Tay Bird💎💋

The majority of Africans currently born in the Americas are from WEST and CENTRAL Africa. There is nothing wrong with celebrating the greatness of Black Egypt (as they are your distant ancestors) but you are not Egyptian. 

If you cant name off at least 20 African countries, 5 different African cultures, 5 historical kingdoms, events, and/or leaders, and 5 different resources from around the African continent; one from each African region (North, South, East, West, and Central), all off the top for your head; you don’t know shit about your people. 

If you take the time to research the rest of the continent you will also find that some of your restricting ideologies of black women and black LGBT are of European descent and not pro black.

Gender roles were diverse in precolonial Africa.  Many African cultures ran on a matriarchy as well as a patriarchy. Black women had their own organizations, government systems, and even ran economies. In some cultures, women were fighters, warriors, and frontliners. They weren’t bound to stand behind men. Many African cultures saw women as the closest thing to “god” and certain spiritual practices, such as libations, were poured only by women.This was a mindset destroyed by European conquest. In the fight to reclaim our cultural identity, African women have the right to choose the state of being that caters to both their blackness and womanhood. If a woman decides to respectfully stand in front, beside, or behind a man, that is her ancestor approved right. If you preach against this, you are not pro black. You are pro black man….barely. Real men of substance are not so easily threatened. 

LGBT is not foreign to Africa, it was there before colonialism. Africans are not new to sex, something established by NATURE, not by man. Africans, ***INCLUDING THE EGYPTIANS****  explored sex within and outside their gender. Africans were able to identify with genders outside their own, and their community would honor that. Polygamy and Polyandry existed before European presence. As did cross-dressing. European conquest promoted LGBT-phobia through CHRISTIANITY. Who is going to Africa RIGHT NOW preaching hate, and VIOLENCE towards the LGBT community? The church. You give Europeans too much power. You honestly think they created something as basic as sexual orientation? In the fight to reclaim our cultural identity, black people have their ancestor approved right to be ALL of who they are. If you preach against this, you are not pro black. You are pro black heterosexual…..barely, a heterosexual person of substance is not so easily threatened. 

You still hide behind European ideologies, because it puts you on top. Community and family structure are important but we knew how to respect an individual for who they were. You are not pro black, you are not pro hotep, you are simply a disgrace to your ancestors because you are still pro colonialism.

These are just a few things wrong with your “hotep” notion. However, I wont undermine an attempt at restoring our cultural roots, so a word of advice: bring that crazy back a bit, live and let live (ONE OF THE MOST SUPREME AFRICAN PRINCIPLES), and start digging deeper. You are only brushing the surface. 

[[This is Isaiah Hine’s high school presentation on white fragility. You’re not going to get a simpler explanation, in my opinion, so if you’re white you should really read this. Below are Isaiah’s notes on each slide.]]

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What is White Fragility?

Robin DiAngelo is a professor at Westfield State University and author of What Does it Mean to Be White? Developing White Racial Literacy.

I’m sure you’ve all seen these ‘defensive moves’ in action before. “I didn’t mean anything by it” “I wasn’t trying to be offensive” “I have a black friend” “Not all white people”

People are often more worried about being called a racist than actually doing something racist. In America white people often don’t even have to consider race. They often think of themselves as “raceless” white is conditioned to be the norm and everyone else is considered “raced” or “colored”. White fragility allows white people to govern when and how race is discussed. White people expect to be educated on racism, and in a nice way.

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Why Is It A Bad Thing?

White people never learn as a result and are allowed to continue saying and doing racist things. White people prefer to hear these things from other white people but because other white people don’t know enough about racism, they cycle continues. When people of color do things like the BLACKLIVESMATTER movement, many white peoples responses were “all lives matter” this is white fragility. Proclaiming that black lives matter does not inherently mean that other lives don’t. This statement is made because society continually shows us that black lives don’t matter in america and these are the lives that need the affirming. We already know that white lives matter, it doesn’t need to be stated. White people are very used to being the center of things and when they aren’t it makes them uncomfortable.

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Why Does This Happen?