{"id":612,"date":"2025-08-07T16:23:58","date_gmt":"2025-08-07T16:23:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blackmanwrites.com\/?p=612"},"modified":"2025-08-07T16:23:58","modified_gmt":"2025-08-07T16:23:58","slug":"part-2-the-recovery","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blackmanwrites.com\/?p=612","title":{"rendered":"Part 2: The Recovery"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The work begins after the funeral<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Grief has a strange rhythm. First, you deny. Then, you bargain. Then, if you\u2019re honest, you get angry. But eventually\u2014if you\u2019re strong\u2014you begin to recover. Not forget. Not excuse. But rebuild something from what was broken.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That\u2019s where I\u2019m at.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you read Part 1, Better (Not) Call\u2026 then you already know: I\u2019ve buried somebody I love. Not physically, but spiritually. He\u2019s still alive, still walking around, still talking that mess, still getting his daily bread from the far edges of the algorithm\u2014but I\u2019ve stopped waiting for him to come home. I wrote a eulogy because the man I knew is gone.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But now it\u2019s time to talk to the rest of us who are still here.
Still awake.
Still angry.
Still trying to figure out how to love our people when some of them are sprinting toward the very system designed to erase them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is for the ones who haven\u2019t crossed that line. Not yet.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is Part 2: The Recovery.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

Step 1: Call It What It Is<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Let\u2019s stop softening the truth to keep the peace. What we\u2019re watching isn\u2019t \u201cpolitics.\u201d<\/em> It\u2019s not \u201cdifference of opinion.\u201d<\/em> It\u2019s psychological warfare, wrapped in flags and filters. When a Black man starts defending Trump\u2014and believes he\u2019s doing it for the good of Black people<\/em>\u2014that\u2019s not an opinion. That\u2019s evidence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Evidence of coercion.
Evidence of trauma.
Evidence of spiritual malnourishment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Recovery starts when we stop pretending, when we stop responding, when we stop the twitter fingers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

Step 2: Cut the Cord of Approval<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Somewhere along the line, a lot of Black men confused \u201cbeing free\u201d<\/em> with \u201cbeing accepted.\u201d<\/em> They started thinking that if white folks pat them on the back, it means they\u2019ve made it. I cannot lie to you I was one of them for the better part of my life.  That if they vote red, quote scripture, wear a suit, and bash the hood, they\u2019ll get a seat at the table.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And they might.
But don\u2019t confuse that seat for power. Hey Timmie Scott!
That\u2019s called being decor<\/em>, not decorated<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The recovery means we stop looking for acceptance from people who never planned to include us in the first place. You don\u2019t have to assimilate into madness just to prove you\u2019re worthy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

Step 3: Build Community with the Willing<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Let the lost be lost\u2014at least for now. Because there are people still on the fence, still reachable, still listening. And they need places to land. That means we need barbershop truth without the performative misogyny. Church spaces that prioritize healing over hellfire. Friend groups that don\u2019t clown you for being too \u201cwoke.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We need gatherings.
We need real ones.
We need our own algorithms.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Recovery isn\u2019t done alone. It\u2019s done with people who love you enough to remind you who the hell you are.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

Step 4: Fight Propaganda Like It\u2019s Crack<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Because it is. It\u2019s addictive, it\u2019s cheap, and it\u2019s everywhere.
YouTube clips. TikToks. \u201cDid you know Lincoln was Black?\u201d conspiracy reels.
Black men are getting pulled down rabbit holes that end with them thinking slavery was a job-training program and Jim Crow was a just for course correction.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We need to fight back with truth, but not just facts.
We need storytelling.
We need content.
We need counter-programming<\/em> that\u2019s as loud, as raw, and as undeniable as the lie.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The recovery requires us to stop letting tech companies radicalize our people one suggested video at a time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

Step 5: Keep the Door Open\u2014But Not Unlocked<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is where it gets tricky.
Because we can\u2019t spend our lives chasing people who don\u2019t want to be found.
But we can leave a light on.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If the day comes when they realize what they\u2019ve done\u2014when the illusion breaks, when the algorithm glitches, when the rally flags start to feel like nooses\u2014then maybe, just maybe, they\u2019ll remember the people who told them the truth.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Recovery doesn\u2019t mean we give them a key to the house again or invite them to the cookout.
But it does mean we don\u2019t change the address.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

Final Word: Black Love Is Still Revolutionary<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The recovery isn\u2019t a program. It\u2019s a promise.
That we will not let confusion take root where truth should be.
That we will not let soft words win wars.
That we will not let our brothers die slow deaths in silence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you\u2019re still here, still reading, still listening, then you are part of the recovery.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And if you\u2019ve buried someone too, I see you.
Say your prayer. Write your eulogy. Grieve the loss.
But don\u2019t stay there too long.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We\u2019ve got work to do!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The work begins after the funeral Grief has a strange rhythm. First, you deny. Then, you bargain. Then, if you\u2019re honest, you get angry….<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"activitypub_content_warning":"","activitypub_content_visibility":"","activitypub_max_image_attachments":4,"activitypub_interaction_policy_quote":"anyone","activitypub_status":"","footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[11,4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-612","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-blackness","category-society"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"post_mailing_queue_ids":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blackmanwrites.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/612","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blackmanwrites.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blackmanwrites.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blackmanwrites.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blackmanwrites.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=612"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blackmanwrites.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/612\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":614,"href":"https:\/\/blackmanwrites.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/612\/revisions\/614"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blackmanwrites.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=612"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blackmanwrites.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=612"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blackmanwrites.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=612"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}