Being visible… Having a platform that can shift the paradigm of social issues, trends… What’s received, considered relevant, energy worthy… No matter how big or small the circumference of such influence… It matters, and should be handled with integrity and responsibility. I also am not naive, I understand that being highly visible has its pros and cons, but let’s be real… Life is full of this dichotomy, and we all will experience it perpetually throughout our journey here on earth.
For me, being highly visible hasn’t been a pressing desire since I was about 19 years old. At that time, I was achieving things in Modeling and the Performing Arts, and then, a spiritual shift (for the good) started to transform the way I saw myself, my gifts, my purpose—What was really important became visible. Since this shift has had its way in me, I can honestly say that being well known has not been the driving force for anything I have done or will do… Recognizing that if it were to ever happen(being highly visible)— It would happen because it was my fate, my journey… Organically forming without stepping on other people rising, and without me living a life of compromise and emptiness to attain something, that in and of itself, doesn’t matter.
I would say that the only exception for wanting… Not necessarily more “visibility” but rather the ability, to get important information to the masses… Without having my voice watered down and edited, to take away “the me” that is in my words. Sometimes I wish my voice, my words, could be amplified more when I am discussing important issues, that the masses by and large, are getting absolutely wrong. This error is mostly due to the lack of experience and exposure most have had with said subject, and my total immersion and lived experience in that subject. Narratives are important, especially for the various BLACK Peoples throughout the globe… Survival is in the power of the narrative, and apparently, solidarity is as well. This is why I know that I must speak out about the things I am most acquainted, no matter how much people want me to hush for their comfort.
For example, as I have discussed throughly in the previous blog, people, even BLACK People, have totally erased BLACK Struggle within the Palestinian Struggle, and within the greater context of Israel's overall tyranny on various BLACK Peoples there… White supremacy is global and always has been global. We know that the GOV of Israel acts tyrannously toward Palestinians, and we need to also realize that anti-Blackness is huge in the Palestinian Community—Solidarity can’t truly happen without that being properly acknowledged and worked out first.
I said all of this to say, that for me… I don’t want to be anyone else but who I was created to be… I don’t covet what’s yours or hers or his, when I have so much that belongs to me, and so much that I am responsible for maintaining. I, like many of you, have beautiful gifts that will flourish, and have been flourishing as they must in this life. As long as I stay true to the path and the directions I must go, and do right by people as I sojourn; this is the utmost of success. The potential of being a household name is a non-factor in what I choose to do, or what I choose not to do. I realize that being well known has its own set of problems that I truly don’t envy. I like being “lower key” when I want to be, and I truly feel for those who don’t get that opportunity. However, I do not feel sorry for anyone who hurts others, and stole from others; just to become seen or garner certain accomplishments… Something that happens so very much in our society today. In these instances, I think anything ill-gotten is deserving of the discomfort; karmic response is fitting.
The things that I create, out of what I was given by the CREATOR and the Ancestors; those things shouldn’t be ripped from me as somebody else’s, same goes for that which you create from the ORIGINAL inside of you. On the other hand, those insights or things that the CREATOR blesses me or you to share for the sake of our people, and for our becoming more self-determined; this becomes information that is community and collective in nature. But don’t get it twisted, the ethics around how people handle these insights are important… Communal information, or not.
I have always had this mindset, and have specifically stayed out of the spotlight many times, when I could have centered myself. For example, when I have been on the ground for freedom work in places that I do not live 24-7, I have always pointed MSM to those on the ground, and refused interviews out of respect for the people, who have to deal with the tyranny after I leave. After all, they know what’s going on in their community better than I do… Plus, as many of y’all who follow me know, I rarely engage MSM because they lie lie lie!
I have many times allowed folks to take my ideas that are brought forth through me, and speak them as if they are their own… Feeling that this was a reasonable sacrifice for liberation, figuring it didn’t matter in the long run. I realize I was wrong, because not allowing people to be responsible for their lack of respect and low-vibing character; this does not build anything for them, for me, for you… For anyone in our community.
