I know that we, Black people, joke around about the differences between being light skinned and dark skinned, but I hope in everyone’s heart it is truly just a joke.. Hey, I have made jokes about it before myself, but in my heart it does not matter if you are light skinned or dark skinned, at the end of the day we are all Black. We have to look in our community and start to take responsibility for our own actions. It has been over 300 years since Willie Lynch gave his speech on the bank of the James River and he still proves that if you can divide us, you will conquer us. I want to share, with you, a little bit of his speech.

“I HAVE A FULL PROOF METHOD FOR CONTROLLING YOUR BLACK SLAVES. I guarantee every one of you that, if installed correctly, IT WILL CONTROL THE SLAVES FOR AT LEAST 300 HUNDREDS YEARS. My method is simple. Any member of your family or your overseer can use it. I HAVE OUTLINED A NUMBER OF DIFFERENCES AMONG THE SLAVES; AND I TAKE THESE DIFFERENCES AND MAKE THEM BIGGER. I USE FEAR, DISTRUST AND ENVY FOR CONTROL PURPOSES. These methods have worked on my modest plantation in the West Indies and it will work throughout the South. Take this simple little list of differences and think about them. On top of my list is “AGE,” but it’s there only because it starts with an “a.” The second is “COLOR” or shade. There is INTELLIGENCE, SIZE, SEX, SIZES OF PLANTATIONS, STATUS on plantations, ATTITUDE of owners, whether the slaves live in the valley, on a hill, East, West, North, South, have fine hair, course hair, or is tall or short. Now that you have a list of differences, I shall give you an outline of action, but before that, I shall assure you that DISTRUST IS STRONGER THAN TRUST AND ENVY STRONGER THAN ADULATION, RESPECT OR ADMIRATION. The Black slaves after receiving this indoctrination shall carry on and will become self-refueling and self-generating for HUNDREDS of years, maybe THOUSANDS. Don’t forget, you must pitch the OLD black male vs. the YOUNG black male, and the YOUNG black male against the OLD black male. You must use the DARK skin slaves vs. the LIGHT skin slaves, and the LIGHT skin slaves vs. the DARK skin slaves. You must use the FEMALE vs. the MALE, and the MALE vs. the FEMALE. You must also have white servants and overseers [who] distrust all Blacks. But it is NECESSARY THAT YOUR SLAVES TRUST AND DEPEND ON US. THEY MUST LOVE, RESPECT AND TRUST ONLY U. Gentlemen, these kits are your keys to control. Use them. Have your wives and children use them, never miss an opportunity.
IF USED INTENSELY FOR ONE YEAR, THE SLAVES THEMSELVES WILL REMAIN PERPETUALLY DISTRUSTFUL. Thank you gentlemen.”

This is so powerful and I think this sums it all up. I could give you a bunch of statistics, but for what? We know how low the marriage rate is in the black community; Black women have lost all faith in Black men; Black men are frowned upon for speaking a certain way, I could go on and on. We can only use slavery as an excuse for so long. I guess we need to adopt the values of our predecessors from the 50’s and 60’s, meaning the only way our community will begin to thrive again is if we feel like we are fighting for something. It is sad that this is the progress we have made over the years; killing each other like animals to claim a block that we do not even own. When you know better, you do better. Let’s do better!

Remember to Keep It GC,

Adrian “GC Smooth” Taylor