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.