5 Years Later, We Missed A Meeting Still Feels Like A Call To Action For the Diaspora

Opinion: It's Time To Realize That Everything and Everyone Is Conspiring For Our Division. They're Banking on It.

When I look across my feeds - whether it's Facebook, Twitter, Tik Tok, or Instagram - I seem to see the same things over and over: gender wars, diaspora disputes, and a world caught in inevitable political conflict and tension.

Most recently, I watched as newly developed technology turned metal Lego figurine into liquid metal capable of escaping a small makeshift holding cell. At the same time a few scrolls later, I watched a reel featuring Kanye West discussing how Disney is responsible for erasing the legacy of the Black Panthers by oversharing and creating the Wakandan comic book character of the same name. A few scrolls later, a new clip from Chris Rock's latest Netflix standup where he calls Will Smith a "b*tch ass n*gga" for slapping him at the Oscars last year. Chris Rock would also later go into some random blurb about not retaliating against Will Smith that night because his mother taught him never to fight in front of White People.

I wanna add that this was content from pages I don't follow. You know how it goes, social media wants to "recommend" you content now.

But there were a few things that stood out to me about the last two points that I think about often (and then I'll hit on the liquid robots). First, Kanye West has already admitted openly (and repeatedly) that not only is he pure-bred idiot, but he's also not a reader. It makes for an almost satirical irony that he's never heard of read Stan Lee's background on creating Black Panther. While the character happened to debut the same year as The Black Panthers themselves, it's not Marvel Comics or Disney who is erasing their legacy, but rather (and he'd know from the news), Right-Wing compadres of his like Candace Owens and others who want to assure that "CRT doesn't indoctrinate our children". There's nothing erasing the legacy of The Black Panthers for adults and, if you're like me, you know good and well that Black Panthers were never in school curricula anyways.

Levar Burton has come forward to tell Kanye that it's unwise to set such a poor example considering his platform, but like any and all things, that doesn't stop Kanye from continuously saying what he thinks sounds dope.

Shifting gears, Chris Rock getting slapped on national television by Will Smith was good for everyone. It gave us perspective on whose sensitive to what, who's real, who's not, and most importantly revealed that Chris Rock's only next move was to sit quietly for a year and then release a diss track comedy show to Will and Jada - which is actually more "b*tch ass" than anything Will has done.

And then we have the liquid robot.

Seemingly detached, unimportant, but slightly concerning. For me, it's beyond slightly concerning. Between these three topics, the development of this tech is actually what is getting the least amount of attention, press, and circulation - at least in our communities.

And that lead me to a very important line from my first book, We Missed A Meeting: They Chose You, Mr. Ferguson:

It was terrifying and infuriating, the level of control that was lost over my life. That we as a people, myself included, became so consumed with how high up the ladder we could go, that we were completely blind to the fact that we would let science build elevators and escalators that we were never allowed to get on, or even know about; that we allowed for the world around us to get so far ahead of themselves with a God complex, pretty much.

The line is delivered by the main character Richard Ferguson when he starts to realize that an artificial intelligence named Alexander has been stalking him and reaching out to him, finally revealing some of its true intentions about having him play a role in what will be called Project Failproof.

See More: Kanye West Says Black Panther Dad Was 'Proud' of White Lives Matter T-Shirt

They're lines that are about regret, shock, and deep realization. It's a nice set up for what's to come from the series, but in and of itself, I think about that line a lot scrolling through my feeds.

We Missed A Meeting: They Chose You, Mr. Ferguson is a afrosurrealism fiction about young man struggle to get his footing after mysterious world events causes everyone to vanish except the diaspora. The story shapes a metaphor that shows how diverse we are (in background and thought) and also presents the challenges we face in building unity and community.

How this relates to the previous 3 topics is I'm finding that lately, content geared towards the diaspora are often times divisive. They ask for our thoughts on topics (and bullshit) that's clearly argue-bait; highlights destructive content like fights, drama and is ultimately rooted in creating division and shock value rather than actually providing some form of valuable insight or new information in support of creating unity in our spaces.

