Of Fearlessness

As a child I stubbornly declared my independence at every waking turn. Fresh out of the womb two months early...I wouldn't be rushed to gain the two and half pounds I needed to meet the five pound  requirement for release. And peer pressure meant little as my twinsister met her quota in a matter of days and I was left to fend for myself in the neonatal ward with family members whispering undertones of possible death as I lazily sipped on hospital issued milk like one savors every sip of an ice cold drink in the sweltering heat of a summer's city day.  At one yr old- fattened up on the truly "coconut" baby food diet of  farina and porridge barely able to balance my own weight on horribly bowed legs, I ran not walked but ran past my parents toward the unknown of a large 747 airplane...forgoing the commonplace parent-toddler separation anxiety laced, tearful parting with not one look back... to Trinidad! I was fearless.

I was sitting in Cramton Auditorioum at Howard University on Monday January 19th 2009, the eve of the United States' 44th presidential inauguration and I heard that word being  bandied about quite a bit at a symposium particularly within the confines of a session called "Refresh Hip Hop." Panelists insisted that Hip-Hop had become a global force through its sheer fearlessness. And here I was  all the while thinking it was the advent of cable tv and the seemingly narcissistic impulse for mainstream western society to impress its norms and mores on the defenseless popular culture of the third world. Not to mention the unbelievable gall and audacity to not only inundate these socities with an never ending media onslaught but to then package it and sell it for higher than market value to gullable children and their poor unprepared parents. Don't get me wrong I loved Biggie more than the next guy - of this I am positive and you couldn't construct a bigger fan of Mos Def and Talib Kweli or Tupac-I mean I did grow up in Brooklyn. I'm just saying when I'm in Capetown or Port of Spain I'm not exactly amped to hear hip-hop over Kwaito or Soca.   Nonetheless, I digress because I thought that the use of this word was extremely telling of so many things for me...Black twenty-something woman entrepreneur in America in the age of its first African American President. 

However, as I dissect this notion of 'Fearlessness ' and its intrinsic value to propelling a culture, a people forward...I am instantly struck by the urge to say Bullshit and I would hope to hell not! Abolition, Civil Rights, Women rights, genocide, the Holocaust...all of these atrocities and battles were pushed forward by fear. The transatlantic slave trade ended because White Americans were scared of being left behind in an antiquated society- Slaves were frightened of living another four hundred years as livestock. The Holocaust was ended because the world feared that if Hitler wasn't stopped he would spread his movement to terrorize  and slaughter many more ethnic groups. The African American civil rights battle was fought and won because black Americans feared that they would perpetually live as a permanent underclass in American society.

Fear is the greatest motivator for change that I could ever imagine. I pray to god that Barack Obama is absolutely terrified that if he messes up there will never be another Black man elected to the office of the president.  And I hope it motivates him to continue his meteoric rise with eloquence and grace.  Fearlessness is best left to children and fools.