Knuckin and Buckin like our Black-Ass Ancestors
Welcome to This Black-Ass Life! This week, we present our take on the Montgomery Brawl, or, Fade in the Water, which is that we are our ancestors. We’re listing a few times in world history when our ancestors’ hands were rated E for everybody.
I. The Facts
Black people fought back and fought back every day. They forcefully took back what belonged to them, they killed, they poisoned, they fought men, women, and children. Here, a non-exhaustive list:
Let’s start in the 18th century with what is considered the largest rebellion of enslaved people in the Western Hemisphere, the Haitian Revolution. The wealth that came from Haiti generated more revenue for France than all 13 North American colonies. Inspired by the French Revolution and the always necessary question from workers, “who benefits from my labor?” Toussaint l’Overture led enslaved people to rebel against planters. 24,000 of 40,000 white people in Haiti were killed in the struggle for liberation. And in 1804, the entire island was declared independent.
Throughout slavery in North America, enslaved people fought against their conditions through intimate means like poisoning and through large-scale rebellions. Take the Stono Rebellion (1739), where enslaved people executed white owners and left their heads on storefronts for all to see, or Nat Turner’s Rebellion (1831) where Turner and about 70 others started their day by killing Turner’s master and his master’s family, and then going to about 15 more homes to kill 55-60 white people before they were stopped.
During the European “Scramble for Africa,” Ethiopia used subterfuge, gossip, misinformation campaigns, and food and water starvation to beat Italian colonizers in the 1896 Battle of Adwa. Gossip is good!
It always starts with missionaries. In the same scramble for Africa, Germany decided they wanted a piece of southern Africa in a classic missionary -> barely veiled colonialism -> genocide pipeline. In 1904, the Herero Revolt began (present-day Namibia) in response to increasing German control. They set buildings on fire and killed over 100 Germans. In 1905, the Nama in the south also joined the war, and after humiliating losses, the Germans demanded an end to the war in 1907.
Kenya was on go to fight British imperialism in recorded uprisings from the 17th century through the Mau Mau rebellions of the 1950s. The Mau Mau was a secret society that had each member pledge to fight imperialism; some even claim the name Mau Mau is an anagram meaning “Get out! Get out!” They attacked political opponents, raided settler farms, and destroyed their livestock. In 1952, they had the British shook, scared, and panicking enough to declare a state of emergency. While the British worked to destroy the Mau Mau through genocide and dividing them politically, the Mau Mau movement inspired Kenyans to gain independence in 1963.
Why does it matter?
'If you are silent about your pain, they'll kill you and say you enjoyed it.' - Zora Neale Hurston
The Western understanding of slavery and racism is that it started with bad white people and ended with good white people. Sometimes a messianic Black man (ok just Frederick Douglass and MLK, Jr.) helped a lil’ bit. This is bullshit.
The British abolition of slavery in 1833, for example, didn’t happen because rabid murdering enslaving capitalists suddenly grew a conscience; it ended because slavery simply became untenable as Black people kept fighting back (see The Baptist War in Jamaica, the Bussa Rebellion in Barbados, and the Demerara Revolt in Guyana).
Speaking of revolts, never forget Black people whooped some ass on slave ships as well.
In America, we don’t even fully understand how enslaved people fought back because white plantation owners relied on and perpetuated the false narrative of the benevolent master and the happily enslaved.
You are not going to tell your neighbors that your mammy tried to poison you. Why would she do that if you were so good to her?
Ultimately, the narrative that Black people were complacent in the face of white terror is strategic revisionist history. If your understanding is that your people never fought back, then why would you?
What can my Black ass do?
Enjoy this very fun Twitter thread of racists getting they ass beat.
Please stop saying, and check anyone who dares utter the phrase, “we are not our ancestors.” The history of Blackness everywhere is a history of a people who did everything they had to bring your Black ass here. That included loving on each other, singing, peaceful protest, tears, violent protest, unpaid labor, cooking, domestic work, community building, and defiance. They dared to dream on our behalf. It is disrespectful and ahistorical to think that our ancestors were complicit and complacent in their own subjugation.
II. Other Things
Black-ass happenings
A few ways you can support people in Maui.
From George M. Johnson, “Dancing in the Light of O’Shae Sibley.”
Dwyane Wade cried, his daddy cried, I (Mitu) cried when Dwyane was entered into the Hall of Fame and thanked his father.
We are in HuffPost with a Summer Guide to Land A Baller.
This scene of Phaedra’s confusing pregnancy timeline is a classic but do you remember when Phaedra’s doctor accidentally confirmed she was 40 weeks along?
We’re getting Hoochie Daddies season two, and there might be mics this time!! Blessings abound!
A reminder that Simone Biles is BACK, even landing a Turchenko double pike vault, a feat that had never been achieved before in competition until Biles first did it in 2021. Shout out to mental health breaks.
Love to Michael Oher.
Our Black-Ass song(s) of the week (Jumoke):
Adekunle Gold has a new album, and this song with Coco Jones is lovely.
Things we look forward to:
I (Jumoke) look forward to my girls' weekend in Santa Fe. Georgia O’Keeffe, here I come!
I (Mitu) look forward to more summer fruits and veggies. Jumoke gifted me with a farmers market peach that was so unbelievably delicious!
lll. Texts from a Black-Ass Parent
My (Mitu’s) favorite part of TikTok is babies who only see it for their grandparents.
Stay Black, have a snack, and take a nap today. We'll hit your inbox next on August 29!