race) represented the power, scope, absoluteness, history, longevity, memory, and the (cooperative) societal makeup of the racial construct.

2) BLACK SUIT w/ SLAVE SHIP BACK PIECE: In a racialized society, black’s are essentially determined and defined by their appearance (such is the nature of blackness itself). And as blackness bears the historically established stigma of inferiority, the black body therefore can be deemed the uniform of black shame. In this regard, the black suit was meant to represent blackness as the social uniform/burden of inferiority that blacks have been made to bear. Also, as black has been made the hue of death and damnation. The black suit is a statement to the death (the murder of true humanity) and ruination of the black BEing as a result of race. Just as the orange prison suit, the black suit was a symbol of the black BEing, bound by its body to the prison of racialized existence. However, in this instance, the suit was also meant to exemplify the black BEing’s futile attempt to cover or disguise its racially imposed shame and inferiority, by dressing it up in the formality of (BLACK) dignity and excellence (i.e., keeping up appearances). In this context, the suit symbolized black’s desperate desideratum for white validation. As the black dress suit (a symbol of white objectivity) the formal item of distinguishability born out of traditional western culture, is indicative of white standards of prestige, refinement and distinction. Meanwhile, the slave ship (attached to the back of the suit) symbolized a type of sacred tablet – the commandment from which race would essentially be brought into being. As such the slave ship is the inescapable reminder as to the source of black shame – a spell or evocation that constantly activates, or resurrects the psychological condition of black inferiority. Thus the slave ship serves as a type of totemic object or representation of the womb from which the black body would be delivered into racialized existence. Mind you the slave ship, fashioned with coins, dollars, and (both) white and black figurines, is not meant to merely be a symbol or statement on the persecution and enslavement of “blacks”. It is, in fact, also meant to speak to the loss of our collective humanity under the social construct of race itself; as well as our collective enslavement to capitalism (the ultimate agent of white supremacy)…. THE BLOCKS THAT MAKE SLAVES OF US ALL.

3) RED JORDAN SNEAKERS w/ GOLD CHAINS & MASTER LOCK ATTACHMENTS: Here again, i used the Jordan sneakers – apotheosized as symbols of economic status (particularly in the black community) – to speak to the fetishization, and essentially disposable commodification of the black body; as well as the validation of white supremacy made manifest via blacks absolute dependency upon white, capitalism induced, agency. The sneakers (themselves fetish objects) were again representative of the objectified black body – it too fetishized and made object of commodification. Also, the sneakers – made famous for the superhumanesque athletic abilities of their eponym – are synonymous with flight (e. g., Mercury’s winged sandals). In this same context, the sneakers also signified transport – think Dorothy’s magical red slippers in the Wizard of Oz. As such, the sneakers were a statement to the inferior crafted mythology of the black (racialized) BEing, desperately seeking to transport itself (or transcend) out of its imposed inferiority via capitalism. As a body reduced to fetish object, the black is essentially grounded by its own externally imposed objectification. Which is to say, the black as (fetishized) magical creature possessing supernatural abilities – a magnificent, and superhuman flying savage (baited, captured/trapped and stripped of its wings) – even upon achieving success and economic prosperity, still essentially remains nothing other than the expression of white (capitalist articulated) objectivity. The black remains a conquered beast (merely a celebrated circus freak). A beast, no longer capable of flight, and unable to flee and escape its (racialized) condition – no, the runaway black (slave) cannot click its heels 3 times and return home. The black is a BEing made dependent upon its objectification, just as it is a BEing essentially broken under the kryptonite (golden Master locks and shackles) of white, capitalism induced, agency. Lastly, the red color of the sneakers were intended to symbolize the bloody feet of runaway slaves.

Baptism (Act ii): At 6am i approach the theater space. At the outside entrance sits a white 5 gallon bucket, upon which are inscribed the words: SLAVE BAIT. The bucket is filled with blood. Here, the blood represents the bodies and blood of African slaves, specifically the thousands thrown into the oceans and made shark chum during the middle passage. i commence to undress. i remove the elephant mask – revealing a face still shrouded with a black veil. i strip down, my naked body exposed, revealing American dollars and silk colonial flags (which i had privately stapled to my torso). The currency and flags are intended to be like receipts, or symbols of white ownership. As such, speaking to the black body as white property, it is an object tagged, branded (like a wild beast) and stigmatized throughout history; and now inherently bearing the scars/brands of racialized existence. Essentially I’m saying, my body does not belong to me. After removing all of my clothes, i bathe myself in the blood while repeatedly singing: I know I’ve been changed. The blood baptism is a statement to the role that religion (particularly Christianity and Islam) played in the institution of slavery and the subsequent construct of race. It also symbolizes the consecratory transformation of the black body, a body stripped of its human dignity to be made an enslaved object. Once my body is completely covered (in the blood) i enter the space, leaving the uniform hanging outside. In other words, i have addressed the body, now i must go inside and confront the soul.

How i Got Over:

A-Wake (Act iii): The black body suffers. The black BEing ruminates in its objectivity. Blackness is a middle passage…. Race is the vessel. Race is the slave ship. The dehumanized black body is transported/delivered (across the tides of history) into racialized existence. The bloody body lies in repose. i lay in a glass coffin upon a bed of cotton. The coffin represents the slave ship. However, it also symbolized the social construct of race as well as blackness itself. It is a statement to race as mere social construct (essentially perceived to be invisible, irrelevant or extraneous) yet objectively established nonetheless; hence inescapably and undeniably real. In this regard the audience represented the obsequious society – and the social relations that essentially reproduce and maintain the construct. It is the viewer that quietly observes (or simply tries to turn away and ignore), yet ultimately does nothing to alter or negate the actual construct. The glass, serving as a barrier between the body and the viewer, is also a representation of race as the block that inherently separates and alienates. The cotton was a symbol of commodification, labor and inescapable suffering. Inside the coffin there were a thousand swarming flies. The flies, again, spoke to the dehumanization of the black BEing, however, they also symbolized the ghost or spirits, of the blacks shameful past, that perpetually haunts him/her in the present. In this regard the flies were also meant to represent the spirits of those black bodies chained together (side by side) in the bottoms of slave ships. There was also a body camera around my neck. In addition to serving as a tool for documentation, the body camera was also a statement to police brutality and the present condition of the black body still under attack – still brutalized and preyed upon. As such the coffin also serves as a vitrine in which the brutalized black body has been placed on display. The coffin is guarded on both sides by 2 (helium) sharks. Again, the sharks – also symbolic of the great whites that followed the slave ships – represented the antagonistic white racist; and the white racist system that preys upon, and holds the black body under siege. Attached to the coffin were 2 long (6ft) chains, upon which were also attached an assortment of authentic shackles, neck irons and cowbells. These objects, just as the flies, symbolized the ghostly spirits of the many black bodies that had been forced to wear them. The shackles were also a statement on the industry/economy of slavery. Particularly, in this regard, that of Birmingham, England, which happened to be one of the main manufacturing centers for guns, chains and iron shackles produced for the African slave trade – of course this shameful history is, for the most part, quietly swept under the rug today. There was also a large mound of dirt placed at the foot of the coffin. On the mound, there sat an assortment of rotten fruits and vegetables – from which i would subsequently feast, upon exiting the coffin – in addition, there was a large crown (made of barbed wire), and another long black veil. The entire space was submerged in oceanic blue lighting, with a soundtrack layered with underwater ocean sounds and audio noise. Every hour point was marked with an audio signal comprised of auction bidding sounds, Wade in the Water (gospel hymn), and the chorus of A Milli (Lil Wayne).

It was a 12 hour journey

To Be Continued….

#lord of the flies #coronation #england #performance art #conjurer #preach r sun #fierce festival #durational work #12 hours #race #slave ship

FUCK A FLAG, AND A DREAM….

And for all who felt compelled to explain Colin Kaepernick’s Kneeling: as him not acting to affront or disrespect the AmeriKKKan flag, but merely speaking to the crises that is police brutality in AmeriKKKa. Let me say this. In my eyes Kaepernick’s statement went way beyond simple police brutality. And if you don’t understand this you’re either a delusional idiot or perhaps you’ve been living under a fucking rock (or both)….

Look, I’ve vomited on the AmeriKKKan flag. I’ve shitted on the AmeriKKKan flag – and wiped my ass with it. I’ve masturbated and cum on the AmeriKKKan flag. I’ve burned the AmeriKKKan flag. I’ve pissed on the AmeriKKKan flag. I’ve sat (my butt naked, black ass) on the AmeriKKKan flag – while straddling Joe Louis’ fist. I’ve covered raw chicken meat, with the AmeriKKKan flag, before commencing to stab the shit out of it. I’ve deliberately cut into my own flesh, so that my blood could spill out, all over the AmeriKKKan flag. i did ALL of these things, not simply because of police brutality, but because of EVERY detestably vile, deplorable, vulgar, nefarious, criminal and atrocious thing the AmeriKKKan flag ACTUALLY represents. (The AmeriKKKan flag is not a true symbol of DEMOCRACY, FREEDOM and JUSTICE for ALL. That’s a bunch of bullshit HIS-Story!) The AmeriKKKan flag is a symbol of genocide, slavery, rape, race, racism, white supremacy, terror, exploitation, oppression, theft – add to this list any and EVERY other vulgarity and crime against humanity you can name…. FUCK THE AMERIKKKAN FLAG! i make it my business to defile and disrespect that sorry mutha-fucka every goddamn time i get a chance. And FUCK AmeriKKKa too! If you don’t like it, too damn bad. Shut me up. All you can do is kill me, or possibly get me locked up. And, in case you haven’t been paying attention to my actions over the last (damn near) 10 years, I’ve faced both of these options; and the threat of neither has caused me to back down yet. Anyhow, death is the one thing that is certain for us ALL.

i repeat…. Boycott, boycott, BOYCOTT … but when will you boycott (negate) AmeriKKKa? Boycott (negate) the objectivity of whiteness. Boycott (negate) the actual polity of race and white supremacy itself. Boycott (negate) the actual monument of the white world….

FUCK AMERIKKKA WHERE IT CRAWLS, DESTROY THE MONUMENT OF RACE! NEGATE THE WHITE WORLD!

#fugitivism #iamfugitive #myliberationisnow #theblocks #oneman #inegate #unapologeticallyhuman #mypeoplearefreepeople #race #racism #amerikkka #flag #colin kaepernick #donald trump

RACE IS THE ULTIMATE AMERIKKKAN MONUMENT….

There is no pride to be held in racialized existence (rather it be black or white). On the contrary, the existence of race speaks to our profound failure as human beings – essentially proving just how spiritually bankrupt and lost we are to the divine truth of our humanity.

I’ve been sitting back in the cut, quietly observing the latest events unfold in the psychosomatic drama of race, our Great AmeriKKKan Dis-Ease. Rather it be the incidents in Charlottesville or Trumps (slave master-esque) check of protesting athletes like Colin Kaepernick. It’s both sad and laughable, how so many whites and blacks alike still somehow seem – or perhaps I should say feign – shocked by the reality that is racism in AmeriKKKa. That folks still can’t seem to comprehend the fact that Donald Trump is the true face of AmeriKKKa – a nation intrinsically divided. A nation essentially established on white supremacy and racism (via slavery) as institutionalized through the construct that is race, amazes the hell out of lil ole, black assed and ‘ignant’ me! In fact, the only shocking thing about Donald Trump, calling out the demonstrable irreverence of kneeling (capitalist slave master owned) athletes – enter here the 2014 action: Crucifixion of the Kneeling Man, 2015 action: I Have A Dream, and 2017 action: The Consumer – is that he just called them SOB’s as opposed to the moniker he actually wanted to use, NIGGERS.

Race – as a property of racism and a world established on white supremacy – by design is an innate form of alienation, in which “whites” racialized and objectified "blacks" (i.e. essentially reducing black subjects to objects) as a means to negate their humanity and thereby establish their supreme certainty in the world. And it is on this basis that black existence, as a product of racialization, was made to express the objective reality of whiteness – a condition that still exists to this very day. Hence, blackness is a debilitating schizophrenic condition/prison to which “black” racialized subjects are trapped; inexorably locked in a perpetual state of non-recognition. Ultimately imprisoned and attached to a reality/world that does not authentically reflect or acknowledge their true being. The black BEing is rendered, powerlessly and inescapably, obligated to the epidermal limits of an alien (objectified and fetishized) body. The black body is a racialized body, perpetually stigmatized and predetermined, and it is to this reality that black existence remains trapped in a state of constant derealization (and utter stagnation). Mind you, the epidemiological truth of this (race based) malady is that it is, in fact, a socially transmitted Dis-Ease, actualized and reproduced as a result of relations mediated between, BOTH, blacks and whites. It is our collective attachment to the (socially reified) monument/prison of race that perpetuates and constantly breathes new life into the objective reality/fact that is racism and white supremacy.

White supremacy’s existence is dependent upon the fact of blackness (as established through black recognition). And blackness (rooted in shame and inferiority), made to struggle for WHITE recognition, must always constitute/define itself in relation to whiteness. Hence the black BEing, by design and nature, remains in (direct and indirect) recognition and subjectivity to whiteness. Such is the nature of this socially orchestrated call and response established upon the construct of race – a fact, perhaps best framed in this quote (on the dynamic of race) put forth by James Baldwin: “As long as you think you’re white, there is no hope for you. As long as you think you’re white, I’m going to be forced to think I’m black.” It’s a tragic cycle of master and slave, in which both (master and slave) are enslaved and incarcerated to a prison of their own maintenance. Wherein: “The black man wants to be white, [and] the white man slaves to reach a human level” (Frantz Fanon 4). Perhaps the real issue that “black” people still face today is that, as racialized BEings, we fail to intuit that our subjective and fanciful pleas for justice and equality (based on the notion of reason) has no objective or tangible basis in a society/world objectively established by white supremacy. In this regard, the blacks supplicating pleas for white recognition of their humanity (BLACK LIVES MATTER) in a society/world where the black has been objectified and Othered as non-existent, is a fatuous waste of time and energy. At the same time, blackness constituted and defined merely in response to whiteness is still ultimately subordinated. And yet, make no mistake, while the immediacy of black BEing (a being-for-itself), as realized in direct contrast and reaction to whiteness, is an imperative step in the formative process of a black consciousness. Beyond this initial reactional phase, however, blackness (racialized existence) – as radical liberating agent – in and of itself, ultimately reaches a limit. As again, blackness that asserts itself simply as a “reaction to whiteness” (Zia Sardar, 2009, para. 22), does not stand as actual and absolute negating agent to the objective (structural and material) power of white supremacy. Instead, blackness on this basis still (in the end) ultimately validates whiteness. As it (blackness) merely posits itself as a comparative measure to whiteness, thereby, acknowledging and “affirming the white man as the [supreme] measure of all things” (Zia Sardar, 2009, para. 22). Hence blackness, by relation, is still rendered inferior. Such is the case with black’s obsessive and desiderative pursuit for equality and inclusion in this (white objectified) world – as expressed and celebrated through achievements that supposedly exemplify “black dignity” and “black excellence”. In truth, such achievements cannot be true expressions of dignity if they are accomplishments measured and recognized in relation to a white standard i.e., black’s ability to rise and be successful (particularly financially) in a “white” society. Essentially blacks believe that through inclusion, merely inserting black bodies and faces into picture frames (prestigious positions, spaces and places) traditionally occupied by whites, they can ultimately prove or validate themselves as equals (the ability to essentially measure up) and therefore worthy of white recognition. In this context blackness does not stand FREE to determine itself, as (again) it can only realize itself in light and relation to, whiteness. Rather it be, FIRST BLACK [insert accomplishment here], or proclaimed through titles such as BLACK [e.g., scientist, artist, writer, composer, doctor, chef, dancer, lawyer…]. Blackness that must posit, validate or qualify itself – that must literally announce itself upon crossing “white” thresholds – on this basis is still functioning as a dependent/non-essential consciousness (essentially locked in black subject-hood) as it is ultimately determined by a complex of inferiority. This blackness (the racialized self) – merely an expression of the objective relations of a white supremacist society – actively composes and reproduces itself, as a result of its (inferior) social position or relations in society (Fanon Theory of Race, 2015, para 31). Therefore, whiteness remains the theme and center of black determination/existence. Hence, this black consciousness is not self-determined or liberated. And as such, this blackness – a subject of white (epidermis inspired) dictated and engineered, shame and inferiority – cannot BE, a true expression of dignity (which implies and necessitates one’s ability to determine their own existence). Here paraphrasing Fanon when he wrote, the black body (negated) dons a white mask in a desperate attempt to cover the shame of its externally imposed (and exposed) negativity – WAKE-UP SLAVES…. If our sense of self, or “being-in-the-world,” is actualized, or authentically enacted and perceived to the extent it corresponds to, or expresses our desire and ability to shape the world (Fanon Theory of Race, 2015, para 35). We must therefore assert our power in defining and determining our (“black”) existence in the world, as opposed to our (“black”) existence being defined and determined by the (“white”) world – i.e., we remain subjects to the externally produced (internally consumed/metabolized) fact of blackness.

