Photo by Monstera Production:
Ciphering through the Pressha
Picture children playing in the streets, water shoots from the cracked open fire hydrant. People set up card tables and barbeques ready to throw down. Folks drive by, honk, and a single wave acknowledges and soothes the soul. People’s laughs fill the streets, music forcing your hips to move to the beat. The smell of a fresh-baked pound cake grandma pulled out of the oven. The kids are smiling, eating ice cream, and riding their bikes to their friend’s house. A card game breaks out, keeping the elders talking, sharing their stories of the good ol’days. It sounds like a dream to some but a nightmare to others. It’s a celebration of life when people come together to connect with oneanother. No one came with a chip on their shoulder, no one came to create discourse and define the rules. By all means, they came to let loose, to release the PRESSHA from the norms they experience every day.
What is Pressure?
Pressure, aka Pressha- is defined by Merriam-Webster : the burden of physical or mental distress
b: the constraint of circumstance: the weight of social or economic imposition
2 : the application of force to something by something else in direct contact with it : COMPRESSION
3 archaic : IMPRESSION, STAMP
4 a : the action of a force against an opposing force
b: the force or thrust exerted over a surface divided by its area
5: the stress or urgency of matters demanding attention : EXIGENCY
people who work well under pressure.
6: the force of selection that results from one or more agents and tends to reduce a population of organisms
Pressure has created many gemstones, many flawless diamonds. That’s a pressure most people looked towards. Except that’s not always the pressure that is surrounding people of the diaspora. The pressure is not created to force a diamond out of a lump of coal. The pressure is to conform and wash away everything that makes the diaspora shine.
📌“They can change what they teach in schools but they can’t change what we teach each other… Everything I ever learned about black people I learned from black people.”
~ Martin Luther King Jr
Who’s creating the pressha?
An eloquent creator @Ashleytheebarroness on TikTok expressed a changed name/reference of White Supremacy to White Narcissism. The reference is no longer passive; it is a bold, upfront, and transparent way to name the behavior. It pulls the focus away from the consequence of the behavior, placing it on the action. The action/behavior is White Narcissism, the repercussion is systematic white washing of the culture and history. A egocentricity that Western society exhibits and lives by.
How could anyone come to this critical conclusion?
Before the ‘how’ can be answered, the ‘what’ needs to be defined.
What is narcissism?
Narcissism is a personality disorder defined by the DSM-5. According to the DSM-V, NPD is a complex disorder characterized by patterns of grandiosity, need for admiration, and a heightened sense of self-importance, and a lack of empathy.
At first, narcissism was a myth described by Roman Poet Ovid in Metamorphosis: Book III ; The center of his theory is based on the mythological character Narcissus- his beauty was admired, but he denied all advances from women and men. Instead, he fell in love with his own reflection in a pool of water. By the 1800s, narcissism was considered psychological. In 1898, psychologist Havelock Ellis first used it after observing it in his patients. Based on his multiple observations of the behavior, the conclusion of collective narcissism can be reached. What happens when narcissists are in power? It creates unnecessary pressure.
Some might say what pressure?
Jill Scott has eloquently provided an answer to the question. Her new song Pressha is off her newly released album To Whom This May Concern.
She sings over a soulful beat with smooth vocals
“I wasn't the aesthetic
I guess, I guess, I get it
So much pressure to appear just like them
Pretty and cosmetic
Elementary, alphabetic
So much pressure to appear just like them
Just like them
Just like them
So much pressure to appear just like them
Just like them
Just like them
So much pressure to appear just like them”
She speaks of the pressha black women to be just like white women. Clear examples are: Vice President Kamala Harris’s identity was attacked because she was not just like them. Michelle Obama’s beauty was mocked during and after her tenure in the White House because she didn’t look just like them. Beyoncé was attacked because she sang country music because didn’t look like them. In the movie Sinners De’ Leroy character Delta Slim said “see, white folks, they love the blues just fine. They just don’t like the people who make it.”
Jill Scott, Delta Slim, Martin Luther King Jr., James Baldwin, and several scholars throughout the decades spoke about the pressures of the systems not serving the people. The written and verbal expressions apply to all those who are experiencing the pressure.
“You have to decide who you are and force the world to deal with you, not with its idea of you."~ James Baldwin
The current administration tactics are a reminder to all about the pressha of forced assimilation. Ciphering the pressure is not a singular experience; it’s a collective experience. If one group of humans feels hurt and pain, we all feel it.
That’s what Cipher The Line is: the line connecting groups through cultural education, fashion, and technology. Want to help reduce the pressure?
Have a business that can relieve the pressures of living. Visit Cipher LNk Directory; it’s free to sign up. Have news about your community you want to share? A local newspaper? Local Event? Let us know by submitting your information. Donate to support our clothing and education initiative, Drop 009, dedicated to connecting and supporting the community.