"Man, I Understand!" - Ornament Culture

 January 3, 2023


    "To have and to hold..." Those are the words. When it comes to Black Superman, most people want to have us and to hold us - but only ornamentally. Black men have often been a prized hood ornament for sports teams, schools, corporations, churches, police forces, and in our military. We're great to look at - the genetics, the swag, the bravado, the residual benefit that culture vultures get - indeed we are great to look at...but will you listen to us, follow our lead, or care about our needs? I'm not sure who's been there but it's a sinking feeling when you believed that you were the engine of the vehicle, only to discover that you were just a hood ornament.

    As men, we have a fair hand in accountability for abusing the roles and authority we've been given in our homes and families as it relates to this phenomenon(and I leave you to your therapist or marriage counselor or divorce attorney), but for my purposes here, I'm referring to corporate and societal "ornament culture". A Black man will be your greatest soldier, employee, and teammate - as long as we believe that YOU believe in us as equal partners, leaders, and stakeholders. Once we get a whiff of ornament culture - you lose us. Calling it "quiet quitting" is a lazy excuse, because we won't quit; we'll stay and go into business for ourselves. 

We resent being used for your marketing but not for leading meetings. We resent being your "boy at the bar" but not your lead in the boardroom. We resent you flexing your noodle arms next to our biceps in an attempt to praise our physical prowess, when it's our intellect you should be lauding. I fully recognize that Black women have it the worst when it comes to ornament culture, what I hope to highlight here is the unique consequence for Black men in the workplace, because when Black men come for vindication, we're vilified and criminalized, because there's nothing worse than a slave that won't be whipped. 

We want to be poised for leadership, not posed for it.

I'll offer you a deeper dive for group conversation. During a training with a DEI organization in Massachusetts called VISIONS, Inc, I learned a term called "system-beating" that I'd never heard before. System-beating is a form of internalized oppression where people from historically excluded groups attempt to overthrow systems of oppression by using the "master's tools against them". Instead of freeing oneself from the institution, they try to beat it from within, essentially turning the weapon on themselves. People who practice system-beating often find themselves suffering from self-inflicted wounds and causing collateral damage to the very people they love and want to protect.

Today's task is simple if you love or support a Black man.

1. Explain ornament culture to him and ask him if he's experienced it.

2. Ask him how it made him feel.

3. Ask him what he's done as a result of it.

4. Please assure him that the cage is not the bird's fault.

To My Brothers - I UNDERSTAND!

Presently Yours, 

L.A.

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