It is the internalization of white induced, negativity absorbed into the black epidermis through hundreds of years of (historical/scientific/psychological/economic/institutional/religious) racial persecution that has left the black BEing – essentially bound and gagged – drowning and paralyzed in the hellish hole of toxic (and psychologically debilitating) shame and inferiority. It is in this regard that black (racialized) beings remain enslaved and attached to the natural conditions of race – a false construct born out of a false history. Mind you, it is now through the agent/drug NEED (as opposed to chains and whips) as established through capitalism – via the green acid tab that is the dollar (the ultimate agent/totem of white supremacy) – that the black (racialized) body remains dependent upon white supremacy, and the white established world. It is through the agency of capitalism, that white supremacy manifests its objective power in the world. And it is capitalism that essentially keeps the black BEing in check, obsequiously attached and dependent upon whiteness. It is capitalism (“conscious capitalism” or otherwise) that ultimately keeps the black, slaving away chasing the almighty dollar (steady picking that green cotton) on this white plantation. And although the black man may go through the frivolous, symbolical and perfunctory, motions of expressing his/her outrage in the face of white supremacy and injustice (e. g., via messages on t-shirts, hats, mugs and any other pragmatic and permissible acts of “protest” and “civil disobedience”). In the end, however, they ultimately remain acquiescent to the white master. They will not outright negate the white world. They will not seek to disrupt and dismantle the masters house. They will stop short of such measures. For they are too fearful of taking any REAL risk, extremely mindful as to not cross the line – that may result in the loss of job and money – and bite the proverbial hand that feeds them. (I can’t afford to stand up. I NEED to survive. I NEED to feed my family. I NEED….)

Indeed, it is the black BEings fetishistic devotion to the almighty dollar that keeps him/her obsequiously devoted to the white master – I NEED THEE OH LORD I NEED THEE (C. R. E. A. M)! It’s an unwavering faith in the (white supremacy founded) religion of capitalism that keeps him/her hopelessly chasing a fatuous notion of equality in a white world, via the path of economic security/freedom, through a fictitious notion of “conscious capitalism” ….

(There is no such thing as conscious capitalism. Capitalism is capitalism. Human exploitation is the soul and life’s blood of capitalism – it could not exist without it. Furthermore, capitalism – as product and property of white supremacy, born out of slavery the institution founded upon the brutal exploitation of black bodies – is by design made to essentially maintain the structural and material power/integrity of white supremacy. Therefore, capitalism by any means and/or conditions will ultimately serve this end. As it is a tool of white supremacy – here employing the wisdom of Audrey Lorde: The master’s tools will not dismantle his house – it cannot serve as tool/instrument for black liberation)

And yet, time and time again (to no avail) the black man is awakened to the harsh reality (of capitalism) that although perhaps, those little green sheets of cotton laced paper will afford a living in the white world; they will not however afford true agency and equality; or the right to TRULY be FREE to determine one’s own existence in a white established world. That is to say, at the end of the day, the almighty dollar with all its divine and magical (white supremacy instilled) properties will not afford the black man an exit out of the alienating land of NIGGERDOM. This is because in a white world founded upon, and dictated by race, no matter how much progress and success the black man achieves, he/she will always be racially determined, and as such will always (ultimately) exist as an object and expression of the white will. Make no mistake, for as long as this world stands, the black man – as the overdetermined property of the white manufactured construct that is race (the construct that ultimately made possible the birth of capitalism itself) – will ALWAYS remain under a white warranty. And as such, the white master will remain in possession of the title/receipt that is “blackness”.

Bottom line, the black man, although no longer bound by whips and chains, remains bound as a slave and prisoner to his own appearance (i.e. racialized existence) – made prisoner to, “the fetishized expression of a false history”, socially reified and articulated in a white supremacist society (Fanon Theory of Race, 2015, para 40). And it is on this basis that blacks have been housebroken and domesticated to the oppressive conditions of their racialization. It is to blackness that they must always, ALWAYS, remain accountable. It is to blackness (the white constructed property of race) that they must always – having been trained/conditioned over hundreds of years – answer to and for. The black man must always BE true to race. He/she must always be black (for both whites and blacks alike) before and above ANYTHING. And it is through the socially reified apparatus of race that the white man keeps the black man bound and circumscribed to the (human-less) dungeon of alienated existence – shackled to the complex of inferiority he has constructed for him/her – in this/his world. It is on this foundation that the white man ultimately maintains his grip on the black man, and the entirety of black existence itself – via history, philosophy, science, culture, language, capitalism, religion etc.… And, it is upon this construct that he has been able to stand and erect himself as the divine and superior sum of ALL things. The black BEing has been MADE to recognize and apotheosize the supremacy of whiteness EVERYWHERE and in EVERYTHING. The black BEing, even when trying to determine itself, cannot do so without (subconsciously) honoring whiteness – as in so doing he/she must always acknowledge and pay homage to the oppressive white construct and monument that is, RACE. As racialized subjects, the black must always exist in the shadow of whiteness. (Again, “The black man wants to be white, [and] the white man slaves to reach a human level.”) In this white (objectified) world, black has been established as inferior corollary of white.

White is to black as positive is to negative. White as the color of light, represents life. It is the symbol of purity, divinity, innocence, beauty, salvation and righteousness. Black (as the direct opposite) is the cursed hue. Black is the hue of darkness, it represents death and dearth. It is the symbol of evil, negativity, ugliness, sin and immorality. There is no escaping this fact, it has been reified (over hundreds of years) and established as objective fact in the white world. These truths are engraved on the walls of ALL monuments and institutions; as they are written into EVERY dictionary and holy book. And it is on this basis – as established upon the objective facts/axioms of this world – that freedom, justice, intellect, morality, beauty and humanity can ONLY exist as the divine values and properties of whiteness. It is on this basis that the black man must always chase whiteness – even when he/she is chasing freedom. His/her quest for freedom, is a white (determined) freedom. His/her cry for justice, is a white (determined) justice. His/her pursuits of dignity, is a white (determined) dignity. His/her pursuits of success, is a white (determined) success. His/her notions of humanity, is a white (determined) humanity. Even his/her ideas of spiritual salvation and god are ultimately determined and dictated by whiteness. Rather it be the, self-loathing, black coon/sellout that (dreams of being white) desperately chases white validation and acceptance; or the black revolutionary that dreams of a black world. Both, as racialized subjects, are still nonetheless the (house and field nigger) properties of white masters trapped on the white constructed plantation of race – the foundation of the white world. It is on this plantation (the white racialized world), as an alien to his own racialized body, that the black BEing remains confined to the uniform of his oppression and (objectified) thing-hood. That many blacks believe that the most radical and revolutionary THING they can BE is BLACK, ultimately speaks to the fact that the black BEing is still a being attached to its (objectified) THING-HOOD. While perhaps it is true that the most radical/revolutionary THING the black can BE (in the context of race) is black … the most radical/revolutionary BEing the black can BECOME, however, is a being liberated from the prison of racialized existence – that is an (absolutely) FREE and self-determining, HUMAN BEING. Again, black existence constituted and determined within the racialized construct of the white world, is still a consciousness trapped on a white plantation. Black existence, essentially, ruled by the externalized epidermal conditions on which it has been defined and circumscribed is still, nonetheless, an identity that’s dependent upon the natural conditions of a (white supremacist) world that was essentially established to negate it.

Unfortunately, it is in blackness that the black man has been conditioned to exist. And as such, he/she is doomed to remain as a racialized alien in a white (objectified) world. It is in blackness that he/she has been circumscribed as a powerless observer in this world. Very much the same as with capitalism, by conditioning the black man to honor race, the white man has been able to fundamentally keep them in their assigned place. It is the very idea that you’ve been brought into being to take part in this amazingly profound and unique experience called life. You were brought into this world as a human being (an agent of freedom) – and as such, no different than any other human being – yet, your existence (as a black man) has somehow been predetermined for you. You’ve been made to exist between lines that another being has drawn for you. Everywhere you go and in everything you do, you must always answer to your appearance – check the box of your assigned race. No matter how successful you become, no matter what great things you accomplish, ALL accomplishments must follow (must come second) to your race (see: first BLACK president). Yeah, you’re black. You’re black. You’re black. You’re black. YOU’RE BLACK! But what exactly does your blackness amount to in a world where its not allowed to write its own rules, chart its own course, or breath its own air. What does blackness amount to if its existence must fundamentally adhere to (is essentially dependent upon) whiteness – and the socially constructed standards of race? What value is blackness that must ultimately (affirmatively or negatively) respond to the stereotypical axioms that have been predetermined for it? (I repeat, “BLACK” achievements are not real achievements until and unless they can be recognized in accordance with standards of whiteness – as being established as objective truth in the white world.) It is the stigma of blackness (as defined and determined by white slave masters) that the black man desperately desires to escape and/or erase. However, what the black man has yet to comprehend is that his/her true liberation cannot be achieved in blackness (racialized existence). To be truly free, he/she must act to negate the white world itself and lay the foundation for a brand-new world. A world, absent of race (with its intrinsic property of alienation), and hence the limiting conditions of racialized existence. Such action, however, requires the black BEing to risk death and the stability of its, socially constructed, confines. It requires them to step outside of the externally imposed uniform/spacesuit of blackness to confront and brave the atmosphere of the unknown.

Yet, it is the unknown that the black has been made to fear and reject. After-all, how would he/she even exist without the white world? It is after all, to paraphrase Fanon, the only decent world he/she knows. Who would the black man be without the uniform of (his/her oppression) blackness – a racially constructed identity? Where else would he/she live if not in the past? And where would he/she exist if not amongst the dead? Who would blacks be if not the racialized objects they’ve been made? It is in this context, that the black man’s struggle towards liberation is not driven by an actual desire to be free, but merely to be elevated to the equal status of whites. The black (racialized) BEing simply seeks acceptance and validation in the existing white world. Yet, I reiterate, the white man is dependent upon his manufactured supremacy. He absolutely needs it to preserve his world, and in order for this to remain true, he needs the black man to remain trapped in the alienating inferiority of racialized existence – essentially locked outside of their own humanity. It is only when the black BEing comes to the realization that the true sum of their existence can never be determined, measured or fully realized in racialized existence. As race, essentially precludes true freedom and as such poses a disservice to us all (both white and black alike) as it ultimately alienates us from our true humanity – “in order to be a “human being,” the objective basis of [our] existence as racially oppressed [BEings], and as [BEings] alienated from [ourselves], is an absolute limit that must be overcome. The objectivity of [black] existence has its own necessity that [we] must obey, and therefore, by necessity must destroy in order to live at all” (Fanon Theory of Race, 2015, para 43). It is ONLY when we truly confront and eradicate race itself – and the world that has been built upon it – that we can truly liberate ourselves from racial oppression. It’s only when the black BEing discovers that buried deep in the heart of his/her blackness is the light of a brand-new world; it is only when they embrace (ACT) and become that light that they can burn away the old and shine the new into existence…. In the end black liberation cannot merely be about the liberation of black people from white injustices, it must be about the liberation of the black body from racialized existence, and hence the very construct of race itself. It is in this regard that black liberation must ultimately focus on the liberation of the black racialized BEing from the limiting conditions of blackness itself. As such, our ultimate focus and energy should not be geared towards the elevation of blackness so much as it should be geared towards the salvation and elevation of our humanity. Therefore, our task – if we are to usher in a new world – must be to reinvent the world and thus ourselves. We must be determined to introduce a new human content into the world. A content that embodies and reflects the universal spirit, principles and qualities of TRUE freedom and humanity. And this requires an absolute negation of the current social relations that reproduce the construct that is race, and hence the objectivity of the white supremacist world. In other words, our ultimate struggle is not to be black. Our ultimate struggle, is a struggle for the salvation of ALL HUMANITY! Such a struggle requires the absolute eradication of ALL BLOCKS. Again, inserting the profound wisdom of James Baldwin: “[No] label, no slogan, no party, no skin color, and indeed no religion is more important than the HUMAN BEING.“ The real issue is not black or white. The real issue is black and white. Race does not bring us closer to humanity, it runs us farther away from it….

RACE IS A DYING PLANET. HUMANITY IS THE FINAL FRONTIER. YET, TO DISCOVER IT, WE MUST FIRST MURDER OUR (RACIALLY CONSTRUCTED) DARLINGS.

In the end, race needs our compliance and recognition to exist. Thus, it is the natural condition to which we are ALL attached. My aim is not to elevate myself in union with the white established world, but to interrogate, deconstruct and abolish it one action at a time. It is also the realization that my blackness, albeit an epidermal/socially constructed matter of fact, is not something to be fought for or against. Nor is my blackness something to which I must remain accountable to or for. i am not fighting for blackness. i am fighting through blackness! I’m fighting for (TRUE) freedom and humanity, as fomented by the immediate conditions/experience of my racialized existence – that have made me aware of its (humanity’s) absence.

NOTHING and NO ONE will make, circumscribe, define, or DETERMINE ME! Fuck their/your whiteness. Fuck their/your blackness. Fuck THEIR world. My mission is freedom. i define myself. i, FREE MY FUCKING SELF!!!

