astronomical events

such as the solar eclipse we watched today

have been considered omens.

even those of us laughing at people with their heads in boxes;

even those of us that decided we wanted to just feel it;

even we used a little pinhole projector

and ate strawberries in the parking lot

to seek a glimpse of a shadow,

a bright darkness,

and speculated what it might mean

to us or to someone

like Nat Turner

who envisioned an annular eclipse

as the hand of a black man

covering the sun

eclipsing white power and

killing the masters while they sleep:

burning the plantation

to survive.

this solar eclipse is no omen.

like, they have been considered omens,

but an omen appears unexpectedly

foretelling or inspiring

in a moment of uncommidifiable awe.

but we anticipate most astronomical events

like we do elections

long before they arrive

white people fill the cross-country path of the total eclipse

– “The Great American Solar Eclipse” –

(a “nation” claims a moon’s path)

and if we miss the opportunity to stand in the streets

or attend some expensive rooftop party with a philanthropic cause

we can easily sift through our feed

and see through another’s eclipse glasses

the inside of their projector box

their story

showing the bright-dark in various states and stages.

if we knew it was coming

– if some computation said so –

why weren’t we acting already?

what are you

there with your head in a box

looking like the cover of society of the spectacle (which i haven’t read)

what are you thinking

white people – if not how

we will have to sit with the discomfort

(of being in the moon’s bad graces)

and get used to discomfort

if we actually want to see a different world.

and could this media event

that eclipsed the nation’s attention today

be a catalyst for liberation

when it is declawed, wings clipped,

do-not-look-at-it-it-will-burn-your-organs?

it did not burn Nat Turner’s organs when he looked at it –

looking at the eclipse did not burn his organs but white people did.

white people will not want to read that

because they are too afraid

of seeing whiteness disappear

they need so badly to

believe in progress

to say that a slave rebellion is irrelevant to today

to argue that trump and his followers

use this talk about whiteness disappearing

to embolden white supremacy

when they use it to say that whiteness must be recovered

as if it is disappearing

and i say it because we are sadly

no where near seeing whiteness disappear

because white people believe in it so much

as if their well-intended whiteness serves liberation for the oppressed

on biodegradable picnic plates

as if

and explain to the younger generation:

; “there are set-backs”?

; “this is a set-back”?

; “there was a time when it was much worse”?

; “this is not normal”?

; “this is mentally ill”?

so, a time when: chattel slavery and rape culture.

when: all stolen land and rape culture.

when: prisons and rape culture.

when: cops murder & the life expectancy of black trans women.

when: all stolen land and still rape culture everywhere.

; “well, change happens very slowly”

what: omen are you waiting for to stop your cruel waiting?

white supremacy is not

a chronic disease or mental illness

or a social disorder that society is trying to cure.

that society is white supremacy

and is why whiteness has to disappear.