dr. OBARI Adeye CARTMAN

  • HOME

  • BIO

  • ESSAYS

  • SHOP

  • VIDEOS

  • PHOTOS

  • CURRICULUM

  • PHOTOGRAPHY

  • MIXTAPE

  • FEEDBACK

  • CONTACT

  • More

    • Facebook Classic
    • Instagram App Icon
    • Twitter Classic
    0

    Lessons my armpits taught me about liberation

    August 7, 2015

    |

    Dr. Obari Cartman

     

         Stick with me, this is going somewhere. I’m real real Black. Had 2 sets of locks, know all 3 verses of Lift Every Voice and Sing, got 2 African middle names, I play djembe, got shrines in my house for African gods, been celebrating Kwanzaa so long it feels cliché now. I’m so Black I don’t like to use the term “Black” because it emphasizes a socially constructed race idea devoid of proper cultural contexts. I don’t like “Afric(k)an” either because it has Roman origins. And “Alkebulan” is Arabic. I been schooled in Black. We referred to my Kindergarten as Pampanua, its Swahili equivalent. We sang “we have done black things today & we’re gonna do Black things again tomorrow” in a circle every day after school. I carried that all the way through a dissertation on African-centered identity development. But my education didn’t save me. I realized a few months ago, that in the deep dark corners of my mind, part of me still worships whiteness.

     

          I used regular deodorant when I was a kid. That Speed Stick gel was my joint. When I got older my pits desired a more mature antiperspirant, something consistent with my organic granola persona. So I did what most of my conscious friends were doing, I invested in Toms. He’s from Maine. And he makes natural shit, maybe. I still use their toothpaste despite knowing there may be toxic stuff in there, even though they haven’t been a mom and pop operation since Colgate-Palmolive bought them almost a decade ago. Those aren’t my most pressing concerns. My biggest worry is that most who read this didn’t flinch when I used the word ‘regular’ in this paragraph’s opening sentence. Because for most of us regular still = white.

     

          I bought a box of Black manufactured everyday products. It’s called The Black Box, it’s sold by The Black Mall, a Chicago based Black business directory. The box includes a month’s supply of necessities: paper towels, tissue, soap, and deodorant.  It’s pretty common knowledge that Black folk give all our money away (and in this society money = power). Black folk have 1.1 Trillion dollars worth of buying power in the U.S. but we give 98% of it to other communities. Don’t nobody else do that. A dollar circulates in Asian communities for a month, in Jewish communities approximately 20 days and white communities 17 days. In the Black community a dollar is gone in 6 hours.  I figured I was gonna use tissue anyway and buying it from Black people felt more fulfilling to me than marching. Maybe even voting. But I never actually intended on using the deodorant, until one day when I ran out of my Tom’s, from Maine.

     

          The Black deodorant company is called Nine Essentials. It has ingredients like apricot oil and arrowroot powder. They don’t have a website or FB page. I used it one day and I didn’t lose any friends. So I used it again. After a month it hit me, I suddenly realized I was surprised that it worked. Ouch. My Black ass didn’t trust that we could create a product as effective as the chemicals majority white corporations put in their stuff. Which is a simultaneous subconscious diss to Black people and to nature.

     

          I was at a Black economic empowerment symposium last week in Chicago. Speakers Dr. Claud Anderson, Dr. Boyce Watkins, Dr. Dennis Kimbro and others spent hours telling a sold out audience to buy Black. The aesthetic of the room was very corporate, lots of suits and ties. The myth of white supremacy is sneaky. I would be surprised if one fancy shoe, hat or jacket in the room was bought from a black company.  The organizers seemed to want the event to be very classy. Classy as in classic. For too many of us (i.e. jidenna) classic still = white.

     

          The devil is in the details. We want our revolution blockbuster. We want credit for it. But the real work ain’t never been glamorous. Lasting change happens in the mundane, the everyday. You won’t get no awards for it. Nobody’s gonna tweet about it. Before any of the outside work can be effective we all gotta do the inside work. Surgically removing the myth of white supremacy from the nooks and crannies of our mind. It’s hiding in crevices, like armpits. It’s folded in tiny pieces of paper tucked away in the hidden flaps of our wallets. We carry it everywhere we go. It feeds off our preferences, we say stuff like straight hair just feels better on my fingers. Brand names are probably safer. It sounds more legitimate coming through pale lips than from baggy pants.  Won’t no amount of Black business directories matter if we automatically associate us with shabby. Surgically removing that from your spirit is constant work. It tedious. It’s the prerequisite. It’s embarrassing. But that = liberation. 

     

     

     

    *If you're in Chicago you can get that deodarant from Culture Connection @400 W 71st St, and now that you know about it why would you get anything else?*

    Tags:

    buyblack

    empowerment

    blackeconomics

    blackwallstreet

    soverignty

    blackpower

    fubu

    obari cartman

    Please reload

    Featured Posts
    Recent Posts

    Black Men Be Sorry Not Sorry

    July 3, 2019

    Men Sex Intimacy and Me

    December 20, 2018

    Why intent matters but isn't enough

    June 14, 2018

    Dr. King was stronger than Dr. Umar

    January 16, 2018

    How to Use Black Panther to Win

    January 15, 2018

    3 Ways We Should Be More Like White People

    December 8, 2017

    Black Men Should Only Cry Sometimes

    November 3, 2017

    Beards and the Masculine Superficial

    September 25, 2017

    Be a real man, fight like a girl

    March 28, 2017

    The Challenges of Reducing Misogynoir in Young Black Men

    October 20, 2016

    Please reload

    Archive

    July 2019 (1)

    December 2018 (1)

    June 2018 (1)

    January 2018 (2)

    December 2017 (1)

    November 2017 (1)

    September 2017 (1)

    March 2017 (1)

    October 2016 (1)

    September 2016 (3)

    May 2016 (3)

    April 2016 (1)

    February 2016 (1)

    December 2015 (3)

    October 2015 (3)

    September 2015 (1)

    August 2015 (1)

    July 2015 (3)

    Please reload

    Search By Tags

    #AssaultAtSpringValleyHigh

    addiction

    african-centered

    alfredolango

    art

    awoniyami

    balance

    beardgamematters

    beards

    beyonce

    billcosby

    black

    black lives matter

    black panther party

    blackboyjoy

    blackeconomics

    blackgirlmagic

    blackpower

    blackwallstreet

    book

    buyblack

    chicago

    chiraq

    collectivepower

    critical thinking

    culture

    domesticviolence

    domesticviolenceprevention

    domesticviolencepreventionmonth

    dusable

    ebony

    economics

    education

    elders

    emotional intelligence

    empowerment

    essence

    essence fest

    essence festival

    excellence

    farrakhan

    fela

    felakuti

    feminism

    feminist

    fettywap

    film

    forharriet

    frederick douglass

    fubu

    garvey

    gender

    gods of egypt

    harriet

    harvard

    hbcu

    hierarchy

    hip hop

    hiphop

    honor

    howard

    independent

    interracial dating

    ivorytower

    kendick lamar

    kendrick lamar

    kujichagulia

    kwanzaa

    legacy

    liberation

    life

    literature

    manhood

    marcusgarvey

    masculinity

    masculinitysofragile

    mass incarceration

    maulanakarenga

    mentalhealth

    milesdavis

    misogynoir

    misogyny

    mixtape

    mlk

    movement

    music

    nate parker

    netflix

    nina

    ninesimone

    obama

    obari cartman

    ogun

    orisha

    osun

    oya

    patriachy

    patriarchy

    power