*Notes:

James Baldwin, The Price of the Ticket (St. Martin’s Press, 1985) 704

Frantz Fanon, Black Skin, White Masks (New York: Grove Press, 2008) 191

HiFi, Fanon and the Theory of Race (unityandstruggle.org, 2015)

Zia Sardar, Fanon and the Epidemiology of Oppression (frantzfanoninternational.org, 2009)

#race #racism #amerikkka #one-man #liberation #fugitivism #donald trump #frantz fanon #preach r sun #fugitive

THE CONSUMER (A Picnic in OZ).... ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ Over the last 4 days we have released 4 videos centered around 1 public action (performed on 5th Ave NYC, on June 15th).... ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ -1 (body camera) ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ -2 (public point of view) ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ -3 (two sides) ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ -4 (internal dialogue) ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ The action – speaking to the deleterious impact of capitalism – involved the spitting of red kool-aid and pennies, the consumption of (nationally themed) food – on the flags of 4 nations (North Korea, Russia, China & AmeriKKKa) – and a black fist (Black Lives Matter) cake.... All of which were vomited up, onto the American flag, and left at the site of Trump Towers. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ This action, and the release of the subsequent videos, was coordinated around these events.... ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ *Notes: ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ - On June 15th (the day after his 70th birthday) real estate mogul and reality TV star, Donald Trump launched his campaign for US presidency. (The official announcement would be made on June 16th.) ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ - On June 15th a jury had come to the decision to exonerate Jeronimo Yanez, the Minnesota police officer, who murdered Philando Castile. (The actual verdict would be announced on June 16th.) ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ - On July 6, 2016 Philando Castile was shot to death, while sitting in his car, during a traffic stop (for a broken brake light) in front of his girlfriend and her 4 year old daughter. *The videos are now available to view on my Vimeo page*

SO, YESTERDAY THIS HAPPENED…. “Nothing is more powerful than an idea whose time has come.” – Victor Hugo As many of you know i have always taken pride in the fact that i have never applied for grants or fellowships to finance and produce my work. i have always believed that above EVERYTHING the integrity of the work is paramount (“protect your magic”). Which requires caution – a vigilant and astute cognizance and discernment in regards to projects, collaborators and financial partners you take on. Of course, i am very aware of how exhausting and difficult this can be. As i am also very aware that even conjurers have to eat. But for me it’s ALWAYS been important – particularly as my praxis is absolute liberation – that my work remain free. That is to say, it remains PURE and TRUE – absolutely unfettered or beholden to the commodifying slave inducing traps and standards of the art world. i would not allow my success to be defined, measured and dictated on the basis of dominant (white constructed) capitalist slave trapping, ‘ART’ standards. i would simply do the work, because it had to be done, and it was ALL i had in me. As a result (over the years) i have sacrificed EVERYTHING for this work – for freedom. i have sacrificed health, security, love, friends, sanity you name it! And along the way i’ve been judged, laughed at, criticized and ridiculed by “friends”, “lovers” and enemies alike. i’ve been called a bum, a loser and a joke. i’ve been rejected. i’ve been ignored. i’ve been kicked, dragged and spit upon. i’ve been told that my work is a waste. Told that i am an embarrassment. Told that i should just give it up and get a REAL job. And yes, i have walked around blind. i’ve been homeless. i’ve slept on couches, floors, cold concrete streets and park benches. i’ve depended upon the financial help and graces of my family. Through it all the one true rock i had was my mother. She ALWAYS believed in me. She always told me to NEVER give up, no matter what! She’d always remind me to never forget, “ALL roads lead home” and the sacrifices she made for her children was not anybody’s business. “If you need help you turn to family. That’s what family’s for. It ain’t the worlds business. Let them judge. You’re not begging them. You’re not taking money out of their pockets or food off their tables. You owe them nothing! It’s not their business how you live your life.” She’d tell me to look at her financial help as an investment. She always said that I was doing “essential work” and that she was investing in a “worthy cause”. She said, I was giving voice to the voiceless. I was speaking for her, doing what she could not do. She always told me to stay the course. Constantly reminding me that i am on a higher mission, and as such i should always, “remember to pack light and don’t accept ANY baggage that does not belong to you.” i also take this time to remember another warrior woman/guardian angel in my life. This was my second mother, the late GREAT Dr. Sherrill Berryman Johnson (Momma J). Years ago when faced with the financial challenge of finishing the last months of my college education, Momma J would offer to pay so i could finish. But she also dropped another bomb. She told me that she truly believed that i had learned all that i could from that institution. She told me i was not like the others. i did not need what they needed. She told me: “Your path is different. I’m telling you now your journey will be extremely long, lonely and arduous. But if you stay steadfast – true to yourself and the course – in the end you will accomplish what none of the others could … I believe you will achieve the unimaginable.” All that said.... On this day i proudly announce that i am the recipient of a, 2017 Tanne Foundation award. Mind you, i did not apply to receive this award but was offered it on the merit of my work. Greater still (CHECK THIS) my name was submitted to the foundation by none other than the legendary (HISTORY MAKING) performance artist MARILYN ARSEM! The cherry on this super sweet dessert is that i was not granted the award under the label of artist/performance artist but based upon my OWN definition of my practice as “Conjurer and Fugitivist.” I give thanks to ALL the powerful warriors and ancestors that have invested in me, directed my steps, nurtured, built me up, fed me and protected me for ALL these years on this journey! TRUST THE UNIVERSE! NOTHING and NO ONE can stand in the way of that which is meant for you!!! THE WORK CONTINUES....

#The Tanne Foundation #OneMan #My Revolution Is Now #Larger Than Art #FREEDOM #i Conjurer #Proper Alignment #My People Are Free People #Unapologetically HUMAN #The Price of Integrity #i am FUGITIVE #FUGITIVISM

CLUE #2….

When will you realize that your blackness has never been the real issue. This struggle/fight was never about your blackness (race was essentially just the cleverly conceived distraction). The true war being waged against us has always been a war for our humanity. (Be black and proud all you like.) They’ve never TRULY given a damn about your “BLACK-NESS”. That’s never been what they truly wanted to have. No. What they’ve always wanted to take from you. What they truly envied in you, was that thing called humanity. After-all the most powerful and precious resource buried deep in the heart and soul of MAN is FREEDOM – it is the true BLOOD DIAMOND. To rob or deny a man’s freedom is to negate and strip them of their humanity. It is with this knowledge/understanding, and by this nefarious sleight of hand that the so-called “white” man has been able to construct the illusion and idea of humanity (as based upon his supremacy) in THIS world.

He who holds the keys to freedom, holds the keys to reason; authors history (HIS-Story) and thus defines and arbitrates humanity. It is by this very fact that your blackness STILL holds no real value in THIS world. It is why “black” lives are STILL essentially disposable. Your blackness, is STILL merely proof and symbol of your objectified thing-hood. It still ultimately says that you, are to be bought, sold and discarded of at will. And it is also by this very fact that while they keep you focused and preoccupied with blackness they can continue to systematically negate, strip and rob you of your humanity. It is for this very reason that we are losing our minds (FUCKED UP) in THIS world. It is because we will not awaken to the truth and fact that our ENTIRE existence has been based upon a lie. It is the lie that has tricked us into capitulating our humanity – THE ORIGINAL, REAL AND AUTHENTIC VERSION – in order to chase an inferior copy created by those who had not a clue of what it meant to TRULY be humane.

And it is the result of this – the trauma brought about as a result of this perverted reality and lie – that THIS world is driving us insane! This is why we are experiencing so much mental illness. This is why we are shooting ourselves dead in the streets. This is why we are killing ourselves. It is because we are allergic to this world/reality to which we exist, yet are too dependent and addicted to free ourselves – from that which is essentially destroying us. It is under these conditions that we, as BLACK consumers, essentially consume the poison that is our death.

Make no mistake. I’m not chasing blackness. Y'all can have BLACK-NESS. Y'all can have Black Lives Matter. Y'all can have Black and Proud. Y'all can have All Black Everything. Hell, y'all can even have nigger. Y'all can have ALL that frivolous bullshit. I’m coming for what is MINE. I’m coming for my freedom. I’m coming for my HUMANITY! Therefore. No. I’m not unapologetically black. I am unapologetically HUMAN.

Ready or Not….

#theblackconsumers #slavesrus #theblocks #pointsofdeparture #iamfugitive #iamoutcast #iamnegation #ifreemyfuckingself #largerthanart

MY FREEDOM GPS – Departures and Arrivals (Deaths, Rebirths and New Beginnings)

i lifted my eyes and looked to the hills from whence cometh my help, only to discover that my help cometh from within.

As I’ve often asseverated. There is, absolutely, no separation between my life and my art. My life speaks to my art in EVERY way, just as my art informs how i live. My work is driven by a mission and purpose to obtain absolute FREEDOM. i have and will continue to sacrifice EVERYTHING to meet this end. And there is ABSOLUTELY nothing and no one that comes before this cause. That said. My journey (to absolute freedom) has brought me to yet another point of realization. As i now realize that my people are neither BLACK or WHITE PEOPLE but FREE PEOPLE. As FREEDOM is my life’s MISSION and PRAXIS. It (FREEDOM) is my promised land and my Polaris star. FREEDOM is my totem. FREEDOM is my soul and solace! It is the womb and birthing ground of my clan, my tribe, my nation, MY PEOPLE.

“Our sense of “being-in-the-world,” is actualized, or authentically enacted and perceived to the extent it corresponds to, or expresses our desire and ability to shape the world around us. When this process is short-circuited, an inauthentic, or alienated existence is the result. Thus, in a white supremacist society, no such freedom exists.” – Merleau-Ponty

What i am saying is that my journey has now brought me to yet another phase. i have arrived at a new chapter in this mission of absolute liberation. i find myself (One-Man!) standing on new ground. Yet, i arrive at this next level with a newfound resolve, courage, strength, and clarity of purpose that i can’t say i fully understood or embraced before.

i now recognize that the foundation for this journey (this path) was laid out for me long ago. And although growing up as a black child in Missouri i would have a great many confrontations with white racism (particularly racist police). i do believe, however, it was a result of 2 specific traumatizing (life or death) experiences at the hands of white authorities that i would ultimately be awakened. The first of these encounters occurred when i was just 10 or 11 years of age. Officer Friendly (what we used to call the police when we were children) drove up and drew their weapons on my best friend and i. They ordered us to the ground supposedly suspecting that our toy guns were real weapons. To this day i still believe had my best friends father not intervened when he did – yelling to the officers, “The guns are toys and they are only children!” – this story would have had a far more tragic outcome. The second incident occurred a few years later. At which point i was a teenager in high school (around 15 years old). In this encounter white police officers stopped me one day while walking to the 7-Eleven after school. Their reasoning simply being, “You look suspicious.” A bit frightened, confused and at the same time annoyed by the accusation, i emphatically objected. At which point they took it upon themselves to put me in my place. They snatched me up. Slammed me against the car and placed me in handcuffs. Then they put me in the backseat of the police cruiser and proceeded to drive me around while threatening me and reminding me: “We are the police and can do whatever we want to you.” When i again objected and complained that i had not committed any crime. They immediately countered: “Look here boy! You are a criminal if we say you are. It could be very easy for us to charge you with a crime and there’s nothing you could do about it. No one would take your word over ours.” Their threats went even further as they menacingly contemplated, out loud, what to do with me. They let it be known that I could possibly not make it home and that they could simply make me, “disappear”. At which point, i am not ashamed to admit, i broke down like a baby and begged them to let me go. i just remember them laughing at me. And one of them saying: “Yeah boy. you don’t have such a smart ass mouth now, do you?” The entire ordeal lasted for about 2 hours. Once they grew bored and their point had been made they released me. And although i would not began to fully grasp the entire scope of these encounters until much later in life. i believe these early experiences were formative, as it was then that i first realized that i was black and that my blackness was a problem. It would be in these early traumatic (childhood) experiences that, for the very first time in my life, i would be struck with the real conditions of racial existence. As a result i would be – as W. E. B. Du Bois describes in, The Souls of Black Folk – split into, becoming a “double consciousness”. i had essentially been made to “look upon myself through the eyes of others.” It was at this point that i would first come face to face with the alien that is my black objectified being. (Grasping my existence as an alien body in an alien world.)

“I came into the world anxious to uncover meaning in things, my soul desirous to be at the origin of the world, and here I am an object among other objects. Locked in this suffocating reification, I appealed to the Other so that his liberating gaze, gliding over my body suddenly smoothed of rough edges, would give me back the lightness of being I thought I had lost, and taking me out the world put me back in the world. But just as I get to the other slope I stumble, and the Other fixes me with his gaze, his gestures and attitude, the same way you fix a preparation with a dye. I lose my temper, demand an explanation….Nothing doing. I explode. Here are the fragments put together by another me.” — Frantz Fanon

This being that although appearing as foreign to me still nonetheless somehow defined, and essentially determined me and my existence in this world. A world that i had no say or place in. A world that i had no hand in creating. A world in which i would never be allowed to truly live. A world that i would never be allowed to FULLY BE. A world in which i was merely a powerless and essentially nonexistent spectator. A world in which i could not possibly be FREE and therefore could not possibly be HUMAN. Coming face to face with this alien being. i stared directly into its eyes and my entire existence was revealed to me. i saw how ALL that i am had already been determined and scripted…. My story, my life, my love, my will, my soul, my entire BEING had already been shaped and defined. My humanity stripped and nullified. i saw how ALL of these decisions had been made long before i had even been conceived. i saw myself formed out of the spit and mud of history (His-story), i was merely an object molded like cast marble and polished black as pitch over hundreds of years, by “Other” hands.

i had now been exposed to the reality of my position in this white (racially) constructed and dominated society. Realizing that the color of my skin and my appearance had betrayed me as something other. My flesh (beyond my own perception, say and belief) stigmatized and criminalized. i had for some unknown reason been sentenced to life in a prison of (racialized, alienated and essentially dehumanized) BLACK SHAME.

Yet, while these earlier experiences had made me aware of my condition as a racialized being. In those younger years i hadn’t yet developed the sight and mind to fully grasp the grand scope (root and nature) of this condition. But my eyes had been opened nonetheless. Ironically, i believe, the white policemen’s actions did not have the desired effect or impact they thought. I’m certain they thought they had taught me a lesson and put me in my place. They thought they had broken me. When in fact, they had actually awakened me. They had also freed me from the paralysis of fear. As whatever fear i had – after those white officers had ordered me (as that 10 year old child) to the ground at gunpoint – was essentially left on the back seat of that police cruiser, by that 15 year old teen. i just remember from that point on something had changed in me.

Time and time again in subsequent encounters i was confronted by that alien being. Initially i would just internalize it. i would even try to ignore, deny and dismiss it away – to no avail. But this eventually gave way to anger and then contempt. i would develop a deep hatred and mistrust towards ALL white people. A fuck it bomb detonated inside of me. i told myself that i would not capitulate to this being. From that point forward i would NEVER again be silenced. i would NEVER allow myself to be reduced to a powerless victim. i would fight this being with everything in me. i would not submit. i would get free! i think it was then that i had actually discovered my voice and power. As it was then that i initially began to SCREAM! Yet, this voice first seemed to have emerged without a truly conscious sense of purpose or direction. It was simply driven by pure, raw and visceral; anger and hate expressed in the rebellious activity of my youth. i believe i was testing, preparing and essentially honing my newfound weapon. In those years i was all rage. No longer would i try and convince white folks that i had a right to exist – call me a ‘NIGGER’ – i would show them i existed. In those years i would confront and attack ALL white people and their institutions – even the police – wherever and whenever. This would many times lead to physical altercations. As a result i would often find myself jailed. But again, this would not deter me, if anything it would only serve to fuel my anger and embolden me.

Yet over the years, out of this rebellious anger would arise a deeper sense of clarity and purpose. i slowly began to comprehend the true objective nature of my alienation. That is to say, i had began to recognize how the racism to which i had been exposed had less to do with the actions of racist white individuals and more to do with a social structure and process – rooted in a historically reified racist schema. Hence, i started to comprehend how my racialized and objectified being had been formed, shaped and fixed as a result of conditioned behavior arising out of social relations –evinced in the racist actions of these particular individuals – with extensive historical and institutionalized roots. i then understood that these racial encounters were mere symptoms of an inescapable paradigm made manifest in a concrete, living and all encompassing (socially, institutionally and historically reified) fact.

Once armed with this clarity, i was able to find purpose for my anger. My ENTIRE life would be dedicated to the act of absolute liberation. i would set out to transform the conditions of my racialized existence by sublating white power and the entire white world upon which it stood. i would hereby become the living (active) embodiment of white negation. i would not be invisible. My blackness would not exist in a dormant and passive state - it would not ask permission - it would not accommodate or compromise - it would not be tamed or refined - it would not obey - it would not make appeals for peace, justice and equality - it would not play the white man’s game - it would not stay in its place. My blackness would not measure itself in accordance with white standards, nor would it answer to shame or guilt. My blackness would not beg for white acceptance, validation or recognition - it would not establish itself as a moral plea (BLACK LIVES MATTER).

