The End of the Black Community
First, we need to define community — because it’s a buzzword we’ve casually thrown around to describe ourselves, and it simply doesn’t fit.
A community is a group of people collectively invested in a specific outcome.
Webster defines it as “a group of people who share something in common, such as a place of residence, interests, or characteristics” — but I like my definition better... It’s important that we have a working definition of community first, so that we know what we are not, so we can figure out what we actually are, so we can start having a real conversation about who we want to be.
Now that we know we are not a community, let’s correctly define what we are.
Black is a brand.
Like Nike.
Like the Hawks.
Like the Titans.
It’s a label you put on something to put it in a box — and sell it.
It’s a label that was given to us by the marketing team of our opposition, to reposition us in the marketplace as an inferior product — something to keep on clearance and sell at the outlet mall — while repositioning themselves as something superior. A luxury item. Something to aspire to.
(See Differentiate or Die by Jack Trout.)
We weren’t invited to these marketing meetings, of course — because what business ever invites its competition into the room while it’s planning how to dominate them in the marketplace?
Now that we know we’re a brand, and not a community, the question becomes: Is a collective group of people invested in a specific outcome something we want to be? It’s certainly something I would like us to be. But if it’s not something you want to be — please opt out of this message now.
You won’t find much value in what follows.
I’ll wait…
“I freed a thousand slaves. I could have freed a thousand more
if only they knew they were slaves.”
— attributed to Harriet Tubman
Okay. For the rest of you still here:
I’d like to present to you the new brand for our new community, that my team and I came up with.
Me personally? I liked the brands we had at first.
Egyptians. Kings. Queens. Gods.
But the team felt like we needed something more inclusive — because a lot of ninjas can’t see themselves for what they truly are.
So our new brand is... Drum roll please.....
The Afro Americanos...... I know. Issa vibe.
We will do a deep dive into the philosophy behind it later, but for now, we will assume that it is a self evident concept and that you are intelligent enough to get it without a TED Tallk. For the sake of time, lets just go with this and move on to the next thing. We have already lost 400 years and we have a lot of ground to cover. There will be plenty of other things we can spend all day pontificating about.
Now that we have a name, I’d like to invite you to take a journey with me.
A journey to freedom… Actually — scratch that.
Let’s just take a day trip for now.
Some of you ninjas will prefer being slaves — and that’s okay. Know that you are still loved.
My name is Shawn.
I’ll be your tour guide.
We will visit the past. We will visit the future.
And then we’ll have a conversation about what we need to do in the present.
At least for the ones who want to come.
I’m already over here.
Hopefully, you’ll see the vision and want to come too.