Dust. Red Brick. Dust.
(For when we are in our feelings about the cognitive dissonance inherent in superiority antics/I was listening to Black Parade When I Wrote This)
10. Oh!…So I don’t deserve that raise/promotion/credit but you use and present my intellectual property and contributions as if they are your own to get your raise/promotion/credit? Hmm…Dust. Red Brick. Dust.
9. You tell me that I will be ready for leadership in 2 or 3 years but you tell the white/white adjacent colleague with fewer accomplishments that you hired AFTER me that he or she is ready now? Hmm…Dust. Red Brick. Dust.
8. When you see you cannot replace me you come back to me to offer crumbs hoping that I come back to your broken-ass table? Hmm…Dust. Red Brick. Dust.
7. You creep in the shadows to try to sabotage me at other institutions because you are so miserable and mad you cannot focus on being better. What happen to your gospel of merit Boo? Hmm…Dust. Red Brick. Dust.
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6. You crave being needed because you think you OWN and create all of the the structures of opportunities. You did not know that I create ways and paths where you only see dead ends. Hmm…Dust. Red Brick. Dust.
5. You pat yourself on the back for the crumbs you give notwithstanding the hate you give and you want thanks for that? Hmm…Dust. Red Brick. Dust.
4. Stop bringing your adopted Black children to see me out of the blue! Why didn’t you figure out how to comb their hair or relate to them before you adopted them?! What is wrong with you? Hmm…Dust. Red Brick. Dust.
3. No, I am not sharing my great-grandmother’s REAL recipes of shrimp creole, gumbo or okra soup, sauce piquant or thieboudienne, smothered/stew chicken or yassa poulet, beans and rice or rice and peas, cornbread, jambalaya/red rice or jollof rice, beignet or puff puff, okro or okra with you. GTFOH! Ehh heh(Shout out to West Africa!)…Dust. Red Brick. Dust.
2. You can miss me with your ridiculous task forces, committees, vigils, reading groups, and other last minute-too little too late, and post murder of George Floyd and Rayshad Brooks(may they rest in power and peace) attempts to keep your house from burning down. No, you cannot use my Black skin to ward off whatever reckoning you see coming. Besides, I have a bag of sunflower seeds waiting for me at my sister’s house. She’s going to help me take my braids out this evening while we watch Harlem Nights. Hmm…Dust. Red Brick. Dust.
1. Stop asking me how I’m doing. The real question is…How you doin’? Syyyyyyyke! Hmm…Dust. Red Brick. Dust.