For i now understood that my objectification, as an established fact and natural condition of nonentity in a white supremacist constructed society, could not be altered through moral pleas. (No more than the dead can convince the living that they are alive, nor a chair can convince a man that it is something other than a chair.) As only the living can confront the living. To paraphrase Hegel and Fanon, self-consciousness only exist – “in and for itself” – to the fact that its existence is recognized by another self-consciousness. Just as a man is only human to the extent that he can impose his existence on another man and thereby gain his recognition. Only the (active) self-determining subject can – by confronting and transforming the material conditions of its objectified being – assert and establish the absolute truth of its existence in the world. Thus, in order to change my condition, i would first have to assert myself as a ‘BLACK MAN’. Establishing myself in this (white) world, not as a supplicating – essentially invisible and subhuman – thing, but as a very real, imposing and disruptive FACT. My blackness would not be a mere noun or adjective. My blackness would be a verb. A shank! A pistol! A IED (Improvised Explosive Device)! A battling ram!

Yes, those early confrontations (at the hands of “white authorities”) would actually turn out to be the first and most essential keys needed to unlock the doors of my racialized prison – initiating my journey towards absolute liberation. You see. This first door would be that of SELF-REALIZATION. Once this door was unlocked there was no turning back for me. i could no longer resign myself to a condition of alienation. No longer would i be able to conform to white constructed (defined, prescribed and described) categorizations of myself in this world and therefore i actively took up the charge to emancipate myself. By asserting and establishing myself as an active subject – as opposed to mere object of an external Other. i was then able to bring into being my own self certainty. Establishing my own truth by transforming the world into my own object (through action) and as such making it subject to my will. As an active (living and breathing) negation of white supremacy i was effectively disrupting and transforming prevailing social relations. And thus creating and bringing to fruition a true outcome of joint becoming and recognition within the context of race relations. It was at this point of realization that i was able to finally give name to my anger and purpose. As a black man asserting my own claim on the world (i WILL FREE MY FUCKING SELF!). Through my creative praxis and living activity i would remake the world in my OWN image (one action at a time). My black existence had served as the catalyst for my self-realization. My self-realization the catalyst for my struggle. My struggle the catalyst for my rebellious activity. My rebellious activity the basis of my life’s mission (absolute liberation)…. It was this truth that ultimately gave rise to One-Man.

“Without the formative activity, fear remains inward and mute, and consciousness does not become explicitly for itself. If consciousness fashions the thing without that initial absolute fear, it is only an empty self-centered attitude; for its form or negativity is not negativity per se, and therefore its formative activity cannot give it a consciousness of itself as essential being. If it has not experienced absolute fear but only some lesser dread, the negative being has remained for it something external.” – Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel

Yes. i was born a prisoner but to escape this prison i realized that i would have to die (negate and sacrifice it ALL) in order to be reborn. Hence, i became a fugitive and outcast. My crimes would be my pursuit of FREEDOM. (i am a runaway in a society of SLEEPING SLAVES.)

i am liberating myself of ALL shame and guilt. i am actively challenging and interrogating “HISTORY”. i am defiantly rejecting ALL social mores in order to set my own course and define myself (ABSOLUTELY and COMPLETELY) on my OWN terms. And while the “Othered” sleeping slaves acquiesce to and embrace the story of themselves as told by their slave masters….

While they seek their masters validation – desperate to see their names and faces (painted on white walls and monuments) in the annals of history…. i am writing my own story and building my own monuments.

While they remain content speaking the language of their masters…. i have been crafting my own language.

While they answer to the names that have been assigned to them…. i have named myself.

While they – ignorantly embracing and speaking to notions of freedom and humanity that they have NEVER truly experienced nor DEFINED THEMSELVES – essentially accept and apotheosize whiteness as the ultimate measure and arbiter of their freedom and humanity…. i ACTIVELY work to define and secure my own freedom and humanity.

Again i say. i am aware that i was born a prisoner – enslaved to the condition of my (black) racialized existence. i also know, however, that before i was made a black man i was born a MAN. i know that i am the living manifestation of freedom. i know that i – just as ALL “Human Beings” – was born with the agency to shape the world with my own hands in accordance to my own vision and will. And i know that it’s the trauma of immediate black racialized existence that has served to quicken me to this (my own) TRUTH and set me on the path of self-emancipation.

But of course there are many layers to freedom. It is a life long endeavor after all. And as such the deeper you go – as more is revealed to you – the clearer things become. But what is also true is that the journey grows more arduous and onerous – as the test and challenges grow more frequent and difficult – the further you go down the path. It all comes down to how far you are actually willing to go. For me this journey is ALL or NOTHING.

Yet, just as my black existence would serve as the basis for (One-Man) my journey towards self-emancipation. So would blackness reveal to me the true certainty of my SELF becoming as a FREE MAN. As perhaps there would be NOTHING more telling in regards to the disruptive, negating, and transformative impact and agency of my work/actions (towards absolute liberation) than the often emotional, and even violent, responses and reactions that One-Man (the living manifesto of my liberation) has conjured up in other BLACK individuals. It is from this perspective that I’ve come to recognize just how much my self-becoming (my liberating and self-emancipatory activity) serves as a powerful negating and abolishing threat to existing race relations….

(RUN NIGGER! because you are not one of us because you’re an outsider you do not talk, walk or act like one of us you have no roots here…

because you threaten to break these beautiful chains… .

because you reek of something foreign you are simply too strange for us you’re a weirdo a circus freak yes, you belong to those pallid people they should have you they love to collect strange things after all – For Whites Only)

Again, it was as a result of personal experiences (with black individuals) that I’d come to truly understand how my work was perceived in the eyes of black people and the “NEGATIVE” impact that my self-emancipatory activity has, not only on whiteness, but also on blackness. But (yet again) the greatest of these revelations would come by way of 2 specific and personal encounters. Whereby, as a direct result and response to the work, my blackness would be brought into question. Yet as it would turn out these incidents as well would have a very significant, transformative, enlightening and revelatory impact. As they would serve not only to validate the work, but also to quicken in me a deeper sense of clarity and purpose; instigating a profound breakthrough and new turning point (Points of Departure) for me and my mission. Mind you, the first encounter would actually turn out to be the inspiration for the action i would perform in Italy (For Whites Only). While the second, occurring upon my return from Italy would have more of a definitive (both confirming and affirming) impact. In both of these incidents, however, i was charged (either directly or indirectly) with the crimes of “BLACK” betrayal. In the first (although scathing nonetheless) the charges, veiled in umbrae and delivered under the guise of friendly and constructive criticism, were much more implicit. It was in these moments where it would be first revealed to me that (due to my work and actions) i had essentially been othered by black people. It was here where I’d first be made aware that even in the eyes of my “OWN” people, i was perceived as an alien and outsider. “There is no help for you… . You are a floater and have no REAL roots in the black community.” It was here where I’d be made aware that my work and actions had somehow placed me outside of blackness. i began to recognize that my self-emancipation – too incomprehensible (strange and weird) for “BLACK” standards – was ultimately regarded as some strange white artsy type shit…. “You are a black man who paints his body and runs around naked in the streets doing weird shit. Yes, they [white people] … absolutely eat that up.” It was in this moment that it would first be made clear to me that my freedom was ultimately (disdainfully) perceived – in many black folks eyes – as an act of selling out to whiteness…. “After-all, that’s who your REAL audience is [white people] and, let’s face it, that’s who your work actually resonates with. I think those are your TRUE supporters. Not to mention they’re always desperately looking to get involved and take on a needy black cause.”

Yet, whereas, in the first encounter these charges (against my blackness) would be far more suggestive and implied. In the second encounter however they’d be violently asseverated (explosively direct and explicit). That is to say, in the first encounter my blackness had merely been charged; yet in the second it would essentially be convicted, sentenced and executed. The charges in this encounter would also cut deeper as they would come from an individual that i had (at the time) deeply trusted, respected and confided in. An individual that had claimed to truly support my work and mission. And while (to be quite honest) i must admit deep down i had long questioned if this person actually harbored some unfavorable feelings towards me – because of my work and views. i (for the most part) however just chose to ignore and deny it. Not fully comprehending until later their clever use of projection as a subterfuge to express their true (hidden) feelings. And while there would be a great many of such projections. This one in particular would impact me the most: “It’s just my observation but I feel like your work and messages challenge black people in a very uncomfortable way. It makes them question everything they’ve come to accept and know as true. Your actions pose a challenge to the normal order and function of things. Because let’s face it, you’re different and this makes folks scared. Therefore they’re not able or willing to understand you beyond what they immediately see. Because we all know when folks are confronted with something new or different. When they are faced with something that threatens or challenges the normal order and takes them out of their comfort zone, their immediate reaction will be to attack it. They will want to destroy it.”

And it would be in this context that, hearing their (later) words screamed at me in a subsequent confrontation, EVERYTHING would finally be made crystal clear. As their words, although fomented by a mutual disagreement and spoken in the heat of anger, still nonetheless revealed long held, suppressed and deep seated feelings of animosity and disdain…. “Go to the white motherfuckers! That’s who you love! That’s where you belong! I’ve always known this! Take your ass to them! That’s where you REALLY want to be! We’re too BLACK for you!” What was even more telling however was the basis for this anger. It would be the reasoning for which accusation and guilt had already been established well before the actual conflict that would give rise to the spiteful and inimical words themselves. It would essentially be, nothing other than, the result of their own (self-professed) “insecurity and jealousy” (of me and my work) that my blackness would ultimately be brought under attack. At the end of the day it would all come down to the fact that i was now perceived as DIFFERENT. (“It’s because I think he has changed. Something happened to him in Venice. He came back different.”) Yes. At the end of the day it was simply because i was different. It was because i was actually getting free…. Because i had grown and evolved beyond the form of mere caterpillar and had now taken flight with the butterfly wings of my liberation. Because they had not the courage to sprout their OWN wings. They had not the courage to liberate themselves. Because as (alienated) subjects and slaves to blackness they remain trapped in the prisons of their (Othered) racialized and objectified existence – which ultimately determines them.

However, it was in these encounters that i would again find my true self. Because it would be in these moments that everything would again be made clear and brought full circle for me. It was in these moments that i RE-MEMBERED myself. i remembered that my struggle was not to be a “BLACK” man but a FREE MAN. Yet sadly, it was a result of these encounters that I’d also come to realize that TRUE freedom (in the BLACK mind) was STILL essentially deemed the property of whiteness, and as such its pursuit ultimately perceived to be a white endeavor. Thus my self-emancipation had not merely posed a threat to whiteness but it was also seen as a threat and affront to blackness.

What both of these confrontations had revealed to me was the true reciprocatory nature of black racialized existence. As i was now made very aware how we in fact reproduce (hence enslave) ourselves as expressions of the objective relations of a white supremacist society. It is the fact that our objectification is not only externally imposed but it is internally reproduced. However, by ACTIVELY asserting myself as a conscious black subject in the world i have in fact disrupted the social relations that reproduce the conditions of my black objectified being. Yet as a result of this activity, i have also transformed myself into something new. i have transformed myself into an active manifestation and personification of freedom. As Noam Chomsky posits, “the essence of human nature is man’s freedom and his consciousness of his freedom.” Therefore as a conscious and active manifestation of freedom i am no longer existing as a “BLACK” BE-ing but am now asserting and establishing myself as a new man, a new BE-ing for SELF! i am henceforth establishing myself as a HUMAN BE-ing.

NOW ASSERTING MYSELF AS A HUMAN SUBJECT RATHER THAN A RACIALIZED OBJECT….

In the words of Jean-Paul Sartre, “Humans are not objects to be used by God or a government or corporation or society. Nor we to be “adjusted” or molded into roles – to be only a waiter or a conductor or a mother or worker.” And here i might add, BLACK or WHITE (for that very same fact). “We must look deeper than our roles [our labels, our appearance] and find ourselves.”

It is now clear to me that BLACKness – as a determinant unto itself – has its own limits and is not a FINAL destination. And while blackness was my beginning it could (nor would) not be the determination for my end. For my course is set towards absolute freedom. And true freedom requires the negation of ALL BLOCKS (race, gender, sexuality, politics, religion etc…). And again, such a negation requires the relinquishment of ALL stability – that is EVERYTHING we now uphold and recognize as natural and true. Mind you. What i did not understand until now is that this negation would not simply necessitate the abolishment of whiteness (a white constructed and dominated world) but it would also ultimately require an abolishment of blackness. And although i still hold true to the belief that black liberation holds the seeds (it is a key) to human liberation. i have now come to a deeper understanding as to what this ACTUALLY means for me in the context of my (self-emancipatory) journey towards absolute freedom. i now clearly see how a true liberation from whiteness also brings about a liberation from the conditions of (black) racialized existence. Therefore black liberation requires a liberation from (and ultimate sublation of) blackness itself. It has been this ultimate breakthrough that has awakened me to the reality that i am no longer a subject to “blackness”. Recognizing that my racialized and objectified “BLACK” BE-ing is essentially reproduced through social relations that are arbitrated between (both) blacks and whites. And that it’s this socially perpetuated call and response that takes on its own independent form reproducing (and essentially corporealizing) my alienation in the (Frankensteinian) social structure and construct of RACE. No. i do not have to obey or answer to blackness. For it is as a direct result of my OWN activity – the self-awareness that inverted my condition as an alienated object muted and trapped inside myself (as a BE-ing for an OTHER) to a self-activated and conscious subject (a BE-ing for MYSELF) – that my objectified black existence (as condition directly dictated and mediated by white supremacy) was obliterated. Hence blackness no longer determines me. It is i in fact that NOW determines it!

What has now been made plain is that the challenges posed by those recent confrontations (and individuals) were essential test. Because in the end both would serve as harbingers, marking the coming of a new me. Both were profoundly significant in instigating an even deeper awakening in me – signaling both my departure and my arrival to a new level. They showed me that i no longer had to be circumscribed to the prison of racialized existence. They showed me the alienated relationship that black people maintain with this white dominated world. The alienated condition that keeps us existing as slaves and subjects to “blackness”. In this regard our objectified being is perpetuated by our own “activity”. It is a result of institutionalized and socially subjugating (racially instigated) relations that foster our sense of inferiority – which responds to and is dictated by external forces that we perceive to be beyond our power to overcome. Thus we come to apotheosize and reproduce objectified blackness as an intrinsic and normal state of BE-ing – “I don’t have to do nothing but stay black and die!” (Of course in a world founded and constructed on white supremacy, blackness is indeed intrinsic.) Sadly, as we’ve come to believe that we cannot be ANYTHING other than “BLACK”, we are essentially validating the white world by asseverating that we cannot be anything other than that which we have been NAMED and MADE to be by external white hands. Which is to ultimately say that we are STILL nothing but the lowly, alienated and inhuman property (objects/things) of white masters.

“Slaves and dogs are named by their masters. Free men name themselves” – Richard B. Moore

As we ultimately see ourselves to this racialized end we essentially negate and capitulate our self-determining agency, as FREE beings (object makers) capable of creating and shaping the world in our own image and according to our own will – which is to say, we essentially surrender our humanity. And instead we are reduced to (“BLACK”) objects/things who’s existence responds to, and is determined by an external Other. The idea of which is concisely described in, ‘Fanon and the Theory of Race’, as we maintain an alienated and hence inverted relationship with the world and ourselves, our “self-determining agent is turned inside out, and [as a result] the object creating human being exists as an object that is created by another subject.” Thus we are ultimately reduced to function and exist as slaves to our (racialized) appearance – as it is essentially a (external) white gaze that composes, defines and determines us. ALL that we are, achieve and aspire to be is a result and response to this fact. Thus our activity – as “black” beings – is merely an extension of white (racially constructed) expression, for it serves to validate and perpetuate as opposed to negate and annihilate this white world and the construct of race upon which it stands. Yes. EVERYTHING we do (as black people) we do under the foremost consideration and recognition of the white gaze. It dictates our EVERY move, and our ENTIRE sense of BE-ing. It’s this condition that keeps us beholden to and preoccupied with (inferior/shame induced) notions of “BLACK” pride, dignity and excellence as measured on the basis of racially identified achievements (again, expressed in response to the objective relations of a white dominated society) – e.g., First ‘BLACK’ President - First ‘BLACK’ astronaut - First ‘BLACK’ brain surgeon - First ‘BLACK’ Harvard graduate - First ‘BLACK’ Academy Award winner - First ‘BLACK’ golf champion - First ‘BLACK’ prima ballerina - First ‘BLACK’ Ms. America - First ‘BLACK’ Annie - First ‘BLACK’ “Fine Artist”- First ‘BLACK’ garbage man etc…. And while we measure ourselves (and our progress) by these standards, it is such thinking that actually serves to validate the conditions of our inferiority and dehumanization. As it establishes and validates blackness as a state of being that exist in subordination to whiteness. It is for this very reason why i constantly say and believe, that black people have no real clue as to what freedom and humanity TRULY is. For we – existing in an alienated condition – have surrendered our humanity and thus our freedom to this (“black” racialized and objectified) thing-hood. So for us – as our self-determining agency has been muted – humanity and freedom is that which can only be defined and thus essentially granted by the white Other/Master. Therefore, humanity and freedom for the “black” man must always be measured in accordance to an established white standard. Which i believe is exactly what Fanon meant (in Black Skin, White Masks) when he wrote: The black man wants to be white, the white man slaves to reach a human level.

