Disclaimer: The use of the term American Negro is satirical but I like it in this context because it offers some ethnic specificity and side-steps the rhetorical trappings of race. The word “niggas” is used mostly for color and emphasis.
Preface
You are on a platform made by people who have never had the stomach to wait by the gate asking for entry and access. We have been creating spaces for ourselves and over the years, hundreds of others, to express and get money. To be clear, CRWNMAG is indie-indie. No venture capital, no corporate ad dollars (not because we didn’t try) — just folks making stuff that other folks like enough to buy. I give this as context to what might be considered “a radical take” by our Kinfolk who may be more entrenched in the establishment.
So, what are you wearing to the DEI funeral? I was going to go the dashiki and kufi route but I’ve opted for a khaki suit with sharp creases (Dickies, not Brooks Brothers) and running shoes. We don’t need more think pieces or fake Negro outrage, and certainly no more half-hearted social media protests. We are overdue for a reality check, and DonDon is wasting no time letting us know where we stand. It’s the same place we were standing four years ago and, as far as I can tell, we’ve been in the same spot as long as I’ve been alive. Outside.
The Myth of D.E.I.
First of all, it is important to establish that niggas did not ask for DEI. It is a brand name that white liberals made up (popularized) to co-opt our outrage after seeing Black people get beaten, shot and choked to death in social-media snuff films.
Giveth & Taketh Away
As a nervous reaction to the outrage over the treatment of the American Negro, huge corporations made small promises on big press releases. The offers were small enough in scope that they could have delivered in a year or two, max. But, fingers crossed behind their backs and hand over heart, they made commitments; knowing that in time, the outrage would fade and the political climate would swing to the right enough for them to say, “Sike!” without fear of reprisal. This is the “take-away,” a method of psychological manipulation used to engineer compliance by leveraging our natural aversion to loss against our desire and need for more than a seat at the table.
Commingling of Struggles
It is noble to want to fight for everybody’s rights all at once, but that has been proven to be a trap for the bleeding-hearted American Negro. It should be common knowledge by now that the biggest beneficiaries of socio-economic programs like Affirmative Action or DEI have been white women. If you notice, somehow our struggle conveniently becomes bundled with other groups. This happens through the introduction of terms like “minority” or “marginalized” or “underrepresented,” and before you know it, we stop talking about the remedies we need for our very specific historical circumstance and begin prioritizing the needs of others.
Intersectionality is a brilliant framework for the ruling class to use to reach a granular understanding of their abuse of power. However, it is insufficient for the American Negro; for it divides us into smaller, weaker groups. Solidarity is a revolutionary act, but when dealing with a fox you must have focus. The fight is not for the women, or queer folks, or the incarcerated, or the poor. The fight is for the whole of us. There is a specific history of oppression that we share through lineage.
Equity
The American Negro does not have a diversity problem. Look at the variance in complexion of your own family to be sure. We don’t have an inclusivity problem either. Everyone has always been welcome at our table and they love keeping us hovering around theirs because we are an endless source of entertainment and pleasure. Niggas’ problem is — Equity. Our ancestors were quite literally the seed capital of the American empire and our current plight is defined by the lack of return on that “Investment,” made with blood and bone.
A few professional niggas getting jobs won’t fix it. A few enterprising niggas getting government contracts won’t fix it. A mile-high stack of food stamps (yes I am old enough to have bought candy with brown dollars) won’t do it either. We could have all of those things tomorrow and we might be more comfortable, but we would still be subject to and property of the ruling class. Reparations are the only thing that can move the needle for the American Negro. We don’t need handouts or help, or mentorship programs — just the return of our capital. With that, we can reshape the world around us or create something new entirely.
The Scale of the Problem
The condition of the American Negro is beyond change in half-measures. As long as we continue to accept small tokens and the feeling of progress, we will never arrive. Over the last five years, I have heard well-meaning allies talk about addressing our problems in million-dollar or single digit billion dollar terms; when the country (private and public sectors, both) has a debt to the American Negro that has been quantified in the tens of trillions. People like to address our issues in more altruistic terms, but real niggas everywhere would agree when I say, “Run me my money,” and I’ll come up with all kinds of ways to solve my own problems.
Tokenism & The Illusion of Progress
At its core, the DEI promise is just good old fashion tokenism. As the owner of a magazine that has only ever hired Black photographers, I cannot tell you how bad it burns my grits to hear niggas rejoice at the announcement that Vogue hired it’s first Black photographer in it’s 133-year history to shoot a Beyonce cover. We are a generation or more beyond the need for celebrating the “first Black” anything. It just reeks of tragically low self-esteem, which is how they know that they can offer us little, give us little-to-nothing and still maintain the status quo.
In building CRWNMAG, we have often interfaced with giant corporations, earnestly seeking to offer value in exchange for money. In the last five years, we have been greeted warmly at the door by DEI personnel, Chief Diversity Officers and the like (which Ye referred to as BLM managers) only to learn that they don’t have any access to budgets and no sway with the people who do. Imagine what it’s like to walk into a building to do business only to learn that the Token Black person in the room is there to keep you civil whilst you discover that none of the commitments made in public are being honored in practice. This scenario also plays out in a labyrinth of special “programs” that, on their face, intend to aid “Black Vendors” in doing business with large organizations like Target, Ulta, P&G and Unilever. A series of meetings, workshops, and pitches that go nowhere. All the while, they are sneakily data mining and taking your best ideas to be executed by their “existing” vendors.
Fine by us, we built CRWNMAG like an indie rap label from the ‘90s — direct to consumer and out the trunk — so no matter what they say. As long a Black women want to read CRWNMAG, it can exist.