Dear black man

Dear Black Man,

You are loved.

You are good enough.

Even when your shoulders droop

from all the baggages the world throws at you,

you still crack a smile.

When people pour buckets of sand on your wound,

you never let them hear you wince.

Everyday they continue to label

and put chains on you

but you refuse to stay down.

Dear black man,

I see your innate ability

to protect everyone you love.

I see all the different masks

you have to put on the moment

you step outside your door.

I see your struggle in the battlefield,

fighting off ideals and paradoxes

of who you are and who you would like to become.

I am here for and with you.

I cannot heal your wounds,

that can only come from within you.

But I can hold your hand through your pain.

I can sing with you, war songs and all.

I can wipe off your tears when you cry.

THE DEATH OF THINKING.

I HAVE BEEN TWISTING AND TURNING MY TIRED MUSCLES ON THIS ROCK HARD BED. 

SLEEP LINGERS AROUND MY EYELIDS BUT THOUGHTS OF THE WORLD RIDE ON MY MIND.

WHENEVER I PUT MY FINGERS TO THE KEYBOARDS, THE WORDS DISAPPEAR

but when I lay down to close my eyes, it all fucking comes at once. 

OVERTHINKING AGAIN, SPILLING NOTHING BUT CLUTTERS ON MY BLANK SCREEN

AHH SHIT I WILL JUST GET TO THE POINT.

Everyday as I grow older, my small talk skills slowly disintegrate into the background.

THINK JOY, THINK, WHAT DO NORMAL PEOPLE TALK ABOUT?

Ask her about her family and what area she lives in.

OKAY YEAH, NOD YOUR HEAD.

Oh awwh, that's nice.

SMILE, SHIT NO DONT SMILE, THAT’S NOT FUNNY.

OKAY, NOW YOU SAY SOMETHING, LOOK INTERESTED. 
No, don't say that, she will think you are judging her!
OHMYGOSH YOU ARE SUCH A PRUDE! She says..

But why does the world not know about breast ironing?

Are single black women in movies like Karate kids stereotypes or representations of realities?

Why is an aunty twerking on twitter?

HOW DO WE STOP FEMALE GENITAL MUTILATION?

Why did I never see jungle book as a child?

Will I ever be ready for a relationship?

DID I MAKE THE RIGHT DECISIONS?

AM I MAKING THE RIGHT DECISIONS?

FUCK OKAY DON’T PANIC.

THINK JOY THINK.

Or maybe stop overthinking.

BUT ARE WE BEING DESENSITISED FROM HARD NEWS?

Is it ethnocentric to think girls getting an early curfew than guys in some countries is not right?

Is freedom a western ideology?

Is that why we are still enslaved?

ARE WE REALLY IN A REVOLUTIONARY SOCIETY?

THINK JOY, THINK.

To The Other Black Boys.

To the ones that do appreciate us. I see you. 

To the ones that constantly wave our flag, the ones that embrace us, 'attitude' or no 'attitude'.

To the King always polishing the throne for his Queen.

To the ones that refuse to give up on us, to raise our flags a tad higher because our arms are getting tired.

To the ones that respect our grind, to the ones that see us as more than sexual toys to play with when bored. 

To the ones that challenges us to do more.

To the ones that see our insecurities and our fears.

To the ones that stretches out their hands in the dark, searching for us like the light at the end of the tunnel.

To the ones holding us above the surface from drowning in a sea of lost hopes and broken dreams.

To the ones that is fixing a heart they did not break.To the ones that see the passion in our eyes.

To the ones that hear the melody in our voice when we are happy.To the ones that hear the fury in our voice when we are angry.

To the ones that wipe off our mothers' tears.

To the ones who come from a broken home yet have nothing but love and respect to give. I salute you. 

An Open Letter.

To all black boys.

Firstly, I am sorry.

I am sorry for opening my mouth in a room filled with your charismatic energy and saying "I don't like black boys because they just don't get me". 

I am sorry after looking at the glow in your eyes, the sharpness in your fades, the sparkle in your smiles, the different hues & shades in the room yet still opening my mouth to say "plus they are mostly liars and heartbreakers". (While the last one may resonate to many many girls, it is also a-actually most species of the male gender will lie to you and cheat on you at any chance they get because fuck monogamy- right?). Now that that is out of the way....let us continue.

Dear black boys, When your mamma or pappa keeps pushing you to go to higher education it is not because your name is one of the many things that they wish to add to their list of accomplishments.