Furthermore, this statement also speaks to the fact that blackness nor whiteness are intrinsic properties of human nature and condition. But they (blackness and whiteness) are in fact, intrinsic properties of race – a man-made construct – the products of learned and conditioned behavior arising out of social, historical, political and institutional power relations. As such, race – with its inherent character of racialism – by design stands antithetical to human nature. For it negates the possibility for mutual recognition and thus precludes us from bringing into being the true universal consciousness (One-Man) necessary for the actualization of absolute (universal) freedom and humanity. It is by this regard that both black and white people alike are enslaved by race. And it is also for this reason that i again put forward my belief in black liberation as a key and tool for (true) human liberation. For TRUE black liberation cannot be a movement that’s determination is to usurp and replace white power. Although black liberation first requires the negation of whiteness as a means to – while disrupting and essentially extirpating the socially reproduced dynamics that give life to and perpetuate alienated and objectified conditions within the racial construct – establish a balance of joint becoming (and recognition) within the context of race relations. However, true black liberation also requires the liberation of black people from the conditions of racialized existence itself. Thus (i reiterate) black liberation also requires the absolute sublation of BOTH whiteness and blackness (or as Hegel puts it, the absolute sublation of both “master and slave”) alike – hence abolishing race itself. As it is only then that a true universal consciousness can be brought into being, a consciousness that allows us to recognize and re-member ourselves (that is, bringing into unity a universal human consciousness) as TRULY free HUMAN BE-ings. And it is by this very same fact that as long as we continue to uphold and remain beholden to ANY and ALL determinations (THE BLOCKS) we ALL (Black, White, Brown, Beige, Red and Yellow) remain slaves, trapped in this prison of socially constructed and perpetuated dehumanization.

Now fully understanding that blackness is not a burden that i have to bear. Nor is it a container that i must accept and circumscribe my being to. i do not have to be content in “blackness”, excusing myself to remote and delicate corners of the world. DAMMIT. i AM THE WORLD!

That said. As ONE-MAN i hereby announce my departure and arrival to a next level. i aim to abolish ALL BLOCKS. i will LOVE and FUCK who i choose (man, woman, white, black or other)! i will masturbate and cum in holy books. i will strip naked in churches and temples. i will spit at all authority and institutions. i will defile monuments. i will curse (both) MASTER and SLAVE! i will tear down walls. i will invade cities, states and countries. i will push limits and cross boundaries. i will spread these seeds of revolution. i will negate - negate - NEGATE! And in the words of Fanon, “He who is reluctant to recognize me is against me.”

LIBERATION is my RELIGION…. FREEDOM is my GOSPEL!

#iAmNegation

Photo by: Gim Gwang Cheol

#oneman #iamfugitive #iamoutcast #iamnegation #theblocks #pointsofdeparture #operationnegation

THANKS FOR YOUR CONCERN

I just want to say that I truly appreciate all the messages of concern that I have received (in my inbox and text) from many of you, post election. It definitely means a lot to know that there are people out there who support the work and are concerned for my safety. However, I do want to take this opportunity to put some things into proper perspective. Mainly being this notion that somehow, as a result of Trumps election, my life is now more in danger than it was before – that, NOW, “[I] am even more of a target” and should THEREFORE be more mindful and “CAREFUL” in regards to my actions.

Well, truth be told, my life (as ALL black lives) has been in imminent danger – which everyone should have noticed by now unless you’ve been living under a rock – for quite some time now. As I have often asseverated: “THEY HAVE DECLARED WAR ON US (black people)!” There has NEVER been a time that we have not been targets – contrary to popular (misguided) beliefs of a post racial era. When I hear folks – both white and black – crying that: “Trumps victory means open season on black lives.” It only proves just how delusional, gullible and in denial folks are to the reality that even in the presence of – after all the pomp and circumstance – the first black president (figurehead) in the Whitehouse, shitloads of innocent black people (men, women and children) were STILL being targeted for, PUBLIC, extrajudicial executions (every 28 hours). So, for us (both white and black folk alike) to believe that black life was somehow safer and more valued under the charge of AmeriKKKa’s first black president is – to say the least – FUCKING RIDICULOUS!

To believe that black people were safer with a black man in the Whitehouse, is to essentially ignore the nearly 1 million black bodies (out of 2.3 million incarcerated) currently warehoused in AmeriKKKa’s gulags – tens of thousands for nonviolent drug offenses. Notwithstanding Obama’s largely symbolic – too little too late – clemency program and flimsy drug reform offensive (put forth by he and former Attorney General, Eric Holder). Which has been described by political (left) commentator Glen Ford as, “mostly smoke and mirrors.”

“So by any measure, the Obama prison clemency program has mostly been smoke and mirrors, and most of all a whole lot of heartbreak for thousands of federal prisoners. That program will go out of business automatically, because it’s an Obama executive order. It goes out of business automatically when he leaves office, and that’s whether they have processed, or properly processed, all the people, the prison inmates who have applied for the program, or not. But despite all of these problems, there’s no doubt that the Obama team that’s in charge of putting together, crafting his official historical legacy, they’re still going to say that he has been a champion of criminal justice reform. Obama also got great publicity last year for supposedly advocating the early release of thousands of inmates who’d been convicted under the old crack cocaine laws.

But even after Congress passed new laws to replace the 100:1 crack cocaine penalty, it was the Obama Justice Department that went into federal court to prevent the retroactive application of those laws. And that resulted in 6,000 prison inmates spending an additional two years in prison as the Justice Department put them through this long review process.

And finally, last year, to great fanfare, President Obama announced a new executive order that speeded up that process and finally released most of those 6,000. And he got praise again, even though he had not quickened the release of these inmates, who Congress had made possible getting out of prison. He had, in fact, delayed the release of 6,000 men and women from federal prison.

The reason that Obama gets away with these criminal justice tricks and this media hype is because most of the black Democratic political establishment is also guilty, just like he is, of buttressing the mass incarceration system. Half of the Congressional Black Caucus voted for the crack cocaine bill back in 1986, and many of them also voted for President Bill Clinton’s monstrous anti-crime bill in the 1990s.”

I must also include Paul Street, Glen Ford and Margaret Kimberly’s observations from the Counterpunch article entitled: Posing as the Great Emancipator: Obama’s Prison Posturing is Nothing New (written by Paul Street). In the article Street – who describes Barack Obama as, “[A] model and epitome of the triumph of symbol over substance.” – poses the question:

“What’s behind Obama’s supposed late-presidency epiphany on the evil of racially biased mass imprisonment? What drove the president’s “sudden desire to look like the Great Emancipator” (Margaret Kimberly, emphasis added) – this even while he offers close to nothing in the way of actual liberation and after six and a half years of making no serious efforts to dismantle the nation’s giant, global unmatched, and deeply racist mass incarceration system?” Here, Ford explains as such:

“The president waited until the second half of his second term in office – and the rise of an incipient mass protest movement – before experiencing his epiphany on mass incarceration. So-called prison reform is now a thoroughly bipartisan affair. Republicans have harbored a strain of prison reformism ever since many of Richard Nixon’s men found themselves behind bars in the aftermath of Watergate, and even the rabidly reactionary Koch brothers are funding prison reform. The legislatures of at least 15 states have either passed, or are debating, ways to limit solitary confinement. And Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy, a crucial swing vote on the high court, has all but invited prison reform groups to challenge solitary confinement on Constitutional grounds. So, although Obama is the first serving president to actually set foot in a prison, he is moving in politically safe territory…However, don’t expect anything other than cynical theatricality and double-dealing from this president. When it comes to the criminal justice system, Obama is a consummate trickster.”

Street then goes on to write (also inserting a quote from Margaret Kimberly):

“On this issue on [sic] so many others, the president is “a master of appearing to do what he doesn’t do” (Kimberly). Beneath symbolism – setting foot in a prison, applauding the take-down of the Confederate Flag, public anger at the police treatment of the bourgeois professor Henry Louis Gates, a claim to look like Trayvon Martin – there’s no seriously anti-racist or social justice substance in Obama’s presidency. Mass incarceration may have plateaued for systemic reasons in the Age of Obama, but if it ever declines significantly it will do so in spite of his criminal justice con-game.”

Again I say, for me (as a black man) to actually believe my life is, NOW, significantly more in danger than it was over the last (almost) 8 years is to ignore or deny the evidence of a war that has been continuously waging (unabated) against the black community – even in the presence of a black president in the Whitehouse. But perhaps what’s even more ridiculous and dangerous, is to place all of my fear on a racist, prattling and vulgar imbecile like Trump while ignoring the extremely harmful policies put forth by the current sitting “black president“ and other duplicitous self serving (power thirsty) coons of the black Democratic political establishment – both past and present.

Policies and decisions that have essentially served to undermine us; served to perpetuate our oppression and destruction. Policies and decisions that were NEVER intended to liberate us but to keep us locked down. Policies and decisions that – delivering us straight into the devils hands – laid the foundation for Trump and provides him with new instruments (legal powers, weapons and tools) to keep us enslaved.

(In other words, how do we honestly fear Trump, but ignore the destructive arsenal, dutifully, crafted and left to him by the Obama administration.)

Powers such as the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) – conveniently signed into law by President Obama back in 2011 (during the New Year’s holiday) while y’all were popping bottles, getting turnt and celebrating the coming of a new year – with it’s section 1021 that ultimately grants future presidents the authority to throw American citizens in prison for life without charges or so much as a trail.

Oh and let’s not forget the arrival of that new shiny militarized police force that we saw unveiled in Ferguson after the murder of Michael Brown. No, this was not brought to you by Trump – although I’m sure he we will most definitely enjoy unleashing these sanguinary, heavily armed and militarized (pigs on steroids) police forces on us – but by 32 members of the Congressional Black Caucus (80% of full-voting black Democrats in the House) who voted against the Grayson Amendment. (This amendment would have stopped the Pentagon from transferring weapons and equipment to local police departments. The amendment was shot down just 2 months before Mike Brown was killed.)

Then there was Obama’s passage of the Cybersecurity Information Sharing Act (CISA) and his deliberate and aggressive upgrade of the national and global surveillance apparatus. (Mind you, just this past Thursday Human Rights attorneys filed a lawsuit against the FBI and Homeland Security for failure to release documents on its surveillance of Black Lives Matter protest and activist.) Let us also not forget the fact that Obama has, almost singlehandedly, built up the U.S. proxy imperialism giant, AFRICOM. Which was barely crawling (not even a year old) when Obama got into office but under his tutelage has now grown into a mighty behemoth. Thanks to AFRICOM Obama has successfully orchestrated the occupation of almost the entire continent of Africa! I mean the list goes on and on….

So. Yeah. While y’all fret the coming of the Trump (DEVIL) and lament the exit of the Obama (“ANGEL”). I will – simply seeing it as the passing of the hell torch from one black (coon) devil to a new white (racist) devil – continue my mission and fight. And while y’all will undoubtedly continue to apotheosize and exalt the first black president. I will continue to damn him (and AmeriKKKa) for being the good little coon – the tool of white supremacy and black face of white imperialism – laying the foundation and continuing AmeriKKKa’s legacy of world domination and war on ALL black life.

So again, I thank those who support the work. I hear and appreciate all your concerns. However, I don’t need a Trump to get angry. Nor do I fear the coming of a Trump. I HAVE BEEN HERE! I have looked the devil in the face. I have locked eyes and confronted the devil’s militarized henchmen (ALONE) head on.

So … no, I am not afraid of Trump. I know what’s coming. If anything, I am afraid of living as a slave in AmeriKKKa. I’m afraid of living under, and capitulating to, this racist, capitalist and imperialist system of oppression; and it is this fear that caused me to take to the streets in the first place. I am prepared to die for my freedom. I took this on as a serious possibility the very moment I decided to do this work. Now is the time to stand bold and unapologetic in TRUTH. Like I said: folk that look like me are being targeted for extermination on the daily even when they are being careful and living their lives as peaceful, upstanding citizens. I have not the time nor patience to worry or concern myself with being “CAREFUL” at this point. Being a target does not frighten me. I am used to being a target. Now is the time to stand and FIGHT. There is far too much at stake.

Therefore, like it or not black and/or white folk. I will continue to be the alarm. I will continue to sound off against this oppressive system. I will continue to, (perhaps) enrage and shame you with my words and actions. I will continue to call us slaves! Ultimately, I will continue to challenge and expose AMERIKKKA for the racist white supremacist nation that it is! Not YOU, not a fucking Trump, not ANYONE or ANYTHING but DEATH will stop me! NO SLEEP TIL FREEDOM! With or without YOU … MY REVOLUTION IS NOW!

