Every Black person who was “the only one” in a primarily white environment has learned how dangerous that dynamic can be. 

The Nolan Wells case is so heartbreaking for many reasons. This young man lost his life with “friends.”

It’s not surprising to Black people what happened to him, although sad. Unfortunately, something like this has happened to many of us, especially in primarily White spaces. 

We haven’t all lost our lives, but we’ve all seen what danger there is to be a token in their environment. After all, tokens get spent. 

The constant watching. Studying. Sabotage. Entitlement. 

The subtle, unconscious feeling that you cannot be too great, or strong, or clever or you threaten the perceived hierarchy they have where they must feel superior to you. 

If you do, the ego turns into a crazy thing that seeks to eliminate you. You must stay a pet, or else they see you as a threat. At the same time, you must be twice as good to be there in the first place. It’s an insidious contradiction. It’s exhausting. 

I try to stay out of race talks on the internet because they can become draining. Trolls get crazy, I’m very sensitive. One of the many tenets of racism is to exhaust you so you cannot live a fulfilling life. 

I also know that there is a timeline, a plane of consciousness in which the human race on Earth has been able to supersede this issue collectively and fully evolve. We become extremely advanced when we eliminate the disease, or rather, mutation, of racism and prejudice from our collective society. It’s a great future that I’m unsure we will get to experience in this lifetime. Sad. 

Yet, in this timeline that I am typing this, that’s not yet reality. The problem is that some people have been socialized for centuries now to view others as property, useful or disposable based on skin color. It’s pure entitlement that didn’t end simply when laws changed and declarations were made. 

This behavior and belief system has become ingrained into their DNA. Thoughts, practices, and traditions can change the mind, body, and spirit of a population. It is epigenetics, just science. 

So, until people are willing to do the work within their own communities to heal this illness that’s plaguing us all, they are not safe to be around like this. Even when they smile and claim to be progressive. Especially then. 

I’m not blaming Nolan Wells, I know what is like to be a young Black person who believed innocently in the friendliness of white people.  I know what it’s like to be the “only one” or “one of few” in those spaces. 

As a former gifted and talented kid who ended up at an Ivy League university, I soon learned that the more “successful” I became in the matrix, the whiter spaces became. Not that people who looked like me weren’t driven or intelligent, in fact they also had gifts. But access usually follows money. In this country, money has been largely related to skin color and a history of involvement in exploitation. 

When you walk around the world with good intentions in your heart, you assume that others operate the same way. When you don’t judge others on their skin or religion or nationality, you assume others operate the same way. Your light causes you to see the light in others, sometimes it’s just your own reflection mirrored back to you. 

Unfortunately, this timeline is full of darkness and chaos. 

Assuming the best of others, especially when you are the “only” or “one of few,” it’s dangerous. 

We all know what happens to “uppity” Blacks — they try to destroy us with micro aggressions, macro aggressions, or even murder for daring to be excellent. 

A 500 year head start doesn’t necessarily mean that a lineage feels safe and secure. 

Especially not when it’s built on violence and exploitation. Especially when those who had to endure the violence and exploitation dare to be excellent despite all we’ve endured. We are a people of great value and alchemy is in our blood. 

Look how we influence everything worked from culture, art, music, politics, beauty. Look at the World Cup, it’s mostly us! 

An entire global economy was built and organized around ownership of and later access to the Black body. You don’t create a society around people who are invaluable, weak, criminal, or disgusting. No, you create society around a power that is undeniable, unbeatable, unstoppable. That is the magic of a Black person, our melanin is a superpower.

If I were a hater, I’d be mad if I tried to destroy someone who kept winning. Racism is literally hateration on systemic steroids.  

I grew up in the Obama era where we believed we were in a “post-racial” society. We all had hope. 

I believed we were evolving then. I pray we still are evolving now.  

Rest in Peace to Nolan Wells. You deserved a long, happy, healthy life. I pray you find safety and comfort in eternal arms. 

I’m praying for his family. I cannot imagine how they feel. 

And to all my Black people, I love you. 

We deserve a more evolved timeline than this — shit is ghetto and low vibrational. It’s designed to rob your peace. Don’t let them win. 

Meditate. Deep breaths. Take breaks from social media. Hug your loved ones. Pray. Sing. Dance. Cry. Walk. Hike. Cook. Sleep.  Regulate your nervous system. 

Do what we always do when this stuff happens: return to our communities with love and care. 

Peace, love, and fuck the haters ✌🏾 Justice will prevail.