It's said, "You are the average of the five people you spend the most time with." Let's rephrase this: "If you are positive, you are the average of the five positive people you spend time with." I hold myself in high regard, so my five are exceptional. Tyrone was one of those five. He passed away recently. He wasn't a writer but showed me how to balance "talking" with "acting." And oh, how we acted:
Driving to Washington only to chase Congress members who avoided scheduled meetings.
Educating and organizing employees to defend their rights.
Challenging federal officials who treated workplaces like plantations.
Coordinating with the NAACP, ACLU, and other groups. And when those groups failed, even holding them to account!
It would have been nice to avoid all this. Spending more time with our families and hobbies would have been nice. But we grew intolerant of the propaganda, PR, and bullshit. Someone had to do something. We had to do something.
Months ago, Tyrone contacted me to say he had collected everything I had published. He urged me never to stop writing, and I won't. This newsletter is a tribute and a continuation of his legacy. It's dedicated to his spirit of freeing our minds from propaganda, lies, and distractions. It will carry a new name: Escaping the Plantation!
It's going to drop knowledge, not nonsense.
"We are going to emancipate ourselves from mental slavery because whilst others might free the body, none but ourselves can free the mind. Mind is your only ruler, sovereign. The man who is not able to develop and use his mind is bound to be the slave of the other man who uses his mind." Marcus Garvey
Redemption Song, yes scream this: emancipate ourselves from mental slavery