This Ain’t Slavery, But It Damn Sure Ain’t Freedom

We’re in a different kind of cage now. No chains, no auction blocks, BUT the bondage runs deep. 

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Transcript

SPEAKER_00: 0:01

I was walking my dog and I was thinking to myself, we're all fucking slaves. Everybody on this goddamn planet is a slave to some degree. Like it's a slave planet. I was just like, yeah, that's what it is. We're all enslaved to something, whether or not it's a ideology, whether or not it's we're enslaved to our own fear, whether or not we're enslaved to the grind, something. We're all enslaved. And then as I was walking, I'm like, okay, well, is that really true? Because it's if anyone knows me, they know that I love words and I love the meaning of words. I love using words the way they're meant to be used based off their fucking definition, right? So I'm like, well, before I say we're all enslaved, what's the actual definition of slavery? And there we begin a rabbit hole. Hold tight. All right, I'm back. And the background might sound different because I'm in a different location. I got notes and everything. I'm serious. Let's get into it. So the definition of So I said, aye, okay, bet. So technically, what I said ain't true, right? Everybody ain't enslaved based off that definition. Then I was like, okay, well, maybe what it is, maybe a better word would be bondage. We're all in fucking bondage, right? We're all beholden to something, whether or not it's a habit, a thought process, a belief, a religion, something. And so I'm like, all right, well, let me look into this a little bit more. Let me look up the definition of bondage. And better yet, let me look at it at the etymology of both of those words like let's get to the root for real and that's what I did so the definition of bondage the condition of being bound as a serf or slayed or servitude hmm so the expanded definition says a state of being bound or held down physically mentally emotionally or spiritually often against one's will or without awareness now we're getting somewhere So when we look at it like that, so we can have people in mental bondage, emotional bondage, cultural bondage, spiritual bondage, economic bondage, all of the fucking things. And when we look at it like that, I would say 99.9999. Y'all, why was that my watch going off saying that my blood pressure was going up and that I'm stressed the fuck out? Obviously, this topic stresses me the hell out or it just gets my blood boiling. I'm thinking that's what it is. So when we think about it, all of those different forms of bondage. So Mental bondage. So limiting beliefs, right? Thinking you're not good enough. Thinking you're not worthy. Being in a scarcity mindset. Thinking you got to prove yourself. Being jealous of other people because of what the fuck they got. Emotional bondage. You're feeling shamed. You have all this trauma and how that impacts you. Cultural bondage. Oh, well, I have to assimilate. Or, you know, my culture say women aren't as good as men. Or I'm in a culture that says I don't get to say no. Spiritual bondage. Oh, you know, religion says the dog The guru says this, that, and the fucking other. And of course they are above me, quote unquote, as an authority. So I have to give up my right, my individuality to whatever the fuck this religious or spiritual organization is telling me what's right. And then economic bondage. How many out here chasing a motherfucking bag, trying to get ahead in life, grinding to the point where they are sacrificing their mental health, their physical health, their relationships, and every goddamn thing else just to survive. So with that being said, Who is not in bondage? I'm just asking. I'll wait. Okay, that was long enough. And I'm asking these questions to myself mainly because I'm really wondering about the current state of humanity, right? Like what has really gotten us here? And I did a really deep dive rabbit hole earlier today. I'm not going to go all into that right now, but I'm talking about looking at the ice age and why Europeans seem to be the main ones colonizing the entire world. Like what the fuck happened with this particular cultural group of people that put them in a position where they're deeply is to conquer, right? Like, what is that really about? So I did a deep dive into that. We'll talk about that on another transmission because that's what I'm calling this instead of episodes. And what it did lead me to have is a level of empathy that does not excuse, that does not dismiss, but helps me to understand what could have happened culturally, economically, relationally centuries ago that have been passed down through generations and generations and shaped the epitome genetics of a people to the point where their whole survival is based on subjugating other people, right? Because I'm like, all right, not saying that other cultures or people weren't on that bullshit because yes, they were, right? Every other culture on this planet at some point had some form of slavery or subjugation, right? Everyone did. However, it looked very different because what is unique for the colonization and European folks is that it was built on saying that a people was less than than others because of their very the way they were made up right there, their race, their color, their hair texture, their facial features. That was what really set apart slavery. done by Europeans. Now let's look at the etymology because this definitely adds a layer of context. All right, so again, I'm looking at my notes. So of course, slavery comes from the word slave and the origin is from old French, which is esclave from medieval Latin, sclavus, meaning Slav, as in Slavic people. Y'all hear me? Slave originated from the word Slav or Slavas, which means Slav as in Slavic people. This is an ethnicity, right? I'll have to go make sure I was saying the right thing. Yes, that would be considered a ethnicity, Slavic. Also a culture, right? Because usually an ethnicity has a certain culture. So I just wanted to make that clear. So why is this important? Because during the early Middle Ages, Slavic people, which were Eastern Europeans were captured and enslaved by invading forces A lot. To the point where the word sclavos became synonymous with enslaved person. So what this is, is that slavery, the