White Gaze / Black Guides
Personal-Public Reflection
To the white homies, when’s the last time you’ve confronted racism in your community? (Leave a comment)
To my POC homies, when’s the last time you’ve confronted racism in your community? (Leave a comment)
To my Black homies, when’s the last time you’ve confronted racism in your community? (Leave a comment)
Black people are given access to white communities. Capitalism depends on it.
But white people aren’t given unfiltered, free-roaming, unabashed access to Black communities.
Enter the White Gaze.
Since the dawn of Black people, white people, colonizers, and imperialists have maintained an uneasiness, a fear, or trepidation, over the inner workings of Black life.
What are those niggas doing over there?
What are those niggas doing in here?
What are those niggas doing everywhere?
The anxiety that overcomes whiteness (a/k/a capitalism) at the possibility of Black life, Black people, and Black community doing and being exactly what we are is too much.
With the goal of solving this great mystery for white America, I’m going to tell you exactly what nigggas are up to when they’re within the safety/unsafe comfort/discomfort of their homes and neighborhoods.
Are you ready?
Exactly the same thing white people are doing in their homes, doing and being whatever they want to do and be.
If you think niggas in their homes eating dinner, watering plants, and reading books it’s probably because you’re doing those things. If you think niggas in their apartments watching Netflix all day, tired of zoom meetings, and ordering way too much shit from amazon it’s probably because you’re doing those things. If you think niggas is trying to take over America, scheming against other communities, and just making this country so damn terrible to live in, it’s probably because...
- you see there’s not a knowing that white people and Black people are both human beings with identical need states but varied access to the systems and tools that provide for those need states.
Important note, I’m gonna pause here, and say that again but more clearly this time.
Within Whiteness (a/k/a Colonialism, Imperialism, or Capitalism), there’s not a knowing and an actionable acceptance of this knowing that white people and Black people are both human beings with identical need states but varied access to the systems and tools that provide for those need states.
It honestly saddens me that whiteness has caused so many people to be so removed from their knowing that this pervasive gaze and inquiry and questioning and policing and referencing of Black life persists to this day. Like hello, wake up, you know this is wrong and you can do something but you close your eyes and continue the American dream. You’re sleep, and this century-old necessity of the white gaze exists as a result. To discern what exactly Black people are doing. And to serve as a de facto mirror for pop culture at large because whiteness doesn’t know what’s going on. Joe Biden said if you have questions as to whether you’re with me or you’re with trump you’re not black. Nigga, excuse me? Capitalize the ‘b’ first of all. Secondly, i aint with none of you niggas.
If you’re a presidential candidate or a regular nigga and you don’t know how to combat racism in your community or your family or your office, you ask Black people for help. And in the same vein, if you don’t know what to wear to that quarantine party in the hills you about to slide to on the low, you gotta find that cool Black kid at the office to see what he’s wearing. If you don’t know what music is cool, well just ask your cool Black friend.
I’m only joking, whiteness doesn’t do that, it doesn’t have to anymore, yall got Instagram now! If you don’t know what’s the next trend in menswear, hit em with a furlough and follow 2-piece and throw some flame emojis before you put that nigga on your moodboard. Want to know what the niggas are listening to? Here’s the most necessary playlist by Spotify. ‘Most necessary for who?’, is my question. If you don’t know who to vote for, data says you can follow the Black women voting trends and not make the mistake of voting for trump again. No need to talk to a Black woman, just follow the data.
Dataism is the new white gaze.
And it’s capitalism’s divestment in Black culture.
“I don’t need to pay Black screenwriters. We got the data. I know niggas, I keep trying to tell yall, I have Black friends, but now we’ve got black AI.”
Fam, that’s a scene from my scariest movie. You know that nigga work at Facebook right now, he’s minutes away from a breakthrough, he can almost taste a nigga it’s so close.
Idk man, I been reading a lot about dataism and it’s scary shit yo. Took an edible and here we are. I think the point I’m wanting to make is that Black people can and will exist outside of capitalism at some point. A lot of niggas aint getting there jobs back. Amazon, Uber, who else, they been told you how easy it’s going to be to replace you. In some form or fashion and you either heard it or you tried not to hear it but they been let you know. ‘We think we can do this without em’ or ‘actually, we like this idea more.’ Or ‘sorry we didn’t think you were a good fit,’ that’s a classic. And while that’s not a comforting moment to have rest assured that that’s just a part of real nigga shit. And so is the ‘i aint really need them niggas anyway’ moment.
I been there for a minute. I feel like a lot of us are. It’s a good place to be and I’m glad to be here with you. And if you aint with me that’s cool too. You can go over there but me and my niggas we gonna be over here, cuz yall really just want capitalism to yourself anyway. And it's not working for me breh. I’m tired of it. My ancestors built this country, my contemporaries can build another one. Sunk cost fallacy is thinking this system still works. Or thinking that it’ll ever work for you if you’re Black. I know it sucks cuz you built it. But continuing to invest energy in it aint gonna change it. Adaptation is Blackness, it is not capitalism. This train took off on these tracks 400 years ago. We think we’re still at the station talking about wait a minute you forgot the niggas and that they gonna just reverse the train, let the niggas on board and then keep going forward to wherever we’re going on this capitalism train.
Nigga we’re the tracks.
And I think capitalism has arrived at its destination: VR
It’s safe and secure. You can access it at home. Ain’t no niggas in there if you dont want there to be. Or maybe it’s Mars that capitalism is headed? What Jeff Bezos and Elon Musk’s obsession with Mars is beyond me. Niggas still dont got water in Flint and you trynna go to Mars? Huh? Nigga go to Michigan, we got shit to do.
And you know if you don’t want to help us it’s cool. We actually don’t need your help, we are the architects, the caretakers, and the “Soul of a Nation.” We got the history, we got the future, and we got the now. What we don’t got is the time to waste. The intuition within Blackness is our guide, mind the white gaze.