While on the Gullah Geechee Tour in Hilton Head, South Carolina, we stopped at a beach on Mitchell Island. Like so many beaches on our journey, it was stunningly beautiful. We were given fifteen minutes to walk down the long wooden path to the beach, where we were met with the “Beach Toy Borrow Bin.” While I admittedly don’t frequent beaches much, I had never seen or heard of such a thing before.
The sign said, “Take and borrow what you like as a loan, then return it to the bin, or take it home!”
What a concept, right? The ability to either “borrow” something and return it, or “borrow” something, OR even take it as your own! Sound familiar?
I was on a virtual Zoom with my writer’s group where one of our members brought up the ways so many “borrow” from Black culture, clearly never to honor the intended concept of the word. Take and use with the intention of returning it. Yeah, right. Take and use for sure. Rob, seize, even usurp in many cases. Oftentimes, it takes research. into the catacombs of our history before we even find the source of this thievery to give them their just due. My fellow writers said it best:
“We are the originals.”
“We represent the fullness of humanity.”
“We hold the melanin, the music, the language, the swag.”
This virtual convo with my beautifully melanated safe place I have grown to call family brought home the idea of how much “others” have “borrowed,” not only never to return, but having the audacity to call it their “own.”.
Black Culture, Black Language, Black Music, Black Swag.
They dig in our “bins” and treat US like “toys.” But our culture, our language, our music, and our swag is not to be played with. So, what do we do? We take it back! We ride on the shoulders of those like Ray Charles, Prince, Jay Z, and Tyler Perry. We make sure we OWN our own stuff!
““If you don’t own your masters, the master owns you.” – Prince
I marinated on this quote—so much more than musical masters came to mind. Our musings, our colloquialisms, even our social media quotes are literally pillaged from our Black mouths, from our Black hands, from our Black…NESS!
“Winners are not allowed to allow losers to rewrite history.” Katt Williams
No matter how many times so many try to rewrite history, the real ones will always see their version of history for what it is: HIS story. WE share our stories. WE sing our stories. WE write our stories. And those who allegedly “borrow” will eventually be exposed by the authentic, unapologetic, unadulterated, unfiltered truth of the ones they aspire so hard to be!
I often think back to that beach toy borrow bin. It was full. But was that because of the honesty of those who actually returned the “toys” or because those that owned the beach continued to refill it, making sure it was continually “looking” full, but for the greedy hands who took, and took, and took, with no intention of returning the items to their rightful owners?
Selah.
Many thanks to you for this amazing post. This is evidence of how present you were in the moment. Your writing helps others to be aware of how these greater themes run intertwined in all our systems from big to small.