#for whites only #points of departure #the blocks #i am fugitive #i am outcast #trump #obama #devils #amerikkkan spirits #my revolution is now #larger than art #rebel

FOR WHITES ONLY (Points of Departure).... They snatched the strongest and fiercest from her bosom. Many of them handed over to those white men (betrayed) by their own siblings. Yes, some of them sold their own to those pallid people in exchange for his promises of wealth and power (fools gold). Once she was greatly depleted, with too few left behind to protect her, they were then able to rape her and claim her for themselves. The stolen children were delivered to another mother (AmeriKKKa) under her charge they were sold as slaves forced to work for their lives. Singlehanded – by threat of the lash – they built her up and made her beautiful, strong, vibrant and GREAT.… They cooked for her, cleaned for her, built her great houses, farmed her lands, fought and died to protect her; they even raised her (most beloved) children. And even though they lived as slaves in this house, they would be told that it was actually a house of freedom. Overtime they came to believe this claim as they’d also believe that they were not deserving of the white man’s, precious, “FREEDOM.” After-all freedom was for noble human beings and they, on the other hand, were lowly, inferior beast. They were poor lascivious and primitive savages – absent of god, religion, morality, decency, intellect, history, language and culture. It was here that the slaves became aware of their nakedness and thus became ashamed of themselves. They became ashamed of their bodies, their minds, their hue, their flesh, their unique gifts, their rituals, their spiritual practices, their desires, their love, their sexual proclivities (e.g. “white man introduced homosexuality to the black community”).... They had essentially been tricked into capitulating and abnegating their own natural and authentic freedom. Instead, they’d now covet and beg for the white man’s synthetic copy. So, the white man promised them ‘FREE-DUMB’, but only if they agreed to worship him and convert to his 3 great religions (Capitalism, Christianity and DeMOCKracey). And this is how the slaves came to be sold, yet again. But not i…. i refuse to follow - i choose to REBEL - i refuse to embrace their lie - i choose a different path - i reject their FREE-DUMB - i choose to walk alone - i choose to liberate myself - i choose to RE-MEMBER and reclaim my own (authentic) FREEDOM…. But of course this is forbidden. My path has caused me much grief. i am hated and rejected, not just by the white man, but by my very own. Alas, FREEDOM has ultimately become my crime, sin and prison. Hence, i am a fugitive and outcast, both, to this country and to my own race. So, now that I have been expelled, i will go forth – the freak that i AM – and lay bare this SHAME…. FOR WHITES ONLY. Venice Italy (December 2016)

#For Whites Only #Points of Departure #iAmFugitive #iAmOutCast #Freedom #CanUFeelRUFree #OneMan #Venice International Performance Art Week #The Blocks

There’s no need to rig elections if the whole damn system is rigged. That is to say, if we live under a capitalist system where government is ultimately controlled by oligarchs – which is therefore essentially a plutocracy. Democracy under such conditions is just a spurious notion (a bullshit ass lie), simply a word with no substantive value like the proverbial, penny with a hole in it. It’s virtually impossible to have a true democracy (free and fair elections) in a society that’s essentially divided by class, a system where classism, racism and inequality is so deeply entrenched and pervasive. DEMOCRACY?! (Who the hell are we actually fooling but ourselves?) Wipe that damn crust from your enslaved eyes and take a long hard look around you. You’re living in a society where the top 1% hold more wealth than the bottom 90%. A society where predatory capitalism prevails. A society where abject poverty is pervasive; where 15.7 million children, 1 out of 5 are impoverished (for black children it’s 2 out of 5, over 38% are living in poverty). A society where racism has been systematized and institutionalized. A society of mass incarceration - wanton and sanctioned police brutality - wage slavery - corporate welfare (massive welfare subsidies for the rich; massive welfare cuts to the poor) - environmental destruction and resource exploitation - segregated schools - privatized schools - privatized healthcare - privatized water - stolen and privatized land - duopoly politics - duplicitous and corporate controlled media (manufacturing consent) - perpetual imperialism and resource stealing wars - genetically modified food etc…. Now tell me (this question particularly applies to the black and brown masses) is this actually the reflection of a free society. Is this the reflection of a people centric government (government for and by the people)? Does this actually look like a DEMOCRACY we’re living in…. Democracy: 1) A form of government in which the supreme power is vested in the people and controlled directly by them or by their elected agents under a free electoral system 2) A state of society characterized by formal equality of rights and privileges. Or is this, in fact, the reflection of a hostaged and enslaved society ruled by corporations and nefarious rich white tyrants? Under such oppressive conditions how can we justify the notion of democracy? How can we justify freedom with such a blatant absence of morality? Under such conditions how can our electoral process be anything other than a sham, extravaganza and subterfuge used to keep you blind, dumb, docile, sleep and dutifully obeisant to (capitalist lords) white hegemony – merely a ploy much like Rousseau‘s notion of civil society created by the rich to protect their plunder (property, power, privilege and status). How do you believe you have an actual voice in a system that’s clearly designed to favor and maintain a rich, greedy and corrupt status quo? Free and fair elections my ass! Tell me, what’s free and fair about a two-party-big moneyed-big media corporate managed-system? (Again, this question’s particularly directed towards the black and brown masses.) You think it’s a coincidence that the only real choices you have are between 2 rich, white and corporate dominated factions (Democrats/Republicans)? While y’all are pledging your loyalty to the farce that is red vs blue (elephant vs donkey), the real power struggle is between white liberals and conservatives and black folk are merely used as pawns. Many years ago Malcolm X – saw straight through this farce – summed it up best: “White liberal[s] aren’t white people who are for independence, who are moral and ethical in their thinking. They are just a faction of white people that are jockeying for power. The same as the white conservative is a faction of white people that are jockeying for power. They are fighting each other for power and prestige, and the one that is the football in the game is the Negro, 20 million black people. A political football, a political pawn, an economic football, and economic pawn. A social football, a social pawn.” Face it, you are nothing but pawns used to settle the disputes of rich white folks. You have no REAL power or say in the matter beyond that of being a deciding factor. They don’t even TRULY see or address your black asses until they need your vote – yes, this also applies to your overseer ass black president. The ONLY reason or time they ever/even speak to your interest and concerns is because/when they need your vote; when they need YOUR help to secure THEIR power! And let’s face it, whatever you actually get in return for your undying fealty ALWAYS amounts to bullshit minor concessions that they can (and usually do) easily take right back! You’re reduced to voting on the basis of fear induced tactics (media manufactured consent), the lesser of two evils (fuckery and seduction). And this is what you deem a democracy (free and fair elections)? Again, Malcolm X warned us, over 50 years ago, of the very trickery bullshit that is playing out today in these bogus ass elections between both of these greedy, venal, nefarious and power hungry politicians: “If Johnson had been running all by himself, he would not have been acceptable to anyone. The only thing that made him acceptable to the world was that the shrewd capitalists, the shrewd imperialists, knew that the only way people would run toward the fox would be if you showed them a wolf. So they created a ghastly alternative. And it had the whole world — including people who call themselves Marxists — hoping that Johnson would beat Goldwater.” Guess what? NOTHINGS CHANGED! Today – EXACTLY as it was over 50 years ago – your black slave asses are still getting duped! That same 50 year old assessment perfectly sums up the current political milieu we’re facing now, Trump (as wolf) vs Hillary (as fox). But of course you hate me for calling you slaves but validate, glorify and perpetuate an oppressive capitalist system that actually makes slaves of us all. Anything short of revolution is consent. So, YOU can hate and reject me all the fuck you want! Think I actually give a damn about your slave asses? I’m…. FOR WHITES ONLY!!!

#For Whites Only #The Blocks #election 2016 #politics #presidential election #Vote #system #REBEL #rigged elections #iAmOutCast #iAmFugitive #OneMan

FEAR OF BLACK VOTE... MY ASS!!! Dear Slaves, The whole notion of Republican tactics to suppress the black vote as being some sort of decisive sign or proof as to the actual power and threat of the black vote – i.e., fear of the black vote as evidence of its power and significance – is (in my opinion) a bit misleading. The real question that, perhaps, we should be asking ourselves is, fear of the black vote as proof of its power and significance to whom? Again, citing the observation of Malcolm X, “[White folks] are fighting each other for power and prestige, and the one that is the football in the game is the Negro, 20 million black people. A political football, a political pawn, an economic football, and economic pawn. A social football, a social pawn.” I reiterate, black people have ALWAYS been used, merely, as pawns to settle power disputes between white folk. In this regard black folks have always served as nothing other than validators and protectors of white power! Hell, this goes all the way back to slavery and the 3/5 compromise wherein, black slaves were used as pawns in the dispute over WHITE status and the allocation of WHITE political power – the southern states wanted their slaves to be counted as a means to win more seats in Congress and more electoral votes. Although we are now, “LEGALLY FREE” and thus have the “RIGHT” to vote. Our vote still, pretty much, carries the same amount of power and weight – in regards to our collective interest – as the exploited labor of our enslaved ancestors served their own interest. In other words our political power (now) just as our labor power (then and now) is still essentially being appropriated and exploited for the reification and preservation of WHITE CAPITALIST INTEREST. One need look no further than the Obama presidency to see the ultimate superficiality and impotence of black political power as represented via the black vote. I mean sure the black vote was significant in getting a black man in the most coveted WHITE HOUSE in the land. But let’s face it (at the end of the day) the achievement carried no real weight beyond mere symbolism. As once in office the black (neoliberal) president did FAR more to serve and protect white corporate interest – beyond (bullshit) coincidental and minor concessions – than that of the struggling and oppressed black masses. His TRUE allegiance was to the white corporate establishment. Hence his power as well as black political power (as a whole) merely served to reinforce WHITE CAPITALIST HEGEMONY – which in this particular case was specifically white liberal hegemony. “Politically the American Negro is nothing but a football and the white liberals control this mentally dead ball through tricks of tokenism: false promises of integration and civil rights. In this profitable game of deceiving and exploiting the politics of the American Negro, those white liberals have the willing cooperation of the Negro civil rights leaders. These “leaders” sell out our people for just a few crumbs of token recognition and token gains. These “leaders” are satisfied with token victories and token progress because they themselves are nothing but token leaders” ~ Malcolm X In this regard black folks allegiance to the Democratic Party more closely resembles that of a feudal (vassal and serf) relationship, as opposed to an alliance that is based upon mutual power and respect. Whereby, black leaders are coopted and appointed as political vassals – their job is to corral and deliver the black vote to the white liberal – in exchange for their service and fealty to white liberal nobility. And the black voter (as serf) pledges their undying faith, fealty and labor to the vassals and the Democratic Party (white liberals) in exchange for promises of protection from the nefarious and racist Republican Party (white conservatives). Needless to say this symbiotic relationship is far from being mutually beneficial – if anything it is downright parasitic. The white liberal feeds on black dependency and need and therefore essentially exploits, consumes and manipulates black political power for its own gain. Again, to borrow from Malcolm’s observations, black folk fail to recognize that both (Democrat/Republican) parties are merely two separate factions of white groups dueling for institutional power and prestige. (This is essentially a power struggle between WHITE LIBERALS and WHITE CONSERVATIVES – both parties simply have designs on securing the, GREAT WHITE THRONE.) Neither, are TRULY interested in betraying their own white privilege for the sake of dismantling this corrupt capitalist system (WHITE POWER STRUCTURE) in order to bring about TRUE liberty and independence for ALL. Consequently, both parties (Democrats/Republicans) are duplicitous; neither more moral or ethical than the other. Therefore, it is my belief that Republican tactics to suppress the black vote has less to do with their fear of the black vote as effective tool for black liberation – thus significant threat to the white power monolith (capitalism). I believe, Republicans (white conservatives) penchant towards black voter suppression, in fact, stems from an understanding of the Democratic Party’s (white liberals) control of the black vote. As such, they (white conservatives) depend upon voter suppression as a means to secure victory over white liberals by essentially neutralizing their most reliable, essential and effective weapon. Now this is not, at all, to imply that voting has no value, whatsoever. I do believe it, CAN BE, effective as a strategic tool. (The keywords here being strategic and tool.) However, the problem is, we don’t use the vote as a strategic tool. We see voting as the single most valuable and significant option we have for bringing about REAL change. Mind you, the most significant historical victories won by black people did not come about through voting. They were won on the streets, through hard fought battles … ACTION (fighting, disrupting, rebelling, resisting). However now, we seem to no longer place any real value or significance in the power of active resistance as a viable and necessary option for bringing about authentic change. Instead, we (black people) focus ALL our power and energy on the simple act of, VOTING. Unfortunately the vote has essentially supplanted direct action and resistance as a means of challenging and fighting the system. I mean sure, protesting has become more popular as of late but for the most part it’s still only adopted as a reactive measure, e.g. police kill black individual- outrage ensues-we take to the streets-grow tired-bored-go right back to sleep. As opposed to remaining vigilant and proactive constantly (organizing, protesting, resisting, fighting and disrupting) standing as though our very lives and the lives of our children depended upon it – which in fact they do. It is constant disruptive and obstreperous action that poses a REAL threat to the system and the status quo because it foments revolutionary activity. It is this radical action that (grasping the root) strikes to the very heart and soul of the system because like a wild fire, mass dissent spreads uncontrollably. It is unable to be easily extinguished or tamed. It is this wild fire not voting that terrifies the status quo more than anything else. For the simple fact that, it shakes the very foundation, it undermines and exposes the ruse that is our civil society. (“Voting does very little in terms of really addressing fundamental structural inequality. I mean you can’t vote out white supremacy. You can’t vote out capitalism.” Dr. Jared A. Ball) Voting – on the other hand – does not pose any real threat or danger to the system. Voting is not revolution. Which is why the simple act of voting can only essentially serve to validate the system. It is, ONLY, revolutionary action that can effectively challenge and dismantle the system. Hence, revolution, ALONE, can usher in REAL change. In this same regard it is constant vigilance, action and resistance, which places us in a position of power whereby we can actually wield our vote strategically. That is to say, if we are to use the vote we must – thinking in terms of traditional radical politics – develop alternative options and platforms as to how we use it in order that it serves (AT LEAST) as a tool and means for securing our demands. It is not enough to simply, get out and vote. Voting without action is utterly symbolic. What we need to be saying is: GET OUT AND FIGHT. GET OUT AND ORGANIZE. GET OUT AND DISRUPT. GET OUT AND REBEL. GET OUT AND RESIST. GET OUT AND BUILD THE REVOLUTION. Power concedes nothing without DEMAND! Voting without ACTION does not equate demand nor does it equate power –it’s merely begging and gambling – in fact it’s as dead as faith without work. If we simply vote but are not actually willing or prepared to fight in order to protect and bring into fruition that which we cast our votes for; we are simply wasting our time and energy. We are essentially leaving our vote (squandering, ceding and capitulating whatever potential power we actually have) to the precarious whims of the greedy ruling class powerbrokers of this corrupt capitalist (white dominated) system. Furthermore, the argument that white racist are more afraid of the black vote than they are of a black insurrection is completely laughable. Of course, white racist are not afraid of a black insurrection. Because (let’s face it) THEY KNOW WE AIN’T REALLY ABOUT THAT LIFE. They know that, ultimately, black people are terrified of such an option. They are very aware that we do not stand as a united front and thus do not stand a chance in hell against them. They know that the large majority of black people are fearfully and acquiescently obeisant to this white power structure. Just as they know that most black folk simply want to be invited to sit at great white tables (IVORY TOWERS and WHITE HOUSES). They know that most black folk – chasing the illusion of parity – are more desperate to get in than out. (If anything, the blind fervor over Obama’s presidency completely proved this.) For this same reason they are not, actually, fearful of the black vote because they are, ALL TOO AWARE, that the black vote is ultimately owned and controlled by the Democratic Party (white liberals) and therefore (the black vote) STILL ultimately serves to preserve white hegemony. I honestly don’t believe that, to the racist white conservatives – at least those that actually hold power – the black vote is (AT ALL) considered to be truly threatening, radical or revolutionarily inclined. Quite the opposite in fact. I believe they ultimately view black voters as housebroken dogs on fancy white (Democratic) leashes. Lastly, if we are reduced to casting our votes on the basis of fear (choosing between the lesser of two evils) then we are not, in fact, operating from a position of power but from that of fearful compliance. We are merely chickens caught in the middle of a standoff between the wolf and fox. Sincerely, #ForWhitesOnly

#election 2016 #vote #voter suppression #racism #For Whites Only #iAmFugitive #iAmOutCast #OneMan #REBEL #revolution #Why Don't You REBEL

To excavate this black soul is too unearth a white artifact.

Was Fanon right when he postulated that we are slaving away to become white while the white man slaves away to become more human? (The black slave driven by shame; the white man by guilt.) Alas, can the black slave seek liberation from himself and from his desire to be white?

Tell me, what is freedom to the black slave who, true to the laws of nature and ALL the white gods, is always willing to sell himself (body and soul) in white markets?

The black slave who, hates being called a slave but, nevertheless, feels obliged to live as one.

The black slave who lives outside of himself – he is both foreigner and prisoner to his own body – his entire existence defined by whiteness.

Yes, the white man has always known that the black slaves DREAM was to replace him. He knew that, to the black slave, he was the embodiment of freedom. He knew that (in the black slaves gaze) he was god. So, as god he gave the black slave his freedom – a lie which he packaged and sold in his own image – in return for his pledge of allegiance. Unbeknownst to the black slave, his freedom never belonged to the white man and thus was never the white man’s to give. But the slave was desperate, so he abdicated his own humanity, to put on his new fetters believing he had actually secured freedom.

