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White People and Weaponized Time
Research Over Mesearch is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.
The trick of time tells Black people that success requires distance from Blackness. Leaving the hood becomes maturity. Remaining connected becomes regression. Advancement is framed as movement away from Black community rather than transformation of Black conditions. Temporal language again disciplines identity.
Time also governs punishment.
Incarceration is measured in years stolen. Productivity is measured in time sold. Wealth is measured in time accumulated. Black life is repeatedly positioned as time available for extraction. Colonial labor systems imposed clock time on societies organized around cyclical rhythms. Discipline, punctuality, and scheduling became tools of domination.
Time became governance.
The core function of the trick of time is simple: convert injustice into delay. Inequality becomes something being worked on. Violence becomes something improving. Oppression becomes something ending soon. Responsibility shifts from present action to future patience.
The present remains unchanged.
The trick of time legitimizes waiting. The trick of time moralizes patience. The trick of time frames injustice as a scheduling issue. Liberation becomes an appointment always postponed.
Calling out the trick of time matters because it disrupts that postponement. Historical harm cannot be dismissed as distant when other histories remain alive. Structural inequality cannot be reframed as progress when outcomes stagnate. Hope cannot substitute for material change.
Time has been used to manage Black expectation.Time has been used to rationalize Black suffering.Time has been used to discipline Black imagination.
Rejecting the trick of time means refusing narratives that place justice permanently ahead. Rejecting the trick of time means confronting structures in the present. Rejecting the trick of time means recognizing that delay has always been a political strategy.
The question Baldwin asked still stands: how much time do you want?
Research Over Mesearch is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.
5 Key Takeaways
* Time is used selectively to make Black suffering seem distant while keeping white history present.
* The “trick of time” converts injustice into delay and patience into virtue.
* Political hope often defers liberation into a future that never arrives.
* Visible Black success is used to mask structural inequality.
* Rejecting the trick of time requires confronting injustice in the present rather than waiting.
Related Readings
* Calvin Warren — Ontological Terror / “Black Nihilism”
* Johannes Fabian — Time and the Other
* James Baldwin — The Fire Next Time
* Saidiya Hartman — Lose Your Mother
* Frank Wilderson — Afropessimism
* Cedric Robinson — Black Marxism\
Research Over Mesearch is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.
This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit theconsciouslee.substack.com/subscribe
View all episodes
By The Conscious LeeResearch Over Mesearch is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.
The trick of time tells Black people that success requires distance from Blackness. Leaving the hood becomes maturity. Remaining connected becomes regression. Advancement is framed as movement away from Black community rather than transformation of Black conditions. Temporal language again disciplines identity.
Time also governs punishment.
Incarceration is measured in years stolen. Productivity is measured in time sold. Wealth is measured in time accumulated. Black life is repeatedly positioned as time available for extraction. Colonial labor systems imposed clock time on societies organized around cyclical rhythms. Discipline, punctuality, and scheduling became tools of domination.
Time became governance.
The core function of the trick of time is simple: convert injustice into delay. Inequality becomes something being worked on. Violence becomes something improving. Oppression becomes something ending soon. Responsibility shifts from present action to future patience.
The present remains unchanged.
The trick of time legitimizes waiting. The trick of time moralizes patience. The trick of time frames injustice as a scheduling issue. Liberation becomes an appointment always postponed.
Calling out the trick of time matters because it disrupts that postponement. Historical harm cannot be dismissed as distant when other histories remain alive. Structural inequality cannot be reframed as progress when outcomes stagnate. Hope cannot substitute for material change.
Time has been used to manage Black expectation.Time has been used to rationalize Black suffering.Time has been used to discipline Black imagination.
Rejecting the trick of time means refusing narratives that place justice permanently ahead. Rejecting the trick of time means confronting structures in the present. Rejecting the trick of time means recognizing that delay has always been a political strategy.
The question Baldwin asked still stands: how much time do you want?
Research Over Mesearch is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.
5 Key Takeaways
* Time is used selectively to make Black suffering seem distant while keeping white history present.
* The “trick of time” converts injustice into delay and patience into virtue.
* Political hope often defers liberation into a future that never arrives.
* Visible Black success is used to mask structural inequality.
* Rejecting the trick of time requires confronting injustice in the present rather than waiting.
Related Readings
* Calvin Warren — Ontological Terror / “Black Nihilism”
* Johannes Fabian — Time and the Other
* James Baldwin — The Fire Next Time
* Saidiya Hartman — Lose Your Mother
* Frank Wilderson — Afropessimism
* Cedric Robinson — Black Marxism\
Research Over Mesearch is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.
This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit theconsciouslee.substack.com/subscribe