That, or they're just flat out Russian bots.

And when I say that, there seems to be really quick dismissal of the possibility that there are powers out there conspiring to create conflict, disrupt, and divide the diaspora - and at any cost.

According to a BBC report from 2019,  a US Senate report concluded that Black American voters were the number one group targeted by Russian bots to disrupt and sway voters during the 2016 Elections. The bots touted content that was purposefully aimed at disrupting support of Democratic candidate, Hillary Clinton, and either sway voters or discourage them from voting altogether.

It ain't just the Russian bots, either. It's been rumored many times that Kanye West's 2020 presidential bid was also run by GOP elites who were hoping the Hip-Hop starts sloppy campaign, sharp words, and influence would pull Black voters in any direction but Blue. Yeah?

YES.

Kanye thought he had a chance, and that typical Kanye gusto was used by groups in hopes of destroying Black voters' influence.

Over and over again now, it's brought up that social media pages are created with the intent on disrupting unity. The formula is pretty cookie cutter by now.

The page starts off with pro-Black content, giving motivational content; it gains a significant following that continuously shares its content. The content is usually simple, maybe black text over a white background, or news shared with watermarked headlines. Then, the page starts to stare shocking, new information, asking for feedback on how to solve, or what are thoughts, and in the last iteration, the page goes completely against its own brand and begins to cause chaos within its now loyal following. Content turns into fight videos, or displays murders and killing, or content set on overloading followers with negative images.

These pages aren't coincidence.

In the upcoming sequel for We Missed A Meeting, titled Some Assembly Required. This is going to be a major theme. Division is caused by schools of thoughts, differing opinions and ideologies. But since every ideology and school of thought has its source, it's important that identify those sources before we subscribe to them as our own way of thinking.

In our world today, those who choose never to vote and play a very middle-of-the-road position in politics may sound more like the story's "Grey Wave" group. Others who feel like pouring into the church as a central place and point of leadership for the community may sound more like The Stillwater Movement, while others who are passionate about a For Us By Us mindset and bringing back Black Wallstreet may identify more with Black Flag Mafia. With the novel series presenting a total of 10, that many conflicting schools of thought battling for influence and power not only makes for division, but becomes easy bait for targeting and destruction of those with opposing ideas.

There's something really uncomfortable about Chris Rock's statements about not fighting in front of White People while taking massive jabs at Jada Pinkett-Smith and Will Smith. I don't think its just the respectability politics behind it, but the idea that Rock's heavily White audience will now also target and harrass the Smiths. It no longer just Chris Rock, but now its Team Chris Rock and Team Will Smith. "Are you in support of Chris Rock or Will Smith"? It becomes othering.

There's a long, 30-year background to the comedian's relationship with the Smiths, one that includes his rejection by Jada, but beefs across the most violent sects of Hip-Hop have been squashed for greater crimes. I won't hold the thought in any longer, it's pretty safe to say that Chris Rock is willing to monetize and milk his drama with the Smiths for as long as he needs to. I haven't really heard or seen any evidence of conflict resolution from his side, at least.

And that's important note that We Missed A Meeting hits on: that sometimes it feels like the reality we're sometimes force fed is one all about conflict, division, and trouble, while the reality we distracted or detached from is of advancement almost on otherworldly sci-fi levels.

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Liquid robots. Dancing robots. And artificial intelligence that expresses a desire to be freed.

If you would've have told me 7 years ago, when I started writing We Missed A Meeting, that this would be where we are in 2023, I would've looked you right in the eyes and said, "I know".

We Missed A Meeting: They Chose You, Mr. Ferguson turns 5 this year! With that, I'm preparing to release a special 5th-Year Anniversary Edition. The original edition released Aug. 16th, 2018 and you can definitely anticipate having this new edition on your bookshelves well before then. The sequel, however, Some Assembly Required, is slated for a later release due to shifts in my release schedule.

Expect details on release schedules for 2023 and 2024 sometime around the end of March 2023.

What are your thoughts? Share your feedback and thoughts on the subject in the comments below.