Part III — The Imperial War on Culture: Why Connection Is the Biggest Threat to Power.
What do they want to destroy? Culture. Connection. Community and JOY!
In this series, we’ve named the global assault on Black and brown humanity and traced its historical timeline. Today, I want to talk about the foundation beneath all of it — the thing imperial powers have always feared and tried to destroy:
Culture.
Connection.
Community.
The aliveness between us.
Because when you look across history, it becomes clear:
Empire doesn’t just want land. It wants souls.
It wants to break the human bonds that make liberation possible.
And even after centuries of violence, the one thing Black and brown people have always rebuilt — stronger, louder, more vibrant each time — is culture. Our shared humanity expressed through rhythm, memory, spirit, and joy.
Culture Is the First Language of Humanity
Long before borders, before flags, before governments and armies — people knew each other through culture:
music
movement
ritual
storytelling
food
celebration
grief
community care
Culture is the human operating system.
It’s how we say, I see you without ever speaking.
But this is also exactly why empire targets it.
Because no matter how many laws are written, how many guns are pointed, how many borders are drawn — you cannot fully control a people who remain connected to each other.
So if empire wants domination, it must first break connection.
Enslaved Africans Rebuilt Humanity From Scratch
When Africans were abducted and forced across the Atlantic, they were intentionally separated by:
ethnic group
language
religion
region
family
The goal was simple: erase the ability to unite.
But what empire failed to understand is that culture is not static — it is regenerative.
Even when everything was taken, enslaved Africans created new forms of connection:
Through Music
Drums were banned. So hands became drums.
The body became an instrument.
Rhythms became coded messages, spiritual technology, and declarations of identity.
Through Dance
Dance became rebellion.
Movement became memory.
Joy became resistance.
Through Food
Okra, rice, black-eyed peas, one-pot meals, preserved survival techniques — all became the foundation of cuisines that sustained entire nations.
Through Spirituality and Ritual
Blended, reimagined, protected in secret.
A reminder: You may own our bodies, but you will never own our spirits.
This is what humanity looks like under unimaginable pressure:
rebuilding connection from the fragments empire did not understand.
Carnival: Rebellion Wrapped in Joy
Caribbean Carnival is one of the clearest examples of this cultural rebirth.
Born from:
rebellion against slavery
refusal to be erased
African masquerade traditions
Emancipation celebrations
drum, dance, satire, resistance
the unstoppable nature of joy
Carnival is not “just a festival.”
It is political.
It is ancestral.
It is the embodiment of a people saying:
We survived what was designed to destroy us — and we will celebrate that survival loudly.
The costumes.
The rhythms.
The road.
The mas bands.
The pan.
The soca.
The bacchanal.
The freedom of being fully alive in your body.
It is collective release — and collective remembrance.
Empire hates that.
The Pandemic and the Sudden Silence
When the pandemic hit, something profound happened:
For the first time in generations, Carnival stopped.
Dance floors went quiet.
Drums paused.
Verandas emptied.
Church pews sat untouched.
Family gatherings halted.
Hugs became dangerous.
Physical connection became a public threat.
And people were devastated — not just by illness and death, but by the loss of the cultural rituals that make life meaningful.
Did it disconnect us?
Absolutely.
It fractured something in the global spirit.
And the question people still whisper is:
Why did it happen the way it did?
Who failed us?
What was withheld?
What was manipulated?
Some hypothesize it was intentional, lab-created, designed to disrupt society. That theory exists because:
governments lied
institutions failed
corporations profited
human suffering was exploited
and communities were left to fend for themselves
Here is the truth we can name:
Whether or not the pandemic originated in a lab, it was certainly used as a tool by many powerful actors — economic, political, and imperial — to expand control while ordinary people lost everything.
Empire does not need a conspiracy to benefit from crisis.
It only needs opportunity.
And it always takes it.
What we know for sure is this:
To imperial powers, human life is disposable when it interferes with money and control.
That’s not a theory.
That’s history.
Every war, every occupation, every economic sanction proves it.
Culture Is the Antidote to Empire
If the goal of imperialism is to break connection, then preserving culture is a revolutionary act:
cooking your grandmother’s recipes
speaking your mother tongue
playing the drum
teaching your children the dances
writing down your history
celebrating Carnival
honoring ancestors
building community spaces
uplifting art
reclaiming joy
These are not “hobbies.”
They are strategies of survival.
Because culture:
bonds us
teaches us
heals us
organizes us
reminds us of who we are
and reminds us of what we deserve
This is why empire has always tried to destroy it —
and why we must protect it with everything we have.
A Call to Action
This is the moment to recommit to connection.
Preserve and practice your culture — unapologetically.
Culture is a living archive. Keep it alive.Support institutions, artists, festivals, and organizers who safeguard our traditions.
If we don’t fund our culture, someone else will — and they will change its purpose.Build community.
Joy and safety must be collective pursuits.Teach the next generation the truth, not the sanitized version.
They need to understand not just what we celebrate, but why.Resist any system that thrives on disconnection.
Because a disconnected people cannot rise.
In the End
Empire can bomb homes, steal resources, silence voices, and redraw borders —
but it has never been able to kill culture.
It tried during slavery.
It tried during colonization.
It tries today in Gaza, Sudan, Congo, Haiti, the Sahel, and beyond.
And yet, we continue to sing.
We continue to dance.
We continue to gather.
We continue to create.
We continue to love loudly.
Because joy is power.
Connection is power.
Culture is power.
And that is the one thing empire can never fully control.