Fuck Fame and Fortune

I want to write, for me. I want to write for my mother and grandmother. I want to write for my daughter. I want to write for my wife. I want to write for those who came before me, for the Diaspora.

I guess we all want to make a good living doing what we love. I guess being financially stable is a good thing. I don’t want to think about a book deal, or being famous. I need to write because I have a story to tell. I have a story to tell from my Black point of view, which is unlike anything seen or read so far. It’s not arrogance, I mean I (we Black folks) have something in us that only we can manage or describe. We have a rhythm and a knowledge that only comes from the Motherland. We move, breathe, hurt, process differently. No one can tell my story like me. No one can tell our stories like us.

So, I say fuck fame and fortune. I say fuck the NYT bestseller list. I say fuck Hollywood. I say fuck Network television. I have no time to waste making my story nice, comfortable for white masses. No, I only have time for me. I only have time to learn from those who look like me. I have time for Misha and Jordan, Spike and Kasi, Melina and Melvin, Ava, T. Witcher, and C. Cherot. I only have time for the art of it. I only have time for the Blackness of it. I only have time for the ownership of it. Fuck fame and fortune.