Imagine receiving a series of phone calls the first thing in the morning from people around the country asking about a controversial book you allegedly published. When you check online you realize that some unknown company published a book, which includes your writings, and is selling it without your knowledge. Imagine folks reaching out congratulating you about being on different artists' album intros, songs, interludes, and outros that you never knew existed. Imagine U.S. Customs and Border Protection at the LA/LB [Los Angeles/Long Beach] seaport contacting you to examine a shipping container of imported designer sneakers that retail for $405.00. It's a courtesy call from an Import Specialist because they felt that designs on the product resembled Five Percent Nation cultural symbols. Imagine several global media outlets reaching out to you in the middle of your school day for an immediate comment on a story related to the Five Percent that is going to print in a few hours with or without your input. Imagine receiving death threats, hundreds of telephone calls in a day, learning that you are under surveillance, and getting a visit by government agents asking questions about your cultural views. Wild huh? Probably unbelievable to some of you. Well, that is just a glimpse of what goes on in my life. Things that I usually don't share publicly.
While I receive a great deal of support from people who genuinely appreciate what I do, a small segment of folks do not. That lack of support is not based upon the actual importance of my work because its value is proven in its results and global reach. Some people just don't like me, for whatever reasons known to them. Some have tried to smart-shame me for going to college, labeled me a goody-toe-shoes for not having a criminal record, or called me egotistic because I don't make myself easily accessible. Some folks have even interpreted the consistent work that I share in the name of the Five Percent as acting like I am better than other people and propping myself up as THE leader. One of the words that have been used to describe me is 'arrogant', which means, "an exaggerated idea about our abilities and sense of importance." To be fair, I don't immediately disregard assessments of me, whether they are negative or positive. I do put some thought into some of those assessments, the folks who share them, and the possible reasons they would think/feel that way. That personal information that I shared above, along with any projects, programs, and initiatives that I share, either accurately describes my ability and the important global work that I do, or it does not. Sharing the news that five of my twenty-three books are in a special archive at the British Library is not arrogance. You can either go to the UK and check them out of their collection or I am exaggerating.
Exploring some of these ideas, I have realized something that I have not considered before; my ability, and the important work that I do, may look exaggeratedly different than how I present myself. My persona may throw some folks off because it is not tied to things that they typically associate with success, self-importance, and power. I don't take pictures with folks to look important based upon proximity and place. I rarely if ever wear logo-branded clothes/sneakers, especially in photos and videos. My car is eighteen-years-old and I don't walk into rooms with a need to be seen and heard; I am absolutely fine with saying nothing unless there is something to be said. I live humble, I present humble, yet the things that I share are far from it.
Some of my colleagues have bluntly stated that folks who always have something negative to say about me are just "haters." While I won't discredit their perspective, I will say that there is also another way to look at it. Sometimes people are not haters; especially those who don't even know us. It's self-hate that they are projecting and you are their target. Let me explain.
In Psychology, projection is the act of displacing one's own thoughts and feelings onto a different person, place, or thing. When people project they misrepresent what is going on "inside" of them as coming from the "outside." Why do folks do this? Because they are dissatisfied with what is going on in their life. Some people don't hate us, they hate their own lives and the truth that our life expresses exposes their self-hatred. To them, our life represents a proverbial mirror, and every time they see us they see the opposite. Just like a reversed reflection in a mirror, our right is their left (or wrong)... If we are doing good financially, they see how bad they are doing. If we have accomplishments, they are reminded of their failures. They think about their academic struggles and speech impediment when they hear how educated and articulate we are. Our confidence and security reveal their doubt and insecurity. When some people are exposed to these mirrored truths, they simply feel the need to attack or ridicule the person, place, or thing where these truths are emanating from.
Sometimes I think we take for granted where we think people are in life without knowing their journey to get there. We all have an origin story and my story begins with my family dynamics. My parents were down with the Black Panthers; my Ole Earth was a social psychologist, and my Ole Dad was a tradesman who collected African artifacts. My Ole Earth used to intentionally take us people-watching. Yes, she would literally say, "come on let's go people watching." We would jump into the wood-paneled station wagon, drive to a mall, park, or other public space and sit and watch people. She would then ask us questions about the people, environment, and the things we observed. Exercises like this, having a DSM [Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders] in our library, and learning about black classical/contemporary contributions to civilizations from our Ole Dad helped shape my consciousness. My eldest brother attended Alabama State University, my elder sister attended Morgan State University, my younger brother and I attended Central State University and both of my young Queens attended Howard University. My parents never said to us, "go to an HBCU." We chose that based upon our appreciation for our people and the desire to be amongst and invest in our own. In 1994 I met my Enlightener in that black college environment and formally gained KOS [Knowledge Of Self] when I was nineteen years old. I am forty-seven today and over the years I have been intentional about teaching and positively representing the culture of the Five Percent. Running concurrently with my experience teaching and positively representing the Five Percent is the development of the internet and social media; a digital vehicle that I began to use to amplify our Nation's presence through various projects, programs, and initiatives. Based on the extent of my digital footprint, you cannot discuss pioneering Five Percent content creation without discussing these contributions. I was among the first of us to publish articles online, the first to vlog, the first to start a podcast, the first to teach online classes, and start various other projects, programs, and initiatives that continue to this day. Those statements are not an exaggeration of my abilities and importance. Making those statements... is not arrogant. They are documented actual facts. Now some people would say, "Why do you even gotta say alllllllll a dat? Just let your work speak for itself." Well, it has spoken for itself for years to those who are honest and aware. Some folks still have no clue and may speak out of ignorance because they are unaware. What is the value of knowing facts like this? Folks can have access to predecessors, with a reference library of life experiences, that can help them succeed in their new undertakings.
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When I started creating content as a Five Percenter more than two decades ago, smartphones didn't exist. Nor did social media. Today there is so much content available, some people are more invested in talking about stuff online than actually doing stuff offline. According to research in the National Library of Medicine, this present technological shift has increased "sedentary lifestyles" to the point where the current generation is the first to have a shorter life expectancy than their predecessors. Now along comes the Metaverse; a virtual reality space where inactive folks can now interact with computer-generated environments and other inactive folks. The irony is that it's not much different than the virtual reality of filtered/deepfake images and videos, fake personas, fake businesses, and fake accomplishments that people already generate and interact with online. Now that we are seeing this increase in the "quantity" of content, that is a prime indication that there is a decrease in quality content. That applies to any industry. Once you start seeing a lot of a product, its quality has been stepped on... sometimes more than once. I have always been aware of this so I never used my online platforms to bombard people with non-quality content. It's never been about how many videos I've posted, it's about the quality of those videos to inspire, empower and educate people around the world. It's not about the length of the hundreds of thousands of words that I have written in articles and books, it's about the weight of those words.
Nowadays there are more Five Percenters online than there have ever been before. While some of us are working diligently to positively represent who we are in our respective fields, other individuals are more concerned about jockeying for digital real estate, trolling, and being Five Percenter versions of Saa Neter. As I've shared, technology has fostered an unhealthy sedentary lifestyle that contributes to shortening our lifespan, physically and mentally. Along with that inactivity, some people, including those who consider themselves to be enlightened, are becoming more apathetic, pessimistic, and less hopeful about the real world. Thus this attitude is reflected in the dramatic, violent, gossip-laced content that they create, engage in, and reshare. I don't have any answers for adults who choose to be like this and set such lowly standards for our youth. I strive to protect our youth from being exposed to these negative influences by being an example, and I am thankful to see more responsible adults stepping up to do the same. Yet there is still much work to be done. And until then, it is, what it is, until it isn't.
Peace,
Saladin
