The Black Love Syllabus
Introducing a new segment for the Literary Lightworker. In a series of posts, we will provide some resources on cultivating and maintaining Black Love.
Love Is In Need of Love…
A cursory scroll of any social media app will reveal a disturbing phenomenon. Post after post demonstrates a complete lack of love between Black men and women. Varied opinions rooted in traumatic experiences and, in many cases, misguided social perspectives trend strongly as the algorithm absorbs and feeds this content to nearly every African American on social media, even if they only frequent one app. Podcasts have sprung up seemingly overnight, but just about all of them have the same agenda: feed the dysfunction of Black male-female relationships by sensationalizing the worst aspects of us and normalizing half-baked solutions that keep the Black masses rooted in fear and suspicion of each other. The missing ingredient in all of this dialogue and drivel is enlightenment about love.
Once upon a time, Black music framed love for the community in its poetic song lyrics and beautiful musical arrangements. Soul music legends such as Marvin Gaye, Aretha Franklin, Patti LaBelle, Luther Vandross, and ‘90s era artists such as Jodeci, Boyz II Men, New Edition, Keith Sweat, Karyn White, and a host of others meticulously crafted songs that allowed a kind of Black vulnerability rooted in the power of love and all of its expressions. Today, love songs have nearly gone extinct; with many songs speaking directly to empty sexcapades and boastful bitterness after heartbreaks.
Black Love is a revolutionary remedy that will cure the ails of our communities. The presence of Black Love can dismantle this white supremacist ideological hold that’s running amok in our lives. Despite being in a society that is not rooted in love but rather capitalism and oppression, Black people can overcome by truly adhering to the adage, ‘we are all we got’.
To combat the vitriol in this social media stratosphere, I have been hard at work on creating a sampling of texts & other cultural pieces that can help us as a community rebuild, revise, and reinstate Black Love in all the spaces and not in a select few, as we are seeing that it is splintering under the maliciousness of our wounded selves. The overall aim is to approach Love for its cleansing power, its healing grace, and its merciful compassion. In a series of posts, not necessarily in order, a resource will be presented for its contents on how it contributes to a collective goal of fostering more Black Love and less Black Dysfunction. Don’t expect all of these pieces to be flowery and light, instead some of these pieces will be intellectually hefty because there are some definitive issues that must be addressed.
Are you ready?
Definitely needed. I have grown frustrated with the wrong type of representation being put out in the media.