😁You were really feeling yourself here weren’t you. Very poetic. Genuinely. But what are you actually talking about? Instead of using dramatic language, speak to me plainly. And more importantly, where have I argued that anybody should stop climbing that proverbial mountain?

It's so sad that so many people want to lean as far into this caricature of black suffering as possible. Did you climb any mountains today? Did you struggle today? When you look at somebody with skin the colour of mine, do you see a victim or somebody who is oppressed or somebody whose life is nothing but racial suffering? Or do you see a man first?

Of course, I've experienced racism, but I am far more than that. And I want that to be seen. I demand it. Don't you think that part of ending racism is demanding to be seen as human beings? Don't you think that seeing us depicted in stories where black people are portrayed as more than slaves or criminals or oppressed victims will help to change the way we're perceived by those who "other" us? As well as helping black children to believe that they can succed?

Don't you see that the reason why movies like Black Panther (to give a tragically rare example) were so important is because it (mostly) depicted black people as powerful and free and most importantly, far more than the colour of our skin? Oppression porn is not blackness. This exultant struggle to the mountaintop is not blackness. The goal, for any sane person, is for the notion of blackness to be eclipsed by our humantiy. The struggle isn't the point, our freedom from it is.