Time to Tribe Up

I wrote this for a group of my friends last week . . . fell on deaf ears, cause well . . . I’m not much of a leader and we all live in different worlds i.e. have different wants and needs, maneuver in different realities, and have a conflicting visions, so moving in the same direction seems nearly impossible. If we can’t do it on the micro level, how in the FUCK do we think we could do it on the macro. Nonetheless, I’ve decided to share my craziness with all of you. If you gain nothing else from reading this piece, I hope it encourages to talk to your loved ones. Mend your relationships. And build. Thank you for reading!

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As of late, I’ve felt myself coming to terms with a hard Truth.

A Truth that’s left me more than a little bit anxious — saddened — angry — deeply confused — but lowkey exhilarated . . .

Because, well . . . it’s Time.

Finally.

It’s Time.

For years now, my friends and I have been harping about it being the 4th quarter. i.e. we’ve felt there aren’t many minutes left on the clock, the game is on the line, and the ball is in our (the people’s) hands.

And though we’ve felt this way for some time, it’s never felt more real than now because we’re undoubtedly on the brink of tremendous change.

Which breeds fear in many, because change is never easy — clean — or predictable.

However we shouldn’t walk in fear, because we should see this as an opportunity: An opportunity for us — the people– to play a fundamental role in actively shaping our collective reality.

Our empire is falling.

Western civilization is falling, and there’s really no getting around it.

All the signs and symptoms are there — social unrest is ever present across the globe i.e. there’s been an increase in both terrorism and action against the state, our global economy is faltering in a major way, we’ve been in a state of perpetual war that’s only going grow in depth and complexity, our many superpowers are posturing and jockeying for position, our biosphere is in turmoil — drought, famine, flooding, pestilence running amok — so, it’s time.

It’s time to refocus, redirect, and no longer be in denial about the world we live in and the many dominos that are in place perched to fall.

I’m writing the three of you, specifically, because I feel we’re integral pieces to our collective puzzle.

I don’t believe in chance.

I believe in synchronicity, I believe in soul-ties, and as naïve as it sounds, I believe in Destiny; we didn’t saunter into each other’s lives without reason.

It was the culmination of our collective decisions since conception — since popping out the pussy — that’s lead to me writing this letter right now. This could’ve easily not been a thing if it wasn’t supposed to be, but here I am.

We have something special to offer the world. And that something special is perspective — awareness — vision — genius — which is why I understand it’s paramount we become leaders within our community — beacons of light, if you will, because I’m not sure how many people will take it upon themselves to do so at this point in our human drama.

Not because they don’t want to, or don’t feel driven to, but because they’re simply incapable of synthesizing the complexity of the situation and acting accordingly.

That’s where we come in.

I feel it’s our job to build the model.

A model that consists of, but isn’t limited to:

· Building our Tribe (ensuring holes are filled skill wise)

· Creating Wealth and Practicing Group Economics (Residual Income/ CrowdFunding)

· Understanding our Resources while Obtaining more Resources (both tangible and intangible)

· And building something dope that benefits the whole (the whole being fellow beacons of light and those on the cusp)

So what does that look like?

Here’s what it looks like in my opinion(I want feedback, tear it down, challenge it, add to it — — all that):

Tribe Up:

Tribing up consists of connecting with each other and the people closest to us that we feel fill a need i.e. they compliment our current skillsets and will contribute to the energy and direction of our collective.

I plan on developing a survey/ questionnaire of sorts to give to people we’d like to approach about being in our Tribe.

Once our Tribe is intact (or while we’re going about “Finding the Others”), a site will be built. On this site, not only will we promote our vision and our skills as a collective, but it will also serve as an invaluable resource for our community — which leads to the next pillar.

Create Wealth/ Group Economics:

We’re all at a point, for the most part, where we’re pretty much done being a slave to this dying machine. We want out, but we still want abundance and resources — but how?

The name of the game is residual income/ creating product.

We’re all incredibly creative — with a basket of skills at our fingertips.

Currently, there’s an increased want and need for black shit, especially now that folks aren’t really interested in buying corporate or supporting the powers that be.

So, it’d be advantageous for us to step foot in several of these lanes.

