Love is an underused superpower.
Check this visual: a woman introduces her man’s vinyl collection like it’s a third-grade science fair project — and then dares the internet to clap back.
But some folks in our online village think they found the latest existential threat to Black masculinity.
The comments are cruel.
Commenters called the men weak.
And let’s hit the top of that post — “menacing”?
The woman holding the extension cord is definitely funny. But some men seem triggered by these videos.
Guys — how far would you go to hold your woman down?
Like, become the president of their fan club?
Support their hobbies, careers, and aspirations?
And for the men who have serious problems with these trending social media posts of women hyping up their men’s interests while admonishing viewers to engage — are you mad because you wanted to be the ones holding extension cords?
Does the problem lie with the women, or the men with the hobbies? (Laughing) Or that extension cord?
I think Black and Brown men outraged by any of this need to reset their focus because getting rocked by silly videos signals that white supremacy is winning.
Marginalization since the days of colonizing sojourners and slave ships have left a ton of conflicting instructions for men of color to survive in a world that doesn’t want but needs them.
For instance, you’re not a man — and likely gay — if you order dessert at a restaurant.
Or order a sweet alcoholic beverage. I mean, I’m not a fan of sweet cocktails, but never thought about questioning anyone’s manhood.
Or say “Hi” to another man.
Or go out to dinner with a male friend.
And now, it’s posing with your hobby on social media while your woman stands in the background with an extension cord in the ready position.
My point is that I get it — surviving in a marginalized society makes Black and Brown men cook up recipes that change damn-near daily.
And makes masculinity acid tests increasingly fragile while the fear of losing control increases.
I’m ready for all the laughs about this foolishness — if this weren’t a distraction from what’s really killing us.
But your fight isn’t with Bruz and his Pokémon collection.
Yo, I don’t collect Pokemon cards either but I also know that stopping my man’s passion for — wait, I gotta Google this — Pikachu — does not stop what’s really killing the race.
How about saving all this protect-our-manhood-from-fish-collections energy to fight against systems that give Black men a lower life expectancy than that of white men?
This system of systems is responsible for the race’s higher incarceration rates, widening wealth gap, shameful education achievement gap, and the racially slanted infant and maternal mortality rates.
And that’s just a sample of what’s killing us.
Black and Brown men can show real strength by showing up to fight these systems daily — not going on verbal crusades about so-called soft men.
In American football, we would call the misplaced masculine energy a misdirection.
The quarterback has us fooled.
But we can win through something more powerful: love.
Love for your partners, family and community members.
Love will amplify and protect good times, and fight the enemies behind extractive and deadly systems.
And love will help you find hobbies that cool you out and bring joy in a society that can make the unsuspecting quite miserable.
So ask yourself: is clowning a man over his Pokémon cards doing anything to stop oppressive systems from shortening our lives?
song currently stuck in my head: “cindy rella” – yaya bey
mentalunrest.com 