Flash mobs are a good time because they show people having a good time with very little at stake, and I am surprised that they went out of fashion. They demonstrate how easy it is for people who independently take note of a specific behavior, and decide to emulate it for their own amusement. Ironically, that is also how propaganda works, influencing everyone to do something that they might otherwise not believe. People who are following this behavior do not think that they are doing something incorrect, just that they are doing something popular, and they would rather be popular than not. In this era of accountability, I am seeing that around the world, imperial behavior is being imitated because people believe that strength and popularity are moral indicators, rather than understanding their consequences.
One of the reasons that I left my job was because there were a number of Black women around social media who were making a practice of traveling, and seemed to be safe doing so. I had maintained a website for over six years, done some consulting, and I figured that I would have as much of a chance as they did while remaining dedicated to audio and written media. My initial goal was to work remotely, because people were pretending that the world rewarded hard work and consistency. However, what I began to notice after two years of trying this is that people were becoming anxious about Black people in places other than where we were expected based on United States propaganda. Therefore, only monied, older Black people were maintaining their lifestyles, acquiring work permits, and being able to change their lives.
Meanwhile, people who have dealt with stagnant careers and barely scraping out of debt were being kept exactly where we were. Software that has been used to discriminate against Black people has been used internationally, and rather than more of us being able to seek our fortunes elsewhere, we have remained stuck. Friends with stellar resumes and years of experience have been held hostage by hostile bosses who refuse to grant them the respect necessary to exist, and international opportunities have been slim to nonexistent. For those who tell Black people, if we are unhappy, we should just leave? Well, unfortunately, when the international wells have been poisoned by anti-Black propaganda, that is very difficult.
Imperial behavior is not only a problem for those expected to remain at the bottom, even though people want to believe that they live in their own little universes because artificial boundaries change. By the very definition of “empire,” the mindsets and expectations have crossed borders, and Black people from the United States are facing very real battles. The majority of us are trapped in low-wage jobs where people expect the right to abuse us in the United States, or we face becoming unhoused and starvation anywhere else. Damage done to the United States will not remain there unless other people truly examine whether they have the decency to consider that easy answers may not always be best, for all involved, not just us.
Chasing A Dying Empire 