On Trickster Figures and Performing Blackness - First Take
I dreamt. I entered the dream by waking into it. I was in a bed in my grandmother’s shotgun house, the home where I grew up, but it was no longer in New Orleans. Laughter rang outside on the front porch, crawled inside through cracks in the threshold mixed with sunlight. One of the laughs, I recognized as my Pop. I got out of the bed, walked on my long legs to the door and stared outside. Pop was telling jokes to some men standing in the shade or by the street. I felt they were from Soweto, from the Samburu in Kenya and the Ndebele of South Africa. They had hairline smiles on their faces that fractured into belly laughs. I never went outside, only watched until the men left.
Then I woke to the darkness of mid-morning. I knew I had seen beyond my father and witnessed trickster figure.
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Trickster figures seem to be universal concepts in all cultures of the globe. They vary from Bugs Bunny to the Coyote of Native American cosmologies and even to cats like Bernie Maddoff. The Trickster performs many roles in society, but the primary role is as a teacher and mediator.
My Mother says, “Hey! Someone’s in the garage!” My heart is thumping. I rush down the stairs. My eyes look to her to confirm it.
“Got’cha,” she says. Then she tells me I’d left the garage door open.
This happened today, a few days after I dreamt about my Trickster Figure-father, but something suddenly hits me(because my brain is usually half in the real world, half day-dreaming about the spirits and future of the African Diaspora): I damn sure would never want to live with a Trickster. But I come to another realization immediately afterwards. A Trickster does more than teach a lesson or give wisdom, they ward off laziness and demand awareness. A Trickster Figure promotes growth by raising consciousness.
I connect this realization with a conversation me and my mother had. We were in a diner, talking about the differences between living a lie or remaining true to oneself. It reminded me of essays I’d read about self-actualization, identity performance and a hip-hop song--K.O.S. by Mos Def(Yasiin Bey) and Talib Kweli.
“You know how it is, the more you lie the longer you have to live with it,” she says. I nod my head, remember something from a book. A thought creeps into my head, its heavy and I start staring into my cup of tea to concentrate. Then I speak
“I think it’s that way with Blackness, today. You can perform ‘Black’—act black but live a lie-- or you can just be and embrace your Blackness without it limiting you.” My mother raises an eyebrow.
“I mean, the main difference between what mant Blackness for your generation and what Blackness means for mine was summed up best by Steve Biko, an activist from South Africa. He said something like, ‘Blackness is an attitude’.”
“It feels like more people in my generation have lost touch with that idea. Instead we’re mainly performing some idea of ‘Blackness’ that’s limiting us, rather than taking it to new heights. You know what I mean, like how we dress or act or speak a certain way. But then when you’re Black and you defy all of those performance rules, do something different, people grow afraid.”
Mother starts nodding. I work through my thought, flourish it like a fencing saber.
“Because you’re showing them a new way for Blackness to be. It expands the possibilities.”
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To me, the ultimate Trickster Figure of our new century is Media—also known as Tricknology, props to the Hip-Hop generation.
It is possible that Tricknology is trying to destroy people of color, the poor, the many of us on the economic and social margins. I assert this thought on the basis of how little control we have over mainstream media, but also how little power us "little people" have worked to seize when it comes making our own media. Entrepreneurs like Pharrell and his i am OTHER internet entertainment network, Oprah’s OWN network, and independent filmmakers(please peep this link) continue to inspire me and give me hope I believe they understand that media is simply a tool, available to anyone brave enough to use it to great effect. In our century, creating media is the way to amplify our voices.
Likewise, Tricknology, the Digital Trickster Figure will destroy anyone who remains lazy, remains asleep, remains unconscious. To quote Kanye, “The things we see on the screen are not ours.” I see those Black images that pop up in TV screens and Newspapers as only a single reflection of who we Black people are—they do not define us, but if we let Tricknology take advantage of us we’ll be stuck.
A Trickster Figure is meant to swoop in, cause havoc and leave a people with new knowledge to share. All this Tricknology, all these Media depictions of people of color as buffoons or criminals even as hot shots but all in the same old roles, they’re traps when you don’t see past them.
Tricknology is a wake-up call for our generation. Blackness is in a state of change, searching for new growth and ideas. Live the lies and limitations of mainstream Blackness if you want. I’m looking for the people moving past that, people who are taking Blackness to new heights, low-end theories and continents.
As Biko said, "Blackness is an attitude", a state of mind. And the Black state of mind is constantly evolving and growing. Those who grow lazy or afraid of growth risk losing their voices and thus losing control over how they define themselves.