word, developed in the mid-16th century, meaning condition of a slave or servitude. Now this carried into English law and colonization as a legal and economic status. Not just a condition, but a social class. So what does this mean? What this means is that the very word slave is rooted in a racialized and geopolitical history, originally describing a people, an ethnic group, an ethnic European group. Then it became a condition, then a permanent caste system, particularly in the context of Black folks when we're talking about African American chattel slavery, which this just intensified the brutality of that whole fucking system. All right, now let's get into bondage and the etymology of this word. So bondage comes from the root word bond, and this opens up a much more interesting door when we're talking about how it could be applicable to the collective human species at this time. So from the old English banda or bunda, it means a householder, husband, peasant, which I find very interesting. And it derived from the old Norse bondi, which meant farmer or freeholder. Now, this was later connected to bind, which means to tie, to fasten, or to hold, right? This is the etymology of bond. Now, bondage emerged in English around the 14th century or so. And it originally meant the condition of being a serf or vassal, which is a person tied to the land or to service. Now, that's interesting. A person tied to land or service. You are bound by the land or you are bound by your service. Now, to extend metaphorical meaning could be a state of being bound, subjugated, or oppressed, even when not legally enslaved. Hmm. So let's dig a little deeper. So where slavery is talking about outright ownership and dehumanization, which we technically don't have unless you're talking about the, what's that, the prison pipeline? Yeah, that. But anyway, so slavery, outright ownership, and dehumanization. Okay. Bondage talks more about a relationship a relationship, an obligation, a binding, being bound to, that's not always force, but also can be implicated through duty, Tradition, death, a belief, or fear. So while the system of slavery still echoes through our collective consciousness, it still echoes through the systems that we are still beholden to right now, that we are still living under, what I was actually thinking about when I used the word we're all slaves is that we are all bound to something. We are all under these conditions to something. And until we become conscious of these contracts, until we intentionally lean into breaking contracts that does not serve us and the collective, that does not serve us and the collective, not us or, not just us, but us and the collective, not until we break those chains, not until we nullify those contracts as a collective, Can we have peace? And here's the thing, doing this work, doing this healing work, really acknowledging all of the fucking contracts, all of the goddamn binding that you are wrapped in is hard as hell. There's so much grief. There's so much sadness. There's so much pain physically, mentally, emotionally that goes into excavating who you really are underneath all of the programs, all of the bindings. all of the bullshit can be exhausting. It can feel never ending. It can feel like you're in a tunnel with no goddamn light in sight. However, the reality of it is that there is so much potential beauty. There is so much joy. There's so much pleasure. And you could possibly hear my dog snoring in the background. You see, he's chilling, right? But the thing about it is that until we collectively get our head out of our fucking ass and have the courage to reckon with ourself, with our history, how we have been implicit in the shit that we're now in. We start that as individuals. And you don't have to do it in a silo. As a matter of fact, it shouldn't be done in silos. If we can have smaller communities where we can hold one another accountable with love as we begin to shed all of the different bindings, as we begin to loose the bondage from all of the different things that have us living in a way that is not in alignment with our highest version of self that is not connected with the collective with love and curiosity until we are willing to look in the motherfucking mirror and admit that we are part of the motherfucking problem and this does not dismiss our traumas this does not dismiss how we've been done wrong it does not what it does is give nuance what it does is allow us to hold both with understanding and curiosity, not judgment, not to criticize, but to analyze so that we get the information and the understanding we need so that we can intentionally do something fucking else. But people do not want to do that because if you have been conditioned to believe that you are meant to be at the top, that in order for you to have a sense of worthiness, that means that other people have to be less than you. And for that whole idea to be shifted, oh, this motherfucker loud in the background. Okay, I'm going to take that as a hallelujah, as an amen in the background with this dog. But until you are able to relinquish attachment to an idea that you are better than someone else, and in order for you to maintain that belief, someone else has to be under your boot, then there won't be change, right? And until those who are under the boot understand that you are not less than them, then that this was some propaganda that you've been living under for millennia. It might not be millennia. That might be an exaggeration, but y'all know what the fuck I'm saying, right? We have to be willing to shake shit up. We have to be willing to allow things to be completely destroyed. We have to eliminate the entire foundation, the very root, because it was foul from the beginning. The root was foul from the beginning. It was tainted. When we're talking about American history specifically, It was always found. And so we cannot rebuild on something that's infected. We cannot heal with tainted blood. We must cleanse. We must bloodlet this bitch. We need to let all the blood out. It needs to die. And death is painful. Death is difficult, especially if it's your entire lived experience, your entire belief system that has to die. And this goes for everyone in the and bound to this belief of this fake ass American dream. Everybody collectively to some degree is bound.