Nor is it because they just love making life decisions for you. It is because they know that in a world constantly portraying black men as thieves, murderers and deadbeats. Just by punching in their stereotypes on their bourgeoisie' keyboards; an educated black man is like a weapon of destruction to their oppression and marginalisation, slowly disintegrating their racism one book at a time.

Dear black boys.When you tell your dark skinned girlfriend with her 4c natural hair that she should get it relaxed, just shh, please don't. Or when you tell your black girlfriend with relaxed hair that you hate her hair braided or you hate her weave and that she looks better with her relaxed hair or whatever your preferred option may be..our ancestors are rolling in their graves. Why? Because son whatever the black girl chooses to do with her hair is none of your damn business. Just because you share the same skin colour as her does not give you the right to dictate her hairstyle which by the way is already difficult to choose, thanks to patriarchal white supremacy and their-standard-of-beauty. Whenever you say this to a black girl, you are not just telling her "your opinion". What she hears is that whatever she does, she will not be good enough.

Dear black boys,(the ones who say they "don't date black girls because blah blah blah.."). You all need to apologise.I would say I understand why you "don't date black girls" but no. I do not.

Here is a list of reasons on why you need to apologise : When you say you don't date black girls because they are 'rude', 'proud', 'aggressive' or unlike the white girls / (insert any other race you think is better) they lack a sense of humour.Close your mouth, pick up a book or two, stretch your legs, go play golf, do anything but say something as hurtful as that.Because you are not just saying this about black girls, you are saying this to your great grandmother, your grandmother, your mother, your aunties, your sisters and other female relatives that I forgot to mention. 

Please close your mouth because you look ignorant and hateful towards your own damn race.

When Martin Luther King, Malcolm X, the Black Panthers and others were all fighting for equality and against segregation in America, it was these same 'proud', 'rude', 'aggressive' and 'humourless' black girls that stood and fought with them before other people joined in. Hell when Nelson Mandela was held in captivity for 27 years in his walk to freedom who do you think was holding down the forefront? A black girl. Shoutout to Winnie!!

(Anddddd now you're thinking, shit well that escalated quickly...) but I digress..there is more.

Hold your mouth because in every race there are strong, rude, aggressive and humourless girls who will pluck your balls and feed it to the dogs if you keep saying, trying or doing stupid shit.Hold your mouth because you look ignorant and ungrateful. You may not realise this but black girls are not just PROUD we are also PROUD of you. 

In a society that constantly tries to put us down, telling us that we are not good enough, being proud of ourselves is one of the greatest tools that we have. 

Hold your mouth or rather, delete that tweet which you are about to write on how unnecessary and overbearing "some black girls are". For every group  of black girls uniting like 'Melanin Twitter' or 'Melanin Tumblr' or 'Nubian Instagram' there is an opposite group stating how 'all this is that' and that 'it's not that deep'.

Hold your mouth because every movement  you may think is trivia, to us is actually a gradual walk to conquering our psychological marginalisation. 

Hold your mouth because right from your mother's womb to adulthood, we are the ones that will lift you up, cry for or even scream at you for every lose you take and for every mistake you make.

We do not care for your swagger, or your smoother than cheese on your bagel talks, or your 'big black cuckoroo' or for your DNA mixing with ours to get light-skinned babies because mainstream media tells us so (yes yes the last one is scientifically impossible but you get zee point). 

We care for your happiness, every time you win, we pop a bottle for you. We care for your pain, every time you face-palm because of the 'how big is your cockroach' question.We are right behind you, assuring you that that is not all you are.

We are here for every daddy or trust issue that you wish to untangle. 

We are here for every time you need to vent to someone who gets it too. 

We are here for every time the police shoots another young black man. 

We are here with our blogs typing away in your defence. 

We are out there in the streets with signposts shouting #BlackLivesMatter come rain or storm and the occasional sunshine. Whether we live in America or not. We are there. We are here for your depression that you never accept you have because "black boys don't get depressed". 

We are here for every time hyper masculinity calls your name and you decide to say no. 

We are here with our arms wide open when you just feel like crying because shit is hitting the fan. 

We are here in Britain, in America, in Africa, in the islands and everywhere else.So while we are always lifting you from the bullshit that you are constantly being showered with. 

Cheering for you while you race to the finish line without any privileges. 

Protecting you from the strains of white supremacy, please do return the favour. Because if you don't love, care for and look out for us first, who else will?

Xoxo -thetomorrowjoy.