One song says, “Take it from me, someday we’ll all be free!” and another says, “It’s been a long time coming. Change Gonna Come. Oh yes it will!” While these lyrics are inspirational they also obscure the fact that freedom will not come with the new day or follow the rise of a Black messiah. There will not be a magic moment when we all can say, “Free at last! Free at last! Thank god almighty, we’re free at last!” Freedom is not a moment to come, a gift from god or an event that will happen at some unspecified date, time, or place. In reality liberating the People is a process that requires generations of effort.
Self-proclaimed spokespersons rush to identify our worldwide protest as the “wind of change. Talking heads, athletes and entertainers use their platforms to depict our struggle as a call for inclusion and equality. They translate our impending revolt into in a call for peace, reform, and civility. Their “wind of change” is really a gentle breeze, blowing to sooth our passions. What they call a wind change, is really wind of betrayal, compromise, false hopes, and unfulfilled promises. This wind is a strategy to prolong our exploitation and oppression. It is not a wind of change.
Real Winds of Change are cyclones that break systems. They are storm clouds gathering, skies darkening, and atmospheres threatening impending doom. The turmoil coming with these charging storms are evident. No media head needs to tell you the wind is blowing because you are the source of the upheaval.
You are Lazaerine brewing gale force winds to sweep capital into the abyss. You are Mamiwata raising seas to smash the walls of empire. You send lightning, tornadoes, and tsunamis, to break the chains that bind. Winds of Change rise from the whisper of sacred spells cast by dark billions exhaling as one. Your African breath, on butterfly wings sow the seed of dissent to reap the whirlwind.
Winds of Change do not rise to be heard, gain influence, get votes or restrain police. Winds of Change come to set the people free. Winds of Change attack exploitation, injustice, and imposition everywhere, at all times. Winds of Change call you to war, to confront your class enemies and transform your world.
You should also know that living in pursuit of liberation and justice, always leads to the spilling of your blood. Since the first exploiter rose from among you, your options have not changed. You fight or succumb, resist, or surrender, win or die. These are the only choices you have ever had; nothing has changed. You must bleed to change your world. No blood, no progress.
The Winds of Change began long ago, in the heart of Africa, when a patriarchal class began to thrive off of the exploitation of others. Women were first among others to be exploited and the first among all to resist. Fleeing from the gendered torment of her sister creature, the butterfly in anguish rose into the air. Her flapping wings sent the power of your resistance into the airstreams that would become the Winds of Change. This protracted breeze has carried your desire for liberty from these early times up to now.
You strive for freedom. You are engaged in a struggle for liberation that has many complex layers. Your age old struggle includes every effort to take control of your affairs and stand on equal footing with humanity. Your process is a cultural tradition that stands in antagonistic contradiction to all forms of exploitation and oppression.
Through escalating battles with patriarchy, slavery, colonialism, capitalism, and imperialism you have learned how to fight. Your trusted servants (cadre) live in semi-secret cells that guide their work and study. You educate and organize in one-on-ones, rallies, teach-ins, demonstrations, strikes, insurrections, rebellions, armed struggles, and revolutions. You produce propaganda, slogans, chants, banners, papers, blogs, and books. You gather data. You pull the People together to plan in community assemblies, conferences, congresses, committees, and councils. You build movements, unions, and parties. You live by principles, act strategically, and craft ideology from our experiences, culture, and aspirations. In the end you will pour down like the rain because you are the storm. Your resistance is irrepressible. You are the Winds of Change!