The System's Greatest Fear: Blackness That Won't Be Bought
There is a particular kind of terror that lives in the hearts of oppressors—one that does not come from guns or armies, but from something far more powerful: the unbreakable will of those who refuse to be owned. "They fear Traoré for the same reason they fear Malcolm—unbought Blackness is their nightmare." This truth is not just a statement; it is a historical echo, reverberating from the shores of colonized Africa to the streets of Harlem, from the revolutions of Burkina Faso to the defiant speeches that shook America.
The Unbought and Unbossed
To be "unbought" is to exist beyond the marketplace of oppression. It is to reject the illusion that freedom must be negotiated, that dignity must be earned in the currency of the dominant system. Malcolm X, with his razor-sharp truth and unapologetic fire, embodied this. He refused the script of respectability politics, forcing America to confront its own hypocrisy. Traoré, the revolutionary spirit of Burkina Faso, stood firm against neocolonialism, proving that the chains of empire could still be shattered.
Their power—and the reason they were so feared—was not just in their words or actions, but in their unassailable ownership of self. They could not be purchased, could not be intimidated, could not be folded into the machinery of control. And that is the greatest threat to any system built on domination.
The Nightmare of the Oppressor
Why is unbought Blackness so terrifying to those in power? Because it exposes the lie at the core of their authority. If a people cannot be broken, cannot be bought, then the entire structure of control begins to crumble.
- It is unpredictable. You cannot manipulate what does not seek your approval.
- It is uncontrollable. You cannot silence what does not fear your punishment.
- It is undeniable. You cannot erase what refuses to be erased.
From the slave rebellions led by Nat Turner and the Maroons to the Black Panthers and Pan-African revolutionaries, history has shown that the moment Black people reject the terms of their oppression, the oppressor’s grip weakens.
The Legacy Lives in Us
Today, unbought Blackness still strikes fear into the heart of systemic oppression. It lives in the protester who stands before riot police, unshaken. It lives in the artist who creates outside the boundaries of white approval. It lives in the scholar who rewrites history from the perspective of the liberated.
They will try to criminalize it, distort it, or commodify it—but unbought Blackness cannot be contained. It is the living, breathing continuation of Malcolm’s defiance, Traoré’s resistance, and the unyielding spirit of our ancestors.
So when they flinch at your truth, when they call you "radical" or "dangerous," remember: their fear is not your burden. It is their reckoning.
Asé. ✊🏾