The site/ platform we’ll build for our Tribe will have an ecommerce component — we could sell original media (manga, coloring books, children’s books, novels, music, films, documentaries, cartoons etc), wellness goods (lotions, soap, candles, etc), educational materials (online classes, trainings, ebooks/ curriculum), offer services (consulting, wellness), lead workshops — the sky is really the limit, we just have to decide where we’d like to get our feet wet at the onset and build from there.

This could happen sooner than later and truly blow the fuck up, because this (in my head) is an idea a lot of people would want to get behind.

Understanding our Resources and Obtaining Resources:

Between the four of us, we know a lot of fucking people (human capital).

Between the four of us, we know a lot of fucking people with assets and resources. Between the four of us, we could envision what we need to move forward i.e. Process how to build effectively and efficiently, with the least amount of costs (literal costs/ opportunity costs), which is absolutely necessary before addressing the fourth pillar.

Building Something Dope:

C***, ya got this Land. C*** ya got this Land and it can really be something special.

I say we sit down and really start putting a vision together for what this land could be and how it can be utilized.

I see it as being ground zero for POC ingenuity — a think tank that covers all bases — an intentional community and artist collective w/ limited membership.

I worked at a summer camp for sometime — a rustic summer camp — we lived in big green army platform tents that we put up, we had a cabin for the office, a big multipurpose building (kitchen, storage, eating, games, etc), a storage garage, and hella land.

That was it.

All built by less than fifty people.

Ever since, I’ve wanted to live in a community much like it.

Things I could see on your land:

Multipurpose buildings/ Tents:

Wellness Center for healing and addressing trauma

An Education and Research Center

Training facilities –

Et. Al

Basketball court/ sports fields/ gardens

At my camp we had a gathering space in the center of camp. It was a circle with a 15–20 ft radius made of falling trees, stumps, and rocks with a bonfire pit in the middle.

Every “village” needs a center — a space for meeting and gathering.

Tiny houses that we live and rent out to visitors, or Earthships (google it, if you’re unfamiliar.)

I mean, it’s a blank canvas. My imagination could run for days.

Everything would be made with recycled materials — DIY Youtube everything.

And with our site andvision up, a Kickstarter (or some other crowdfunding platform — perhaps our site), and some intention, I feel we could raise a LOT of bread to make whatever vision we have come to life.

This space could really end up being a pillar, itself, within our community — as well as another stream of revenue.

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This may sound ambitious — perhaps crazy — maybe I’m reaching — tripping — or overusing my imagination — but I don’t think I am.

I feel all of this could happen within the next 6 months to a year (building our foundation/ the framework) , and I believe we have such little time, that it has to.

During a full moon ceremony the other night, some friends of mine and I got to talking about the state of things.

And one of my friends was super hell-bent on war, and being a part of that struggle. She feels it’s necessary we (black folk) leave, and watch America burn.

But fuck that, there’s a 70 percent chance (I made that up) that we (or at least my family roots for sure) we’re already here — in America, not brought over.

Africa wasn’t the only place on the planet with melaninated people.

You’re not going to force me to run away from my own land.

AND

I have no interest in going to war. I believe this oasis can exist within the turmoil, and there’s no doubt in my mind that this is going to be a slow burn i.e REGULAR ass life will still be moving while all of this shit crumbles. It’s just a matter of distancing ourselves from chaos.

I know M****’s hype ass is like, but — I still want to do stuff! I still want to see things! Have experiences!

And I do too.

In my head, all of these things are happening at the same time. We’ll still be our dope selves, jet setting, moving and shaking, making connections (because connections are every thing), while we start laying the groundwork for our Tribe and building for the times to come.

I…I just don’t want to be blindsided. I’ve been encouraging everyone to read “Sower of the Seed” by Octavia Butler because I believe she, and many other artists/ genius’s of our time have planted many a seed for future lightworkers to find and follow.

She wrote it in 1993.

It took place is 2016 and beyond in a post apocalyptic America.

There President was a super charismatic right wing nut job who’s slogan was literally, “Let’s Make America Great Again”.

The main character wanted to create a new way of being — a belief system — a new direction for the world to go, and she did. She was prepared for calamity when no one else was, and survived because of it.

Built an empire because of it.

She had vision.

I want to be prepared.

I want to create a new way of being.

And I want to survive . . .

I don’t believe in chance.

I believe in synchronicity, I believe in soul-ties, and as naïve as it sounds, I believe in Destiny; we didn’t saunter into each other’s lives without reason.