I'm really excited for the Black Panther release later today. One reason why I think it's so powerful is that it tells the story of an African country that was never colonized, giving us a glimpse of a world that could have been, of a greatness and power that exists without having to overcome outside domination. I think the timeliness is evolutionary and as people are waking up we will see more and more stories told like this... especially since so many movies about black life that make it to Hollywood depict slavery. Which is also important to face. And then also strangely comfortable to the institution. It's been interesting and sad to see the pushback from a lot of white people around this. Why does it have to be *black* panther, etc. Seriously every superhero movie that comes out has white leads... even movies set in Asia strangely have white actor leads with their hair dyed black... do they want it to be called White Superman? I mean basically that's what it already is. What I want to name is the way white people are triggered in seeing something depicting empowered black people telling their complex stories in their own narratives... it's always like well what about us? White people can't even agree that black lives... *matter*... Dominant culture already is white culture... in standards of beauty and etc. Afrocentric standards of beauty have been so threatening to white culture in many ways, and I think it brings up deep inferiority. Many white people are triggered to see black excellence, because we have so far to go from the slavery and jim crow era.... black excellence, alone, not interacting with white culture, just being great is a threat because it means the logic behind white supremacy (which created this country) is flawed... and that means all the injustices perpetrated on black people at the hands of white people was wrong. And that creates a feeling of guilt. Guilt is the lowest vibratory emotion. People do not want to feel it. So they will reach for any way of avoiding it even if it defies logic or common sense. There are stages to unlearning white supremacy just like there are steps to overcoming addiction. One of the first is feeling guilt. White guilt is not the destination. It is part of awakening and becoming an ally and accomplice in achieving racial justice for all... and realizing that this is good, and changes will have to be made, but there is enough for everyone, and it's better this way. When we think of all the riches in the African continent, the gold, the minerals, the diamonds, the music and dance that has inspired so many other forms of expression... it's mighty. I don't know who said it originally: America is lucky black people want equality and not revenge. From an oppressor mentality, people wouldn't want to see equality because they would be afraid the same thing would be inflicted back on them. Same thing applies to men blocking opportunities and equality for women. But literally people just want to live their lives. And when a black person is killed by the police every 23 hours in this country and an athlete draws attention to this, he is banned from the game. Meanwhile, our attorney general reminds us of the anglo-american tradition of law enforcement, as if that's a reason for pride. I will get to tradition in a second... when we see those amazing riches and how they continue to be plundered by European countries... and compare facts like the median household wealth for white families ($134,230) vs black families ($11,030) in America... it really drives home just how stacked the cards have been against black people, and yes that things should be done rectify that, like financial reparations for slavery. So I'm with one of my health practitioners yesterday getting a healing session. A white, blonde healer from Mt Shasta. I tell her I'm really excited to see the Black Panther movie, that I felt it was evolutionary and how ridiculous it is to see pushback from white people about it. I had been doing a lot of praying and channeling about how to talk to white people in a way that could wake them up and interrupt these patterns. It was kind of a bold topic because I need to be in good standing with the few health practitioners that are able to help me these days. But here I went. She says I hear you, but, (oh Lord here it comes) what about that show Black-ish? I mean if they made a show called White-ish people would be marching in the streets. I didn't really think people would be marching in the streets... because that's what already is happening... I told her that they already made a White-ish, it was called Friends. Or Game of Thrones, even. White culture is American dominant culture. Black culture is so underrepresented and marginalized, that to depict people living their lives, defying stereotypes and being, well, human unfortunately is still rare, which is why the name makes sense. She said I wasn't understanding her point. People would be marching in the streets. I told her that unfortunately most white people get their perception of black culture through the media. Which is controlled by the elite, and how are these forces manipulating that media to keep those perceptions in place. The stories are underrepresented. The stories are not told. She kept saying I wasn't getting her point. Marching in the streets. We were at an impasse. I was in the middle of a treatment and I could feel the tension mounting in the room. She was interrupting me, I was getting upset and I didn't want to come across as emotionally unstable. We dropped the subject awkwardly. Later I was thinking, so what really was her point? Or behind her point. That black people should be grateful, like our president (can't believe it) said the other day about LaVarr Ball? That people were making too much out of injustice? Pretty easy for her to say... but... it brought me to something I often think about. So, right. What is white culture, outside of this narrative of oppression? It's hard to find and grasp on to. Patriarchy was enforced in Europe hundreds of years ago, around 500 years before Europeans went on to brutally colonize other parts of the world. Healers, women, medicine people, pagans were hunted out and killed. Burned alive. The indigenous, earth-centered, matriarchal traditions that once guided and sustained communities were erased. Books were burned. Fear was enforced. We still see that today. Alternative medicine healers are being murdered frequently. Inventions to heal cancer are banned by the FDA. This is a part of that same system of governance that is nobody's friend, even though white people receive more priveledge and benefits in our society. I don't hear a lot of discussion about tapping into those old ways. I do hear people talk about the construct of whiteness upon arriving in the US. Irish, Italians, Poles etc were lower class citizens. Whiteness between these European immigrant cultures was a construct adopted through the post slavery era to retain dominance and stay in the majority. Even now, as white people are becoming outnumbered in the US (on land that was already inhabited by Native Americans) diversity is considered "white genocide"... that's really a thing that a lot of people are freaking out about... ask George Ciccariello-Maher. For white people, the enforcement of patriarchy in Europe is our own cultural trauma. The loss of the sustainable ways that were taken away from us. The shame that was implanted in us of being pagan, of being spiritual, of knowing our magic. Wait, magick. For many white people in the US it is hard to access our roots that don't have anything to do with positioning oneself in superiority or in oppressing others. This is a deep journey that will continue. Many white people seek this wild nature through the indigenous traditions of other cultures, but in doing so reenact the same patterns of invasion and plundering because the same global systems of injustice exist. Let's see what happens when I see her later today... If you're reading this and you're white, let's see if we can appreciate other cultures in their excellence without having to redirect the narrative back to us. Let's see if we can grasp how other cultures in their greatness make us all great. Let's keep having these awkward conversations with people we might not see eye to eye with, and work on getting better at it. For us, it's a choice we can make. For others, the way things are, it's a life or death situation every day.
