Spike Lee is my favorite movie director. Of all time. In the 80s and part of the 90s he would begin and/or end his movies with the order to “WAKE UP”. I recall discussing his work with people from time to time and it wasn’t uncommon for people I would talk to to find this off putting, or what they would call “dumb”. Those were usually the people that needed waking up. Wake up to what you ask? Well, I’m not in Spike’s mind and I’ve never heard him answer the question or discuss the message he was injecting to know exactly, but I have a very strong feeling Spike was telling us Black folk to wake up to see the world for what it is, recognize all the obstacles daily living presents for the average Black person and to DO something to help make the world a better place for us and future generations. At least that’s what I got from School Daze, Do the Right Thing, Mo’ Better Blues, Crooklyn, and others.

Fast forward to 2021 and it is all out WAR. To be clear, the war isn’t in the streets or a battlefield. Instead, it’s in these social media streets and the war is on Black Unity, Black LOVE, and Black Power. The part that makes it frustrating is that while some of the enemies don’t look like me and are easy to identify, a good bit of enemies DO look like me and I struggle wondering if they see how division and strife isn’t helpful to us. AT ALL.

So we have FBA and ADOS vs other Blacks from the West Indies, Caribbean, and mother Africa. We have generation X and older vs the millenials and generation Z. We have Kevin Samuels and the Negro Manosphere vs virtually all women (Black women in particular). We have the LGBTQ community vs everyone that they feel is deserving of their ire (especially Dave Chappelle). And I’ll say it, there’s a war on heterosexual Black men. These wars are bloodthirsty too, because it seems as if each side wants total annihilation of the other side’s views, status, image, and relevancy no matter who they are and how many people are similarly situated. You know the beautiful thing about all this turmoil and dissention? It’s all on social media, the web and traditional media for ALL to see! That was sarcasm.

If you’re reading this and you’re Black (especially in America), you’re likely familiar with this or felt this:

Black people are tired of getting shitted on and tired of people fucking with us.

You’re also likely familiar with what you know in your heart of hearts: Black people just want to be left alone and in peace. We don’t fuck with anybody that doesn’t fuck with us. Yet and still, THEY KEEP FUCKING WITH US!

WHY WON’T THEY STOP?

I have theories on why they won’t stop, but instead of wallowing in that frustration, I choose to lemonade that thing on up and make the best of the time that I have in my lifetime and help make the world a better place for future generations of Black folk.

When I wrote the words “Stronger Together”, I didn’t know what would come from it, but I know it summed up how I felt every day when I read or see something new in the interwebs and on social media that goes against that documents us fighting with one another.

Let me say this: I think we have a problem accepting criticism. From others not in the community it’s not even a consideration and usually holds no weight. However, when criticism comes from within the community, even with the BEST intentions, it’s usually met with SIGN language (shoutout to KS and whoever coined that acronym – it’s genius).

S – SHAME

I – INSULT

G – GUILT

N – THE NEED TO BE RIGHT

You can literally pick any topic or any aspect of life where we come up short, probe or examine it with the best intentions (usually of improving the situation), and you’ll be met with SIGN language more times than not. It’s most common when it comes to man/woman relations.

How about this for a new approach….

Accepting constructive criticism, weighing its validity (NOT the source), recognizing the TRUTH in the criticism, and either RESPECTFULLY disagreeing, or better yet, ACKNOWLEDGING the deficiencies, THANKING the source of the criticism, and leaving with an actionable understanding of how to be BETTER, because I BELIEVE THAT’S WHAT WE WANT FOR ONE ANOTHER. TO BE BETTER.

WE CAN BE BETTER

Let’s REALLY wake up to DO BETTER and BE BETTER!