I have, many times, allowed people to use less than the utmost integrity in how they deal with me and what I give, for the sake of “BLACK Liberation Triage” or so I thought—Just wanting us to get free, and being willing to be disrespected for the sake of “the cause”… This was not the right way. If you have been following my writing at all, you know I have grown from that place… I am not a movement doormat anymore, and I refuse to allow folks not operating at the same love frequency as me, to drain everything within me; this my newest addition to my modus operandi.
Not being self-centered in demanding I be centralized in freedom work, is imperative to the work… It is imperative for you too… For all of us who dare say we fight for freedom and BLACK Liberation. What was I trying to do before? I was attempting to keep my ego balanced, and instead of doing that, I was actually decreasing my ego to an unhealthy level. Unbalanced ego, whether too much or too little, is unhealthy… And, most of all, it doesn’t teach people how to become better individuals, or how to treat each other in revolutionary love. I too, I am the revolution…I am not the enemy… I am your sister… I have more than earned the respect, that I often do not get.
In fostering immaturity and the lack of integrity in others, by how I allowed them to treat me and disrespect my personage; this was a grave mistake. Humility is everything, a very attractive trait I love to encounter in others and myself. At the same time, people don’t need to erase me or anyone else from our ideals either… Especially, when they have a track record of this sort of behavior, and are highly visible. The lack of respect is what is the most troubling… The fact that others would rather take from another’s genius, instead of developing and searching out what is for them to bring forth in the earth…This is not okay. Yes, it’s important to get the ideas, the strategy, the vision for our people out to as many of our people as possible… The most important thing is to share the info we have for the collective. At the same time, unethical people will not have the capacity to carry out a thing to it’s fully intentioned purpose… If they steal the essence of an ideal, without having the heart capacity to see it through rightly—This is more damaging to the people, than it is to the individual who was segregated from the ideal they brought forth. I’m realizing we have to hold folks accountable, not for the sake of ego, but for the sake of building… We can’t build anything when our own people are replicating every form of the masters tools, amongst one another.
I will continue to be me, no matter where I am, or who I am around… I will continue to reject opportunities that I have been offered that are contrary to integrity( Oh, and I have had the chance)… And yes, I will continue to unabashedly call out the practice of those who have the power of a platform with high visibility, yet who choose to be parasitic towards those who are invisible, less visible, or inaudible in order to maintain their status of “popularity” or “the go to” personality—Doing all of this simply because they can, because they know that even if their dishonesty goes viral; they are interconnected enough with the right shady and powerful people to land on top… It isn’t right.
I always use Twitter as an example in much of what I write on this blog, because it has shown me, and it has re-confirmed to me; human nature. Twitter is literally a microcosm of the world we live in offline… Folks are petty, jealous, inconsiderate, and yes… Folks steal one another’s ideas. I’m sure many of us have experienced people, whether online or offline, who didn’t like us for whatever reason, but would do what they could to take from us… To put their name on things that came from our heart and brain, so that they could be seen as “brilliant.”— These sorts seem to prosper for a long time before they are made to answer to karma, but trust me…You and I …We never want to adopt this way of being. It simply is not worth it!
This sort of re-branding has happened to me so much when it comes to my personal creative and intellectual property, which is why I am so much more careful about what I share before it’s published/completed nowadays… Also, I stay mum about what I’m working on in other artistic avenues, up until the moment it is released… ‘Cause real talk, some of y’all, yes some of y’all are some straight up haters and thieves, and that’s a hot mess!😂😂😂— But one of the saving grace’s that I have is that I have a very unique way of writing, and an equally unique way of seeing the world… It gives me a distinct voice, so the even when folks appropriate my shit, they can’t quite bottle me and spread it on themselves. Folks may not realize they are smelling a dupe, until they smell the original scent… Thing is, sometimes people don’t know that an original exists, because the person who does the taking is so highly accessible on their platform, with die-hard followers; many of whom could care less about the ethical behavior of their fave.
