An African Influencer rejects Woke Culture
A Zimbabwean-born London based mind set coach, Africa Brooke, has had something of an epiphany a wake-up call if you like and her message to the woke culture; go ahead and count me out.
This is not another treatise on the subject, sure, there’s the way she sees it all now, but it is one woman’s account of a journey detailing just what it was that caused her to turn her back on groupthink and embrace liberty, as we witness the shackles literally fall off.
Africa is perplexed at how progressives manage to pair identity with oppression in most parts of the West saying; a world that tells me because I inhabit a black body I am forever oppressed and at the mercy of some omnipresent monster called ‘whiteness’.
As Africa opines; it is not what you call empowering stuff.
She stresses that being from Zimbabwe she understands oppression as the whole population is oppressed.
Africa Brooke dreads a world where context, nuance, critical thinking, meritocracy, mathematics, science, and rationality are considered tools of ‘white supremacy’.
The bottom line being you shouldn’t argue about such things especially if you are white.
‘This absolutist, authoritarian world is being fiercely crafted under the guise of ‘social justice’, and I want no parts in this. I AM OUT’.
‘I think it is key that we begin to accept that black people don’t all share a singular experience, nor do we share the same brain.
Shocking, I know.
I’m so happy that many black people in my life, including my family who spend very little time online, are willing to have healthy debates, and couldn’t give a crap about identity politics; they have really helped me free myself from the dogmatic thinking’.
What is worrying though is how many more of us feel afraid to talk to our own friends, our partners, our spouses, our colleagues, our family — of fear of being branded as ‘wrong-thinkers’.
How are we supposed to understand each other if we’re living in constant fear of saying the ‘wrong’ thing?
It’s even harder if you’re white because there’s usually someone just waiting to call you racist. According to the woke manual, if you’re white you’re supposed to just accept that label and if you do question it or defend yourself, it’s taken as confirmation that you ARE in fact a white supremacist in this funny old world.
Of course, there are those who buy into the victim narrative of oppression because it suits them just fine on both a personal and political level because social cred translates into personal gain and all that.
It is also psychological warfare in the form of insidious brainwashing.
Africa’s core message is; I reject the idea that I am a victim. I reject the idea that I am oppressed.
Indeed, woke-isim swaps a supposed from of supremacy for a real albeit manufactured one.
Identity politics is the cult of group worship and by association that of the self.
Africa attributes her spiritual awakening to last summer at the height of the Black Lives Matter Movement in her own words; I noticed a shadowy part of me emerging and although I didn’t judge it, I wasn’t comfortable with what was coming up.
All the critical social justice dogma I’d been consciously and unconsciously imbibing over the past 2 years began taking a HUGE toll on my mental health, and I hadn’t even realized that I wasn’t functioning as a full human being — until it reached its peak.
The unpleasant internal experience I had is what led me where I am now, which is why I’m a firm believer that welcoming discomfort in is one of the most loving things you can do for yourself.
On social media at that time I was DEEP into various social justice echo chambers that shared more than enough infographics, stories, feed posts, IG LIVES, to make my fight or flight response go nuts. I was in constant fight mode, and wasn’t aware.
I was being indoctrinated; this means “to teach a person or a group to accept a set of beliefs uncritically”.
I found myself subconsciously looking for things that would piss me off, which is a symptom of wokeness that seems to show up in many people — hundreds of you have shared your own experiences with me in the past month alone and the similarities in our stories are alarming.
Before reacting to things, I did ZERO in-depth research of my own. It’s almost as if facts were an unwelcome guest. Anything that didn’t align with the beliefs I held about race, sex, gender, politics, etc. — I rejected (this was all unconscious). I didn’t question the sources I was getting information from it was all taken as objective truth.
It was ALL reactionary, I was on autopilot.
I didn’t realize I had many people on pedestals that they shouldn’t have been on in the first place (no fault of their own, I put them there), I was operating purely based on emotions and feelings that gave my nervous system the signal that I was under threat.
I rashly unfollowed some people on my social media who I’d decided should have ‘spoken up’ in support of Black Lives Matter simply because (based on my egos time frame) they weren’t responding as and when they ‘should’ have.
I’m sure I re-shared something about ‘white silence’ being ‘violence’ (an oversimplified and unfair statement I no longer agree with, and you can watch the lengthy live I did with Rukiat where I go into some of this).
I also publicly shamed an unsuspecting man who had messaged me to question me about my conduct (I immediately assumed he was white…he was mixed race). And even though his approach was not a welcome one, he wasn’t unkind to me — which is why I’m not proud of the unkind way in which I reacted…not responded, reacted.
What frightened me was the applause I got from over 4,000 people when I called out this man in an Instagram post — I didn’t say anything wild, but I did deconstruct his direct message publicly with the intention to embarrass him, not to resolve anything — to embarrass.
I was honestly shocked by how many people used the environment I had created to exercise pack mentality, and to casually shame and scold a stranger — of which I take responsibility for as the person that created that environment.
I now know that publicly shaming someone is a common tactic used in most woke spaces and echo chambers on social media, and it’s so normalized.
This is the kind of thing that quickly leads to bullying, doxing, stalking, and harassment…and sometimes ends in suicide.
After seeing the responses applauding me, I removed the post and started asking myself some questions; whom am I doing this for? Why did my interaction with this man need to be publicized? What is really the root of the anger I feel? Is this a performance on my behalf?
What research have I done to support the ideology I’m leading with? Are there any alternative sources that can give me more information or provide clarity on the situation I’m reacting to? Do I really believe this or am I regurgitating something I read/heard/saw somewhere?
This incident led me start evaluating my own behavior and doing more research around the cancel culture phenomenon. In addition, it’s just one recent example of how some of this stuff has showed up in my life over the past 2 years.
Africa your story is inspiring and will serve as a blessing to many as it gives them the tools and permission to break free.
Many thanks for your soul barring honesty and using your platform as an influencer to help influence others.
Blessings to you, go well.
