…emed somehow insincere or incomplete or shallow. But re-positioned in relation to “4:44” it hit me: Every bit of this supposed vulnerability was performative; a collective exercise in gaslighting. And it set a dangerous precedent for cishet black men who live in our homes and communities.
Society is pretty set on giving the individual as much freedom as they want, so long as most have to start in an empty quarry and those in power can commoditize all the ladders they need to climb to get out. This kind of liberty, it turns out, is quite profitable.