But One-Man rejected the white man’s nefarious gift (free-dumb). One-Man chose instead to free his “FUCKING” self! One-Man realized that his liberation did not require ANY MAN’S (white nor black) permission. So, One-Man is a fugitive an outcast even unto his own people. (Of course, his freedom is slavery to those who’ve been seduced into believing slavery is freedom.)

run nigger! there is no help for you here….

because you are not one of us… because you’re an outsider. you do not talk, walk or act like one of us. you have no roots here…

because you threaten to break our beautiful chains. what gives you the right to call us slaves? what gives you the right to tell us how to live our lives?

because you reek of something foreign. you are simply too strange for us. you’re a weirdo. a circus freak. yes, you belong to those pallid people. they should have you. they love to collect strange things after all…

RUN NIGGER!

I don’t know for certain, but I would reckon (to the black slave) freedom smells really wild like coon. Perhaps rebarbatively pungent (stressed and terrified) like the sweat of a fugitive. Then again maybe it actually possesses a sugary sweet aroma, decadent and forbidden like apple trees on the opulent (lily white) plantations of Eden. Maybe it smells divine and pure like the sweet breath of white baby Jesus; or taste like holy water dripping from the wet, god kissed, thighs of the Blessed Virgin Mary. Of course this would be off putting for those who still bear the stench of shame and damnation – slave ships, rape, fear, blood drenched leather and oxidized iron. In which case, perhaps freedom smells like old death; like the decayed carcass of an ancient betrayal. Perhaps it’s the scent of something both, strangely, foreign and familiar; like the intoxicatingly seductive allure of freshly minted currency – a recipe of cotton, gunpowder, rum, copper and iron aged in 400 year old blood barrels….

So, to hell I have been sent (One-Man) – just a loud talking nigger – damned and left outside of the divine pearly gates that are guarded by white lions. Outside of gods grace…. My crime… My sin … daring to DREAM of FREEDOM.

THE WORK CONTINUES…. VENICE INTERNATIONAL PERFORMANCE ART WEEK (DECEMBER 2016)

#iAmFugitive #iAmOutCast #iConjureFreedom #iWillFreeMyFuckingSelf #ForWhitesOnly #TheBlocks #RunNigger #NewWork #OneMan #ForFREEDOM #MyRevolutionIsNow #LargerThanArt #VeniceInternationalPerformanceArtWeek

#forwhitesonly #pointsofdeparture #freedom #iamoutcast #iamfugitive #iconjure #largerthanart #performance art #action #veniceinternationalperformanceartweek #veniceitaly

UPDATE (Points of Departure)…

So, a couple of months ago I was invited to Venice Italy to take part in their upcoming International Performance Art Week. And although I would be lying to say I was not honored and flattered to have been invited – especially after the founders of the event personally reached out to express a strong interest – but to be quite honest, I was also extremely skeptical of the invitation. For me the integrity of the work ALWAYS comes first. And while, yes, it’s a great opportunity to, at the very least, travel abroad. Such things don’t really factor into my decision making process or take precedence over the work itself – however, that’s just me. (I have turned down many seemingly great opportunities due to questions of integrity.) What I really had to ask myself was, what purpose could my work actually serve in Italy.

I mean, I’ve always been clear as to my message and again I’m not one of those individuals who is eager to take any and every opportunity that comes along simply for the sake of performing and being seen. (I’m not in this for fame, exposure or artistic validation.) I do the work when the spirit moves and I have something REAL to say. As I’ve constantly said, for me, this is so much larger than art. This is about liberation. It is my life’s mission. So again, I had to ask myself, why would I take the work to Italy? Not to mention, I know very little of the culture or the issues and struggles they face as a society. So, I was clear that if I were to do work in Italy, it would have to be based upon my perspective and experience as a black man living in America. This, however, posed another problem for me. That being the fact I take serious issue with doing work where I know the majority of the audience will be comprised of white folk. This is because my messages are created out of a black experience and for me it has always been imperative that my work remains (first and foremost) accessible to and rooted in the black community. (Not to mention, I am not keen on the idea of being carted off somewhere to entertain white people.)

So needless to say, it took me a long time to decide if I was going to accept this invitation. However, recently there has been a series of events that have heavily weighed on me regarding my work and how it is received by my own (black) people. On many occasions it has been expressed (directly and indirectly) that perhaps my work is not embraced by my community at all. That, in fact, many take umbrage with it. I’ve learned from quite a few that the work evokes feelings of anger and animosity towards me due to the harsh tones of my messages, or the language I use – “folks don’t want to be called slaves!” I’ve been told that it’s because my work is not dignified or refined enough; or that I come off too angry. Told that folk don’t know what to do with the work, because it’s simply too different or strange – “I don’t get it.” “Why is he doing this shit anyway?!” I’ve been told that folks take my messages personal: “It feels like you’re speaking directly to and about me.” Told that I piss folk off because I publicly challenge or criticize black people and our beloved black leaders (e.g. President Obama). Or because I just simply do not fit comfortably within the conservative and circumscribing boxes and standards assigned to black dignity and excellence.

Now, while I have suspected and heard many of these criticisms for quite some time. I think the true moment of profound realization came about as the result of a recent phone conversation. You see, I had reached out to a peer, that I had a tremendous amount of respect for, regarding a lingering and annoying arrest warrant, that’s been hanging over my head for quite a while.

(Note: I HAVE ALWAYS BEEN EXTREMELY AWARE THAT THERE ARE ACTIVIST OUT HERE FACING CHARGES THAT ARE FAR MORE SERIOUS THAN MINE.)

I had NEVER asked ANYONE for money or anything regarding this issue. I told myself instead that I’d simply deal with it when I could afford to; or if and when I get caught – whichever comes first. It was not until another friend suggested that I reach out to this particular individual to get some advice as to options for dealing with this situation that I, reluctantly, decided to hit them up. I understood that this individual was quite important and busy doing big things on the daily. To be quite honest I never even thought they were that familiar with my work because they had never really expressed to me that they had seen anything that I had done. So, needless to say, I was quite shocked when my friend suggested that I reach out to this individual based on the fact that this person had expressed to my friend, what they perceived to be, a true spirit of pride, respect and support for the work that I do. Which is why that which transpired in the subsequent phone conversation was quite perplexing to me, to say the least. What I heard over the phone did not, AT ALL, sound like I was speaking to someone who truly supported and respected the work – quite the opposite in fact. What I heard on the other end of the phone that day sounded a whole helluva lot like an individual with a personal axe to grind.

First off, they let me know that they had only 12 minutes (EXACTLY) to talk and then they went on to give me a thinly veiled but unquestionably scathing 30 minute tongue lashing. In this, I was subtly informed as to the frivolous and inferior nature of my work particularly in relation to theirs:

“I wish I had time to simply be an artist but I am too busy being an organizer and, as perhaps you may know, the 2 are very different as they require different muscles.” Which to me was to imply – the very issue I have with so many people’s beliefs in the function of art as mere aesthetic pursuit not to be considered as a serious, valid and essential component of activism and social change – that “ART” is merely a labor of luxury and leisure. Thus, this individual was essentially reducing my work to mere aesthetic value, not worthy of being discussed in the same context of “REAL“ activism undertaken by serious activist and organizers out in the field putting in “REAL” work.

Next, after attempting to provide a brief explanation as to the nature of my call, I was immediately interjected and emphatically told: “Let me just stop you right there and be honest with you … there is no help for you.” Then this individual proceeded to tell me that nobody in the black community would be willing to support me, first and foremost, because, “[I’m] a floater and have no REAL roots in the black community.” They went on to explain that not only would the black community not be willing to offer me any support but, it would be unfair for me to seek assistance from the black community because – again, I have no roots – black resources are limited and spread thin supporting those serious (“HIGH PROFILE”) activist, organizers and organizations that are under attack, facing much more serious charges and thus desperately in need of community support.

(Mind you, I have NEVER solicited or even intended to solicit financial support from the black community –outside of my own immediate family members – for ANYTHING let alone my legal woes. Whatever support has been provided to me has been completely offered on a voluntary basis.)

Then, I was told that perhaps I should let the warrant ride but to consider changing the type of work I do so as to not draw negative attention to myself.

They also felt it necessary to let me know that they would not, AT ALL, be willing or interested in, “RAISING [MY] PROFILE.” Again, I was completely perplexed as to what this even meant and where it was all coming from because, I had NEVER asked or even implied that I was seeking ANY of these things.

But perhaps most disturbing and telling of all was their suggestion that I should perhaps consider reaching out to the media – again, something that I don’t do and I even expressed that I would not AT ALL be interested in doing – after all (according to them) the white media establishment would, “absolutely love you.” Particularly as they’re always looking for new ways to cover black issues (because that’s what’s trendy now) and “here you are a black man who paints his body and runs around naked in the streets doing weird shit. Yes, they would absolutely eat that up.” In addition to that it was also suggested that I reach out to white people. “After-all, that’s who your REAL audience is and, let’s face it, that’s who your work actually resonates with. I think those are your TRUE supporters. Not to mention they’re always desperately looking to get involved and take on a needy black cause.” The sentiment of which, essentially implied that what I do is merely some weird and strange type of contemporary coon-ism. Thus my work has no place in the black community but is ultimately just some strange white folk shit.

Despite every attempt to disguise their umbrage – “I’m just being honest and trying to help you.” Their aggressive, dismissive and cutting tone belied and betrayed their underlying and deep seated contempt.

Finally (interesting and ironically enough) the 30 minute lecture – mind you, that was supposed to be a 12 minute conversation – would abruptly be brought to an end with this individual (again shutting me down midsentence) informing me that they could no longer waste any more time with me due to the fact that they had a very important meeting awaiting with a major white entertainment corporation.

Needless to say this conversation left me deeply nonplussed and disheartened. At first, I did not understand what I had done to spawn such feelings of resentment. But then I thought about all the previous conversations I have had over the years about the work/my message and the affect it has on people (particularly black people). That’s when I had a sort of reawakening of sorts. I remembered the mission and my deep commitment to FREEDOM! I thought back on the Camus quote – that I have based my ENTIRE life’s purpose on – The only way to deal with an unfree world is to become so absolutely free that your ENTIRE existence is an act of rebellion.

Today, when I look around and see what our so-called black liberation movements and leadership has become. I don’t see freedom, I see blocks. I see us standing on the very auction blocks from which our ancestors were sold. I see the blocks that separated us and keep us divided to this very day. I see us jockeying for positions, chasing Ivory Towers and White Houses. I see us STILL betraying ourselves and selling our dead and our struggle to the highest bidder for the sake of money, power and fame….

I see us selling our pain (our struggle) for political gain and expedience. I see us selling our pain (our struggle) for financial reward. I see us selling our pain (our struggle) for artistic success and validation. I see us selling our pain (our struggle) for white corporate sponsorship (e.g. Patagonia and McDonald’s.) I see us selling our pain (our struggle) for news coverage. I see us selling our pain (our struggle) for celebrity. I even see us fighting on the streets, like two-bit territorial gang factions, over bullshit leadership rights to our struggle. Yes, I bear witness to ALL manner of folks putting on shackles and clamoring to stand on the blocks, in the name of black liberation. I have also come to accept and embrace the fact that I am an alien and outsider even unto my own people. If only, for the simple fact, that everyone seems to be desperately struggling and fighting to get in while I am desperately trying to get out.

And yes, I fully recognize that my roots do not belong to the black community no more than they do the white community (despite what many of you may think). My roots travel much deeper. My roots stem from a place that most of you (black and white) have abandoned. It is this place where my soul lives and my body yearns and strives to get back to. It is from this place where my voice cries out. No, I am not rooted in a black community or ANY single community (for that fact). My mission transcends such picayune limits and boundaries. I am rooted in FREEDOM! I am both planter and cultivator of these seeds. To this end, alone, am I a consummate farmer and builder. No – as I have asseverated many times before – I am not seeking to lead ANYONE ANYWHERE! As I am also not seeking ANYBODIES PERMISSION, VALIDATION or ACCEPTANCE in the pursuit of my cause. My mission is clear to me (FREEDOM, is my life’s mission and praxis). Hence, I am just an alarm. Here to interrogate, challenge and GET FREE.

All that said, I’ve officially decided to present my next action in Venice Italy this December, as part of the Venice International Performance Art Week. (This work will mark yet another incarnation in the ongoing mission that is One-Man: The Liberation Project.) And I hereby announce that this next work will be… FOR WHITES ONLY

#iAmFugitive #iConjureFreedom #ForWhitesOnly #TheBlocks #iAmOutCast #iWillFreeMyFuckingSelf #ThisIsLargerThanArt

#forwhitesonly #pointsofdeparture #freedom #iamoutcast #iamfugitive #iconjure

YOU CAN’T FREE ME... I’LL FREE MY MOTHER-FUKING SELF!!!

“When we study a philosophy which is not ours, we must see it in the context of the intellectual history to which it belongs, and we must see it in the context of the milieu in which it was born” — Kwame Nkrumah

According to Hegel the self-consciousness can only become cognizant of itself through the presence and recognition of itself by an-other. In his Phenomenology of the Spirit – tracing the footsteps of primitive man as he/she walks into the light of self-conscious realization – he describes the developmental process in which consciousness gives rise to self-consciousness and "inevitably" sublates into absolute knowledge and/or spirit; and explains how, this process is essentially triggered as the result of an encounter between 2 distinct self-conscious beings. This encounter, which ultimately leads to an inexorable life-or-death power struggle, i.e. a "dialectical death match" (E. Steinhart), is actually – a representation of the self desperately fighting for liberation from the trap of otherness — rooted and driven by an innate desire for recognition. In the end there can only be ONE. As in order for the self to attain consciousness of itself, it must asseverate itself as ABSOLUTE, i.e., an 'I', and thus sublate and annihilate the other as an-other.

However, neither consciousness can actually die in this struggle. As the death of either would preclude the attainment of self-conscious recognition; an outcome that Hegel refers to as "abstract negation." Hence an agreement is reached, under terms of capitulation, whereby the loser's life is spared, only, under the condition of subordinated subjugation

To illustrate this ongoing struggle of sublation between self and other, Hegel constructs [the dialectic] a philosophical allegory, conceptualizing the process of self-conscious development, based on the relationship between master/slave (lord/bondsman). In this story, he describes a power struggle whereby the winner (made master) achieves recognition from the loser (made slave) who's forced to recognize. In this regard the master (as dominant) represents the, subjective, independent consciousness; a consciousness existing for itself i.e. a being for self. Whereas the slave (as submissive), represents the dependent consciousness – mere property and object of subjective thought – a thing that is solely living for another i.e. a being for an-other. Self is master (subject-hood) and other is slave (object-hood).

Again, it’s important to note here that the master’s intent is not to kill the slave, but to merely possess the object that is the slave. Perhaps Peter Singer (Hegel: A Very Short Introduction) best describes the motivation behind this, "to desire something is to wish to possess it and thus not to destroy it altogether – but also to transform it into something that is yours, and thus to strip it of its foreignness.” The master's desperately seeking to determine himself as an "essential being" in the world (i.e. an absolute). His subjugation of the slave feeds this desire. As his acquired dominion ostensibly grants him the power to make the slave/object in his own image and thus affix his own meaning to the slave/object. The master, via possession, robs the slave of its identity i.e., subject-hood (think…ONEMAN = NO-NAME – Do you know your NAME – I AM A MAN) thus stripping the slave of its freedom and agency to define and or assign any meaning to itself.

But in actuality, neither master, nor slave is truly free as both are inextricably attached and dependent upon the same object. The master, while achieving recognition, has done so by forcibly imposing his will and dominance on an external consciousness (i.e. the slave). The master's dominance, however, can only be sustained by the slave's servility. Thus the master – dependent upon the slave (as object) to reify, legitimize and maintain his/her power and privilege – has not achieved full self-consciousness. On the other hand the slave, fearing death at the hands of the master is dependent upon the master for his/her subjugated "THINGHOOD" and meaning as an objectified being. Furthermore, the master is not content with the fact that his/her newly achieved recognition comes from a slave. As he also knows that said recognition is not the result of an earned respect but is established on the basis of fear (as induced by force). Hegel assert’s that the master's true desire is to be recognized and respected by an equal; not a slave. Thus, both (master and slave) are now essentially concatenated in an "unhappy" and unequal condition of interdependent recognition.

