“WE ARE NOT ASKING”

We are not asking.
 Let that settle first.
We are not asking for dignity
 from a system
 that survives by denying it.
We are not asking for justice
 from a structure
 engineered to avoid it.
We are not asking.
We are naming.
 We are identifying.
 We are targeting the root.
Because this-
 this is not disorder.
 This is not confusion.
 This is not mismanagement.
This is design.
A system that feeds
 and calls it function.
 Consumes
 and calls it growth.
 Extracts
 and calls it progress.
A sanctioned parasite
 with a legal department.
And it needs you.
Needs your labor.
 Needs your silence.
 Needs your confusion.
 Needs you arguing with each other
 while it feeds.
Needs you defending it
 like it built the sun.
Like it invented water.
Like somebody somewhere
 filed a patent
 on rain.
On soil.
On the right
 to not freeze at night.
And you’re supposed to believe that.
You’re supposed to believe
 that survival
 is a subscription service.
That existence
 comes with a bill.
That food is a product
 before it is a necessity.
That water is a commodity
 before it is life.
That shelter is an investment
 before it is protection.
No.
No-this is theft
 with paperwork.
This is conquest
 with branding.
This is colonialism
 that learned how to smile
 in public.
And don’t
 don’t you dare let them tell you
 this is new.
This is not new.
This is old.
Old as the first land stolen.
 Old as the first body sold.
 Old as the first border drawn
 through somebody else’s home.
Old as empire.
We have been fighting this.
The whole time.
But we didn’t always know
 where to hit it.
Didn’t always know
 who was seeing what we were seeing.
Didn’t always know
 who was hearing
 what we were hearing.
Didn’t always know
 who was ready.
But now?
Now the pattern is loud.
Now the mask is thin.
Now the contradictions
 don’t even try to hide.
And people-
People are waking up
 angry
 and focused.
Not just tired.
 Not just hurt.
Aware.
Aware that everybody
 on this planet
 is being squeezed
 for something.
Labor.
 Land.
 Resources.
 Time.
 Breath.
Everything.
And once you see it-
You cannot unsee it.
Once you call it out by is filthy name-
You cannot go back
 to pretending it’s accidental.
So now the question is not
 “Is this happening?”
The question is
 “What are we going to do about it?”
Because history already answered
 whether this kind of system
 steps aside politely.
It does not.
History already answered
 whether exploitation
 corrects itself.
It does not.
History already answered
 what it takes
 to break something
 that refuses to loosen its grip.
Look at the Haitian Revolution.
That wasn’t a request.
That wasn’t a negotiation.
That was clarity
 meeting action.
That was people deciding
 that the cost of staying the same
 was greater
 than the cost of change.
And acting accordingly.
So understand this moment.
This is not a debate.
This is not a panel discussion.
This is not a polite disagreement
 over policy.
This is a system
 that requires domination
 to function
 versus people
 who are done being dominated.
That’s it.
That’s the whole equation.
So stop aiming
 at the surface.
Stop getting distracted
 by faces
 rotating through the same positions.
Because it is not the face.
It is the framework.
It is the structure.
It is the machine
 that keeps producing the same outcome
 no matter who is standing
 in front of it.
You remove one-
 another appears.
You celebrate too early-
 it resets.
Because the system
 is intact.
So if you are serious-
You go deeper.
You disrupt the function.
You interrupt the flow.
You withdraw what it needs
 to keep moving.
You organize
 in ways it cannot easily fracture.
You communicate
 in ways it cannot easily distort.
You build
 while you dismantle.
At the same time.
Because this is not just destruction.
This is replacement.
This is redesign.
This is reclaiming
 what was never theirs
 to control.
And make no mistake-
This requires strength.
Not slogans.
 Not aesthetics.
Strength.
Discipline.
Coordination.
A willingness
 to stop playing by rules
 that were written
 to ensure you lose.
Because they are not confused
 about what they are doing.
They are not unsure.
They are not accidental.
They are organized.
They are strategic.
They are consistent.
So if we intend
 to win
WE must be
 more.
More disciplined.
 More connected.
 More aware.
 More relentless.
Not reckless-
Relentless.
There is a difference.
Recklessness burns out.
Relentlessness builds pressure
 until something breaks.
And something is breaking.
You can feel it.
Globally-
You can feel it.
The strain.
 The cracks.
 The overreach.
A system stretched so far
 it is starting
 to expose itself.
This is the window.
Not forever.
Not guaranteed to breeze as you expect, but
But real.
So no-
Do not hesitate
 into another generation
 of the same fight.
Do not soften
 into another cycle
 of the same promises.
Do not confuse
 symbolic change
 for structural change.
Because we are not here
 to repaint the cage.
We are here
 to remove it.
Completely.
And when it falls-
Not if.
When.
What replaces it
 must be unrecognizable
 to what came before.
No ownership
 over what sustains life.
No pricing
 of basic survival.
No systems
 that require suffering
 to operate.
Nothing built
 on scarcity
 that was manufactured
 on purpose.
Nothing.
And this time-
Be clear.
This is not a moment.
This is not a phase.
This is not a trend.
This is a turning.
And it does not turn back.
We are not asking.
We are not waiting.
We are not negotiating
 with something
 that has never negotiated
 with us.
We are identifying it.
We are outgrowing it.
We are dismantling it.
And we are building
 beyond it.
Together.
Fully aware.
And finished
 accepting anything less.

©️ 2026 Makeda Baraka. All rights reserved