Woke – A friend of mine called me this back in 2013. The first time I heard that word I automatically figured out what it meant, I didn’t need to ask my mate or go to the urban dictionary. But for those of you who do not know what this means,
Normal dictionary definition: Woke – past tense for wake
Urban dictionary: Woke – A state of perceived intellectual superiority one gains by reading and being aware of the social, political, economic and spiritual factors of life.
I know, what a pill to swallow being called “Woke”, like life is not hard already now I had to live up to this woke way of living, this expectation of knowing the ‘oh bigger than life’ type shit. Like my 20’s aren’t hard enough. It is so funny though, how back then in 2013 I thought I had a grip on life and somewhat cracked the code to this life and winning thing. I watched a Ted talk video once on something connected to this called “The art of being yourself” by Caroline McHugh and she was speaking my language in every point she put out (Youtube video clip of the ted talk below). If a light bulb does not go on after this then I do not know what will.
“The art of being yourself”… the first time I read the title while scrolling through my Ted talks clips, I was like “Not another one of these”, I was put off. But like some old white man sometime probably (hypothetically speaking) back in the 1800’s said, “Never judge a book by its cover” because I had my mind blown.
Anyone who knows me knows that this year I decided to change a lot of shit in my life, so when I saw this I swear it was like Caroline McHug’s mind had synced with mine even though it was just for a few minutes.
Transitioning: My favorite word so far in 2017, it symbolizes growth and adjustment that I have had to enforce on myself because sometimes it is easy to fall into comfort; into a state of being. This is also one of the things that the above clip talks about in detail, sometime it’s a choice other times its life’s circumstances that force you to get the show on the road; she called them “intervals of possibility”. Two of my high school friend’s dying early this year really did put a lot into perspective so here I am, going through an uncomfortable period of adjustment, forcing myself to grow and get back to the basics. So as Caroline sated;
If you could be the person (male/female) of your dreams, who would it be?
Ego Vs Self: Weirdly enough my last post was about this, I wrote it before I watched that Ted talk but my oh my how it resonates. Caroline McHug agrees with me that the ego is just as important when it comes to shaping who you turn out to be because it shades light on self-validation and love.
What do you think of yourself?
This is a very important question, it determines and sets a mark on how you carry yourself and who you are going to be. A stable healthy relationship with your ego works out well for your true self as it ends up serving you for the good, it builds confidence and who doesn’t draw towards confidence?
The self is a spiritual thing, it is who we truly are; naked. The self makes you question a lot of thing like;
Why do you exist?
What is your purpose on this earth?
These all work hand in hand, the ego, the self and knowing all this transcends a ripple effect which ends up leading you to being and loving yourself. That is how to get Woke.
Stacey Dash strikes again; for those of you who have not been watching Wendy Williams, following twitter, or basically do not care for what trends let me enlighten you. So the clueless actress, went on air and dared to deem black history month and BET unimportant. She said that she doesn’t see the importance of celebrating black history of having channels like BET because these exact things are what separate black American from the rest of the people in the country. She believes that this secluded blacks, that she is American and shouldn’t be put in any racial category. How absurd, how unrealistic she is. This foot in mouth moment was a result of the “Oscar controversy” were actors and the american viewers were complaining that the oscars only favoured tje white actors, that the non-white actors were not appreciated. Honestly I had not thought about this that much. Grow in up in Africa, I had never thought of race as a big deal. This is only because most of the people I shared my space with were black. However, I knew the history. I knew that some of my ancestors were stolen from the motherland and put on ships to foreign lands to go work on cotton plantations and serve the white folk. Heck, being a black person this hurt me; I do not have to be American to understand the importance of black history month and enjoy BET.Stacey Dash might want to deny the fact that race is a big part of the day to day but that is a lie. We are not colour blind, we live in a world that very much sees colour; that knows the history. A lot of my friends might disagree and ask why black people and Hispanic people put so much weight on race factors. This is only because they do not experience racism. While doing my undergraduate, I worked at a bar in Soho and one time while engaging in friendly banter with my manager, she referred to one of our regular customers as “the coloured lady”. I was taken back, I didn’t know how to react; I asked myself if I should be offered or rubbish that derogatory term as a one off mis interpriration because I knew my manger, she was a lovely lady, she was nothing but kind to me. But looking back now I noticed a few things about her that suggested she was more empathetic towards me than kind. Empathetic of the fact that I am an African, a BLACK African. One time when I was talking about the summer I spent back home, she asked if I got around in Africa because in her mind she thought only the president had a car! I was shocked at how clueless and ignorant one could be. But how is she to be blamed for something she has not seen, not experienced. So as I watched Stacy Dash go on about the importance of being seen as an American and not a black American, I could not help but feel sorry for her; for her ignorance. When a black 8 year old kid is shot dead because they thought he had a real gun when instead he was playing with his toy gun, how is that not a judgement made on just his race? When a 16 year old black boy with a hoody walking from the corner shop with nothing but skiltles in his hand is chased down and killed a kilometre from his house because he looked dodgey, how is that not a race thing? Walking out the corner shop with a hoody, while black! It is utter nonsense to think that we are over race and that racism only leave in the past and in movies like “Roots”. It might not be intended, for a white cop to kill a black boy playing with a toy gun. It might not be seen as racial profiling but let’s be honest for a second, it is! Would a white boy be suspected to have a real gun if indeed he had a real gun? A white boy walks into a church and shoots and kills black folks but is later sent to a mental institue because CLEARLY he is sick and not a killer, a nice young White boy could not be a killer! However, if the shoe was on the other foot and it was a black teenager who had killed the nice white church going folk, he is a hood rat from the projects who needs to be kept far away from the public; gets life imprisonment. It is completely absurd, what Stacey Dash said, yes she is American but a lot has happened to the non-white American (like Ifuleme from Americanah would say) so Stacey Dash, do not try to make us uncomfortable for the blacks, hispanics and Asian actors and actresses who are asking for more diversity in Hollywood; to be seen and acknowledged. Weigh in my earthlings, what are your thoughts on this?
WyneeBob 