Yet, according to Hegel, the master gradually loses the upper hand. As although it first appears that the world is a reflection of his/her reality. Over time, however, he/she relying on the slave to satisfy every desire and need, becomes increasingly dependent upon the slave’s labor and as a result becomes less and less of a being for self. The slave, on the other hand, maintaining an active relationship to the world exercises his/her creative prowess and grows increasingly skilled and proficient in manipulating and transforming nature. Thus is slowly “transformed into a truly independent consciousness”. In its service to the master the slave negates itself as mere thing (a “conscious forced back into itself”) ultimately doing to itself what the master has done to it. Yet through the process of labor the slave, transforming its imposed negativity into an object, begins to recognize its own reflection in the products created by his/her labor. As a result, no longer alienated from its labor, the slave finally experiences independent self-consciousness. And as such comes to the realization – of itself as an object that needs to be transformed into a subject – that all in the world, to which it has been circumscribed as a subjugated being, has in fact been created by its own hands. Thus (the slave), coming to the realization that he/she has the power to transform the world by means of its own will, is liberated of its “attachment to natural existence” and its new consciousness, “as a being for self”, emerges.

Hegel also claims that, although it's the fear of death that causes the slave to negate itself – to serve the master i.e. be for an-other – it is, however, the experience of that fear that is crucial to the slaves own self-conscious development. You see the slave, "has experienced the fear of death, the absolute Lord. . . . [this] absolute melting away of everything stable, is the simple, essential nature of self-consciousness, absolute negativity, pure being-for-self, which consequently is implicit in the consciousness of the slave. Through his service he rids himself of his attachment to natural existence in every single detail; and gets rid of it by working on it." Thus fear is the sensation (the essence of consciousness) that essentially gives rise to perception; which is, in turn, brought into realization through action. The slave now, no longer an object but “self-activated subject”, confronts and sublates the master; essentially perceiving him/her as an object. Mind you, as Charles Villet explains, "The slave still fears the master, but overcomes this fear by seeing the master as an object and therefore a thing. The thing has been seized as the possession of the slave through his rebellion, and its nature is now his own making."

Essentially the slave is liberated by its labor while the master, on the other hand, ultimately becomes enslaved by it. E. Steinhart (Master/Slave Dialect) elaborates on this turn, “Immediately after the life-or-death struggle, the master controls the slave and the master is independent; the slave is controlled by the master and the slave is dependent. But now things are equalized: the master controls the slave, but the master is dependent; the slave is controlled by the master, but the slave is independent. The dialectic has balanced the relations between master and slave. Ironically, this is what the master wanted in the first place: the master didn't really want a slave, but respect from a peer. In the Hegelian sense this outcome marks an "inevitable" stabilization of differences; whereby, as K. Liberman succinctly puts it, “each subject objectifies the other, i.e., each subject produces an object.”

In the end, however, Hegel asserts that the only true solution to this ongoing process of sublation is the absolute negation of otherness. Which essentially means that the only positive outcome is that which results in “universal formative activity”. Which, in turn, can only be brought about if (both) master and slave are negated. In essence, this marks the unification and/or synthesis of self and other (thesis and antithesis) via mediation of absolute knowledge or spirit. This synthesis, marking the annihilation of otherness, represents the emergence or transcendence of a “universal consciousness”, based on a truly balanced and/or equal state of "mutual recognition”; essentially realized via the human faculty of reason.

Mind you, while Hegel's philosophical construct, upheld and divinized as a radical and profound intellectual work – purportedly reflecting the unfolding of history as it constantly progresses towards “the element of universality”, as the world is brought into “organic unity”; via the development of a “universally conscious” and/or intellectually liberated social entity. In reality his theory – as with most apotheosized ancient white philosophical thought formed on a white superior idea of “universality” – is, merely eloquent racist propaganda. In other words, it is completely, structured on a biased and racist notion of white superiority, as conceived out of the white imagination, solely for the consumption of white people. In Hegel's eyes the black man does not truly exist outside of the realm of inferiority as objects circumscribed by nature and instinct. You see, in Hegel’s opinion, "The Negro represents natural man in all his wild and untamed nature. [Thus, In order] to treat and understand him rightly, [one] must abstract all elements of respect and morality and sensitivity – [as there] is nothing remotely humanized in the Negro character". Such views – coupled with the failure of Hegel’s dialectic to truly arbitrate and/or resolve issues regarding racism (slavery and colonialism) – reflect the true limits of Hegel’s “universal” ideal. For instance, when he (Hegel) regards the construction of otherness (i.e., difference) as a primitive – although “natural” and “inevitable” – occurrence in the developmental process of human reason; and that reason, via its own progressive movements, ultimately develops into an enlightened social body that essentially stabilizes such difference (deemed “natural and “inevitable”). Such assertions prove problematic when considering the historical realities of racism – which gains expression through the (white supremacist) construct of race. For in such context, Hegel’s dialectic seems to basically deny and/or legitimize racism as “natural” or “inevitable”— as opposed to a construct deliberately created to establish and reify white dominance via the systematic extraction and negation of human content from all (non-white) OTHERS. Such thinking also substantiates the notion that reason, humanity, and history are properties of whiteness. And, furthermore, that the black man’s (as racialized object) “exist [ence] is [only] an expression of the objective reality of whiteness” (Fanon and the theory of Race). As such when placed in the context of (white) master vs (black) slave. The black slave’s (as object) only hope for liberation – within the Hegelian context of stabilized difference based on mutual recognition via the absolute sublation of otherness – lies in white assimilation.

This brings me to my ultimate point. You see, it is my belief that Hegel’s dialectic laid the very foundation for the white dominant paradigm that keeps us sycophantically groveling and kowtowing, for white acceptance, today. In Hegel’s eyes the “archaeological apex” of all humanity and history can, only, be found and/or excavated from the white man. It is from the perspective of Europe alone that all human knowledge can be explained as it was only in Europe that the seed of “universal reason” was conceived, gestated and brought to full realization. Europe is the geographical soil from which Hegel’s ontological tree sprouts. It is more so out of the [nineteenth century] conflicts between the French (master) and German’s (slave), than that of black slaves revolting against white masters in Haiti, that inspired his notion of mutual recognition. In his eyes it is the white man alone who possesses the ability to lift himself up from the muck and mire of “bare existence” and liberate himself from the grasp of nature. It is, none other than, this man to whom Hegel refers when he asserts, "It is solely by risking life that freedom is obtained; only thus it is tried and proved that the essential nature of self-consciousness is not bare existence, is not the merely immediate form in which it at first makes its appearance, is not its mere absorption in the expanse of life.” Yes, it is solely this white man and his history that make up the definitive template of mankind. And it is to this extent that we (black people) have been conditioned to believe that the white man holds the key to our humanity. If “absolute knowledge” is god, then they are Christ. Which means... as the way, truth and light, the only way to salvation is through them.

Within the context of Hegel’s notion of a “universal” history tracing the footsteps of man as he/she develops the faculty of reason, and “inevitably” transcends into the higher social consciousness of HUMANITY based on “mutual recognition” – when it all boils down to it...we (black people) were never part of this equation. This is because in the eyes of white people we are not, nor have we ever been, recognized as HUMAN BEINGS. In their eyes, we merely exist as objects – the property and possession of their subjective thought. Truth be told we are not even pets, because let’s face it, the lives of their dogs hold more value to them than ours. They do not recognize us as they are not seeking our recognition. Just as Franz Fanon described it with regards to the white master and black slave. The master is not at all seeking the slave’s recognition. In fact, they consider him to be laughable, nothing more than “machine-animal men” put here solely for labor. In this sense Fanon is referring to white dominance as it exists in a real world context of black oppression and not Hegel’s imagination of interdependent reciprocity.

Mind you, while Fanon’s critique was made specifically in the context of African and Caribbean colonialization. I do believe, however, that his observation is also applicable to the black American experience. As in spite of all that we (black people) believe ourselves to have achieved throughout our history here in America (Civil Rights et al) at the end of the day we have overcome absolutely NOTHING! For all of these so-called achievements, merely slipping into irrelevance, have done nothing at all to change the reality of white dominance; and the perpetual suffering of black oppression. Just as Fanon implies, we are not Hegel's slave. We have not found liberation in our work, nor have we objectified the white master. This is because we have never taken possession of our negation (i.e. blackness) and transformed it into an object for our liberation. Most importantly, while the (Hegelian) slave – by confronting death; working on and subsequently conquering its fear – essentially liberates itself. We, on the other hand, are nothing more than the spawn of those who gestated and rotted in the bellies of white slave ships. We did not FIGHT and win our FREEDOM for ourselves – of course I'm not negating the fact that many black slaves and leaders have fought and died for our freedom. However (at the end of the day) the fact still remains, we were ultimately set free. That is, we were COMMANDED to go free and without so much as 40 acres and a jackass! And while Hegel’s humanity – as solely driven by a desire for recognition – only comes about through the absolute sublation of otherness. Our humanity, on the other hand, as Fanon contends, is, inextricably intertwined with the other. And again, this is because the white man has successfully situated himself as the standard by which all humanity is measured. The point of which is suggested by Fanon (BSWM) when he says, “man is human only to the extent that he tries to impose his existence on another man in order to be recognized by him.” He also asserts that, “it is on that other being, on recognition by that other being, that [man’s] own human worth and reality depend. It is that other being in whom the meaning of life is condensed.” Fanon’s perspective is still valid today. The white master regarded the black man as a slave simply because he did not measure up to a white standard. Today, black and brown men comprise over 40 percent of the American prison population. Poverty still runs rampant in the black community. A, black man is murdered every 28 hours at the hands of police and or self-appointed vigilantes. Black oppression goes on unabated and it is all because we still do not measure up to that standard of whiteness by which humanity is measured…WE ARE NOT RECOGNIZED AS HUMEN BEINGS.

It is this realization that affirms and brings me to the true depths of this systematized racist paradigm. And also reveals to me just how much we've been imbued, shaped and essentially inculcated by (dominant) racist, white, thought. Realizing the greatest challenge and dilemma we (black people) face is our relentless desire to be acknowledged and accepted by white people. This desire is a malady of mind and spirit, born out of hundreds of years of subjugation, which has circumscribed us and left us absolutely dependent upon white approval. The white man (as dominant) operates and acts entirely in his OWN interest. Whereas we, on the other hand (as sycophants), also essentially operate and act primarily in his interest. In other words, when a white man fixes his gaze upon us, he sees only himself staring back (i.e. he sees his own reflection). As, in his eyes, we are merely objects reflecting his dominance. No matter how great we are, no matter what we accomplish, the sum of our accomplishments will always be attributed to him. Thus we will never, ever be seen – nor will we ever truly see ourselves – as anything other than projects and creations made in his image. As such, when we (black people) gaze upon the white man, we only see his reflection. This is because our very notion of freedom and identity has been established entirely on that of a dominant white archetype. The very fact that we find it necessary (at all) to plead and/or prove our humanity to an-other human being. That we find it necessary to convince an-other human being that our lives matter – those who have oppressed (raped, murdered and enslaved) us in particular. That every time they senselessly murder us and our children – put us down like dogs in the streets – we’re more concerned with not having them perceive us as savages than we are about fighting back! All of this only serves as validation of our adherence to that white power structure; and solidifies our position as inferior and submissive objects of white dominant authority.

All that we now hold in high esteem (from religion to academia) has been informed and/or dictated through white supremacy as formed via our objectification under white dominant subject-hood – which we now desperately covet and desire to possess. We have merely inherited and thus live by the values and standards of those who subjugated and subsequently commanded our "FREEDOM" (HAND ME DOWN FREE-DUMB). And we refuse to completely abandon and reject these (inherited) values and standards so that we may define and form those of our own – on our own terms. We embrace belief systems that are not of our own making. We are told that we are free yet in truth we have no concept of what freedom truly is outside of the ideal that has been created and defined, for us, by a white other.

And while we try and convince ourselves that we no longer have to be hindered by race. That we can now aspire to become whatever we dream in this world. We actually don’t believe this at all. As, in fact, we make no real effort to radically change and redefine ourselves or the world in accordance with our own will and/or vision. But instead tell ourselves that the only REAL way for us to, succeed, in this world, is to learn to assimilate…play the, proverbial, GAME. Thus we are ultimately saying that we must acquiesce and adhere to the standards and rules set by the other i.e., the white man. Furthermore the only achievements we deem worthy of our aspiration are those that (we believe) will land us on the grand stage of “WHITE RECOGNITION”. Thus, from jump, we essentially instill and nurture in ourselves (and our children) a condition of inferior genuflection to white superiority. Ultimately convincing ourselves that the only dreams worth dreaming are those that have first been realized and validated by the white man.

It is, of course, shame that feeds our denial of this subservience and fosters a willful capitulation and acquiescence (to it) – essentially maintained under the illusion of FREEDOM and national identity. As a result we've been fooled into negating the truth of our collective experience – the history (of racism and oppression) that binds us in object-hood – for the sake of white assimilation under the spurious pretense of a pseudo, all-inclusive, pluralistic and diversified, American ideal. Blind and ignorant are we to the reality that American pluralism is, at the end of the day, merely a subterfuge used to conceal the underpinnings of a dominant white (patriarchal) monolith. Deep down we are left conflicted and struggling in a sense of malaise and obligation (to America) somehow believing that we owe our very lives to protect this ideal that was never created for our inclusion. This malaise and sense of obligation is, nevertheless, fueled by the paternalistic white view that we (black people) still owe a debt to America. And that we must be, as James Baldwin once snapped, "Insane to attack" or denigrate "the very system to which we owe our entire identity." It would also, indeed, appear that the master/slave relationship is still held intact today – albeit cleverly mediated and transacted – through capitalism. As white, dominant, subject-hood has, essentially, been reified and preserved in the dollar and as such legitimized, systematized and given power through capitalistic expression. Thus our undying recognition and insatiable pursuit of the almighty dollar – the little green pieces of paper to which we (apotheosize and fetishize) attribute the power of LIFE, DEATH and FREEDOM – serves to preserve our status as objectified sycophants beholden to a dominant other. As we acquiescently allow capitalism the agency to grant value and meaning to our lives so are we still, cowering in subjugation, dependent upon white masters to validate our existence as human beings...Alas, still trapped (unrealized and objectified) in this amniotic sac of white fuck-dom.

Truth is, we must come to the realization that the white man will NEVER recognize us as human beings and as such we will never, ever gain true equality in America. As white supremacy (and racism) is a permanent condition that will NEVER, EVER go away! No matter how much we pray; no matter how much we march (“PEACEFUL PROTEST”), beg and vote. No matter how much money we make; academic degrees and accolades we acquire; no matter how many BLACK PRESIDENTS are appointed to the WHITE HOUSE! None of this matter’s. Nor do any of our so-called progress and achievements, because as previously stated, unless such achievements actually dismantle this system and eradicate the white dominant paradigm, they are ultimately temporary and irrelevant. White supremacy will live on and we will continue to be oppressed by it until we decide to stand up and resist it with all that we have in us! It is only by means of constant, and yes even violent, resistance (REVOLUTION) that our true liberation (and thus recognition) can be won. We must absolutely and completely renounce and negate this system, and all that it, represents in its entirety. And as such come to the realization that we possess the power to transform the world and to define and affix meaning to ourselves and our existence completely on our own terms. Furthermore, our struggle should never, ever be laid to rest. For, our struggle for freedom is, in fact, both an asseveration and manifestation of our humanity. In essence we must DESTROY to REBUILD! Therefore, I close with the immortal words of Michael Brown’s stepfather (Louis Head)… BURN THIS BITCH DOWN!!!

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