Where’s- YOUR, Dashiki?
BACKGROUND:
My wife bought me a replica African mask and I fell in love with the art. Being an extremist, I soon began collecting authentic African masks. Eventually I had enough to start my own museum as nearly every inch of my living room walls were filled!
JUNETEENTH: Who knows what year, things still haven’t changed, so this story is STILL applicable…Well, a few close Brothers at my workplace asked me if I could bring several of my larger Masks to put on display for the Juneteenth celebration. Of course, it was my pleasure. The event took place at lunch time which featured my masks, an historical timeline of the struggle, and fantastic food. It was a hit, and every employee loved it.
THE ELEVATOR INCIDENT:
After lunch, Sid, Dexter, and I entered an elevator just outside our workplace. A young African American female (from a nearby business) noticed that we were all were wearing dashiki’s, looked at me with distain and rebuked, “Why are [YOU] wearing a dashiki?”
“Been there- HEARD THAT”, I thought to myself, so that ignorant comment didn’t surprise me. Sid & Dex looked at each other, and (knowing me) was basically thinking, “Oh-Oh, HERE WE GO.” Without even thinking, I quipped, “The question is NOT WHY ‘I’ am wearing a dashiki, the question, my Sister, is- WHERE’S- [YOUR] DASHIKI?” Sid & Dex chuckled while the young lady ignored the insinuation and retaliated, “You ain’t BLACK.”
“True Dat”, I quickly responded, “But [WHAT] is Black? I pointed to my shoes and said, ‘That’s black.” Then, I pointed to her light brown skin & said, “That don’t look Black to ‘ME’. Do you know who Bantu Stephen Biko is?” As expected- no response. She just glared at me [all-ignorant like], so I expounded, “He’ a South African Anti- Apartheid activist that spearheaded the Black Consciousness Movement.” I then, pinched the skin on my hand and afterwards pointed to her skin commenting, “THIS- has nothing to do with Black Consciousness. Brotha Bantu said, ‘Being Black is NOT a matter of pigmentation- being Black is a reflection of a mental attitude…”
…Dead silence from the Naysayer, then with ruffled feathers, she SWITLY EXITED the elevator. Before the doors closed, I counseled, “Don’t ’t judge a book by its cover, Sister- you gotta read a few pages.” Sid, Dex, & I just laughed out loud knowing- that was JUST PAR for the course (when it comes to me and Civil Rights).
THE CUBILCLE INCIDENT:
Fast forward to the end of the day. I’m trying to wrap up a file and from out of nowhere, without the slightest provocation, Big James POWER-WALKS up to my desk. Let me describe BIG James: 6’2” and at least 280 lbs. Solid like a football linebacker, in fact he worked part-time as a fitness trainer. Not exactly someone you want to do hand-to-hand combat with. If he wanted to, he could pick me up and just toss me over the cubicle. LOL. Well, Big James LEANED into my desk (to my right), TRUSTING his thighs into my desk drawers, nearly TIPPING the desk over! It was so excessive; I immediately went into STREET MODE. I deliberately kept writing on the notepad and WITHOUT LOOKING AT HIM nonchalantly asked, “How can I help you, James?” With hostility, he sniped a one-word accusation, “PERPETRATING!”
FYI readers: This wasn’t my first rodeo with Alpha-Male Brothers who TAKE EXCEPTION to my presence and enculturation- I’ve been through this SO MANY TIMES, it’s now a joke. At this point in my life- I WELCOME the COLOR CONTROVERSY. So, I purposefully remained sitting down, never offering him a physical challenge in which he was baiting me with. INTENTIONALLY ignoring him for a second, I just shook my head, smiling inwardly, and thinking to myself (“HERE WE GO AGAIN, BRO”). There is something about that word that triggers the hell-outta-me, and awakens the B.B.A.M. inside of me.
I placed my pen down, and methodically TURNED my swivel chair towards my Accuser, looked up at him Dead Pan IN THE EYES and said, “I guess you’ve come to receive my patented lecture. So, listen up:
Let me make this perfectly clear: I am NOT Black and I’m not trying to be the COLOR- Black. If you are looking to find me, you won’t find me on a SHELF in a Sherman Williams store. I am NOT a color. I don’t have a ‘Color Identity’, nor do I have a ‘Color-Identity-Crisis’. I’m a human being, and I’m a man. I embrace culture, not color. You see James, very early in my life I experienced 2 powerful Black mentors, one of which was extremely MILITANT- who literally INTRODUCED, INFUSED, and INJECTED ME with Black Consciousness. Like Bantu Steven Biko professed, ‘Black Consciousness is an ATTITUDE OF MIND and a WAY OF LIFE.”
I continued:
“I DON’T NEED- your acceptance, James.
Hell, I don’t need anyone’s approval or acceptance.
Black folks can shun me/challenge me-
& White folks can ostracize me/lynch me.
But NO ONE-
can take [MY EXPERIENCE] away from me….No One. NO ONE- can erase it.
You can’t threaten it out.
You can’t scare it out.
You can’t beat it out.
You can’t philosophize it out.
It’s part of my DNA now- It’s the predominant part of my PSYCHE.
I stand ALONE-
uncompromised & unapologetic.
I celebrate & honor-
the African American culture.
I’m down with Black Consciousness- HUMAN CONSCIOUSNESS.
If you don’t believe in INCLUSION-
Oh well….
I’m a one-man revolution.”
HIS MOVE:
I don’t think James was expecting that TRUTH-BOMB. It took him by surprise, leaving him baffled. There was NO COUNTER…He just walked away…I couldn’t help but throw in a final-parting-shot. “The power of ONE, James.” (Those who know me- know THAT, is so me). Oh, he was pissed- he was FUMING. I know he wanted to strangle me, Law-dy! 😊 But I knew how far to take it within the confines of the workplace. That’s on him, anyways.
NEXT DAY:
I saw Big James walking alone down the hall towards me. No way getting around it, I had to pass him- so I mentally geared up for an ugly confrontation. But it was anything but that. Big James showed his true strength and manhood. The BIG in James became evident as he conveyed the following to me, “Man, after our conversation I was really bothered. I had to talk to my wife about it. I owe you an apology.” We shook hands I said, “James, if I was darker skinned, I’d probably be just as skeptical. My enculturation was a GRADUAL UNCONSCIOUS PROCESS that I now wholeheartedly embrace. Hell, I was too Black for my own Mother and her family (but that’s another story). So, if I make folks uncomfortable (Black or White) and it starts a meaningful dialogue, then I’m down.”
P.S. Why the Ali pic?....who better to exemplify BOLDNESS!
B.P.S. Satan, (a brilliant strategist, and tactician)- has blinded the eyes of mankind & thru Color Consciousness, has successfully DIVIDED the Family of Mankind. Be that as it may, whether you can see it on me, or not- THAT’S WHY I WEAR A DASHSHIKI!....In & OUTSIDE the Lookout Post.