Beyonce is an example of a music artist with these type of die-hard fans. They often overlook, joke about, or dismiss the wrong that she or her team may do to other artists… Artists that are invisible in the cloud of her extreme stardom. There has been several instances where less known artists have proven that B has taken from them in some way… Choreography, concept, lyrics, beats (e.g Formation)—No one(in her beehive) cares though, and that affects the direct livelihood and message of those said artists. Beyonce is a great performer, but she shouldn’t be given a pass for this sort of appropriation… Neither should any of your other faves whomever they may be… From music superstars to shady well known activists to dick-dangling jiggalo money hungry mega preachers who call Trump “the anointed”🙄🤔😳 *selah*—Taking intellectual and/or creative property from people, as if it originated in you; this is not a way to build, to be a leader, to set an example, to create… This will not bring back a positive karmic return into your life… It will catch up with you one day. And yes, responsibility for ethics do fall on the individual first and foremost, and still, we must admit that they don’t do better, because the public doesn’t require it.
On Twitter, I have seen people who don’t want to retweet me or others, for whatever reasons; take what we said, re-word it just a bit, and release it as their own. I have witnessed some highly visible people do this to many, including myself, on this platform… It has never bothered me as much as it has others. I admit, my inability to feel very moved/annoyed about the tweet thieves I encountered; it made me lazy in understanding those who were feeling major angst from this… For this I apologize, because I now see that stealing tweets is often the symptom/clue, that the individual doing it, does it all the time in various areas of life… It’s second nature to them, and that’s not good at all. Twitter has become a world of its own; it can be very powerful. It allows quick and direct global communication and record keeping, and it also can be used to hurt people in every way you can imagine.
As I have stated earlier on in this blog, I know the angst of not having my voice heard…Especially when it is imperative to the livelihood, and to the blood and breaths of my people… No matter where they are in the world. I also am a woman of strategy, patience, love, and wrath… There are different ways of handling those with hyper-visibility, who are dead set on disrespecting the purpose and personage of the ideals, that come through us for the collective, in order to keep their “fame train” going; discernment is key. When to speak, when to push, when to let go, when to demand them directly…What to do? It’s hard to say, because you have to think about what’s best in every relation of the issue, and unbalanced ego cannot be the leader in this sort of inward discussion.
If just “letting it go” was the best thing to do every time, then this blog post wouldn't exist in this form… If it were that simple, I would just say we need to get over ourselves, myself included. Truthfully, “letting it go” is not the highest truth every time, simply because of the parasitic relationship some hyper-visible people have, with the ideas of other people; highly visible people arrogantly thinking less visible people are incapable of successfully calling them out for their intellectual thievery. This is something that makes an idea meant for the collective to carry out, but taken from the one who originated the idea… When a highly visible person takes that ideal to appease their inflated ego just because they can; this is an occurrence that does not allow BLACK Liberation to flourish—It invalidates the personage of the less visible human beings, as if they are not good enough to be sought out about the details and heart set behind the ideals they birthed into the earth realm. It creates the forever revolving and nuanced systems of hierarchy within our communities, that already need to be demolished; our freedom not realized.
This is a very uncomfortable subject for me, because above all else, I don’t want to be the type of obtuse AF person that I don’t like… I don’t want to start screaming “that’s my idea” every five minutes. It’s not really my personality to be like that; the thought makes me shutter. Honestly, I give all praises to the CREATOR, MASHIACH the Ancestors for speaking back to me what is innate… Leading me, helping me create, giving me vision. When it comes to my 3 books, or my other creative works and expressions— I have no issue declaring it to be my work. When I write plans or strategy for our community, and a highly visible person takes them as their origination for their own ego-sake… I feel at a weird crossroad/dilemma. I use to let stuff like this go, but now I realize that for the sake of the ideals coming to fruition the way they were intended, for the sake of me not thinking I am not worthy to be associated with what was given to me directly, for the sake of not fostering traits that lack integrity in others by allowing them to continue being disrespectful, for the sake of truth, integrity & narrative preservation… I realize I have a responsibility to what I am given… Even if the greatest thing I do to preserve its truth is to share the community oriented work/ideals, make sure to clearly note when it is written/brought to pass, and allow the people to see the truth on their own.😉
I am truly a work in progress when it comes to this, and every situation is different. In any case, here are a few things I find beneficial in assessing these sorts of situations that are community centered ideals birthed by you or I, taken for ego-sake by a highly visible person who severs us from their origination… Handle it or let the UNIVERSE handle it? Let’s explore:
- First, pray and meditate. Now, if I feel moved enough to feel some sort a way about one of these occurrences, I usually vent first… I’m not saying that’s the way to go, just being honest. But if possible Pray, meditate, and center yourself FIRST… Try to get in a place where you can see clearly, and not allow pride to lead your decisions… Ask for guidance. Sometimes the answer is that karma has your back, and you just need to wait… Sometimes you must act in some way and right away… Sometimes it’s a combo of the two like it is for me right now😉—Get clarity and do what is best. If you’re not spiritual, be honest with yourself and weigh the pro’s and cons.
