before we can change the world we must change the way we think.

I was just talking to my Baba Fred Carter and he sparked some profound insight on how this present protest movement indicates our absolute need to build our own society now. Though I have little faith in the effectiveness of protests in 2014 America–due moreso to the culturally hereditary contempt of the majority of Americans rather than the well-meaning efforts of the protestors–I hadn’t considered how beneficial they actually are for the target of the protests. The injection of visitors from throughout the country has certainly been a boon to the local economy of Ferguson and St. Louis County. Protestors need food, fuel, lodging, etc…you get the idea. Even as I commend D. Rose’s wearing of the “I Can’t Breathe” t-shirt, it occurs to me that his shirt was probably produced by businesses outside of our control. Even if the shirt was sold by a Black retailer, the textiles were certainly grown, produced, and shipped by those with whom we find ourselves opposed. Not only that, his shirt (along with much of which I am wearing right now) was likely made in exchange for some other poor soul’s oppression–probably damaging lives and livelihoods in some infamous corner of our scarred planet. Without our own institutions and industries, we are even dependent upon our oppressors to protest our oppression.
Audre Lorde once asserted that we cannot use the master’s tools to dismantle his house. The problem is that he has been building up his house since our previous encounters, while we’ve simply been rearranging our rooms within his structure. As the structure collapses, as the house burns, we would do well to spend more time building up ourselves and building a world that can sustain the life we seek to sustain. As we look within, in this pivotal moment, I believe that many of us will find that we have become more like them than we’d like to believe. I believe that some of us will discover that the serpent, in his insidious wisdom, has slithered into our own very minds and hearts, guiding our hands to work towards the benefit of his interests in spite of our own. The Prophets of old wrote that hell would have enlarged itself and opened wide it’s mouth to consume all those who focused more on the ponp than the circumstance. Our circumstances require of us more than the typical theater. Our freedom must be built, not requested…

Zarakyah Ben Sar Ahmadiel