- Second, I start asking myself questions. I ask myself what is bothering me the most about the situation: Will people be harmed or at a disservice if the person who has re-branded the intellectual property; takes it in the wrong direction? Will this wrong direction make future endeavors from the right people, and with the right focus, hard or impossible? Do I feel unworthy or negative feelings about myself, because of the thievery? If so, what do these feeling mean? How does the highly visible person handle those who have confronted them in similar situations? If the person has a record of being nasty &/or retaliatory, am I prepared for the fight and is it worth it?
- Third, Ask people you trust and who will be honest with you to confirm/compare your work, and tell you their honest opinion on whether the person took from you or not… People can have similar ideas at the same time, without even knowing each other. However, if you find the essence, wording & character of what you put forth in someone else’s proposal of sorts; it can be quite simple to be able to tell where they got the inspiration… Especially if what you have put out is on a public space for all to see, very unique in structure and essence, and you’re less visible person… Being less visible and insightful/talented is a parasite attractor…Be careful!
- Fourth, decide what your course of action will be. Will you try to confront the visible parasite directly, privately, publicly, both, or indirectly? No matter what you do, this sort of work, freedom work, is about the people getting the strategy, the ideals, and the revelation in their spirit; applying it to life so that we can actualize more freedom. This, however, does not mean that we can’t walk and chew gum at the same time, ‘cause really, if folks continue to behave with no integrity; we can’t build shit! So, the point of showing where ideals originate, when lies and thievery has attached said ideals to a parasitic person, who seeks to capitalize for selfish reasons… The heart behind setting this mess right must stem from a place of wanting folks to be accountable, preserving ones own healthy sense of self-worth, and preventing this same thing from happening to others… It has to be about setting things right, as opposed to retaliation. This can be a hard balance, but we must strive.
- Fifth, remember the purpose of it all. These sort of ideals that are about our people and getting us further along, this sort of intellectual property has a communal aspect to it, so no one should ever ask for money because of a highly visible person putting their name, on the efforts produced through you or I. What should be done is the highly visible person should cite the inspiration of their ideals, so that people can get ALL of the original thought behind it. This takes humility, and wanting to get things right for the sake of our people… And let’s be honest, highly visible people who do this sort of snatch and grab type thing, they are not interested in humbling down and admitting their mistakes… Unless they have had some sort of spiritual renewal. This is why they mismanage the ideals, plans, and strategy of a less visible person in the first place. They are fed by the glory their ego receives, and people like this, those who have mesmerized many; these types are dangerous to BLACK Liberation. As a unmovable principle, you can’t be revolutionary, and taking from your own at the same time…This goes for any and everything. Our journey in this life… Our struggle toward freedom is about us developing principles, character, integrity, and doing what is best; the best way it can be done…
Because freedom is still my dream, my song, my journey… Freedom for my people, and freedom for me… I get some of that freedom right? You certainly deserve freedom! Freedom from every type of oppression inside and outside the community… To share and give freely, but to also demand I and others who are not as visible, be treated with respect and dignity… Unbalanced ego will keep us all in chains, whether it is too much or too little.
In Unashamed Négritude & Revolutionary Love,
ORIT
COPYRIGHT © ORIT 2016
All Rights Reserved
No comments:
Post a Comment