The road to consciousness is a long journey composed of many situations and people. These people and situations afford the conscious body an opportunity to evaluate their own behavior and actions—ultimately providing a chance for the individual to choose a collective ideology they'd like to adopt as their own, and those which they'd like to discard.

1. The  "exceptional" biracial This person is not conventionally exceptional, but believes that their multi-cultural heritage gives them an upper hand. This person often seems cool, until they're called "black," "dark" or any term that aligns them with what they see as the detriment of blackness. This person often implies that others are jealous of them and puts blacks down for any traits the black individual shares with the racially ambiguous—as the interchangeability between themselves and non-biracial blacks proves damaging to their pseudo superiority. 

2. The physically black individual determined to “un-blacken” himself This person bears all the attributes of an unsullied bloodline. From the rich complexion to the full lips to the beautiful coiled hair, this individual is a portrait of the motherland–much to their dissatisfaction. Due to an inability to change their aesthetics, this person will try to mimic whites in speech, dress and customs. They will often solicit white or non black mates to appease their low self worth and esteem. 

3. The black friend who swears she's mixed Like the individual mentioned above, this person bears attributes that imply an unsullied bloodline. Understanding the impossibility to reverse their genetics, this person constructs a fictive bloodline that grants esteem in its proximity away from blackness. 

4. The multi-cultural person who plays both sides This person has "mixed" ancestry and employs every component of their identity to reap benefits from multiple angles. This person bears no allegiance to any group, and instead seeks to not be too much of anything.

5. The Educated Fool This person consummated  their journey to an illusive whiteness, be it in buying a home, obtaining an education, or any other material item attributed to conventional success. This person represents a demographic who believes because they "made it" any other black who does not "make it" is lazy or incompetent. Their conventionality distances them from the truth of black struggle, and they eventually (figeratively) stand beside their oppressors in castigating blacks for their systemic disposition. 

6. The envious non-black womanThis person most likely sought out the friendship or acquaintance to magnify superior feelings towards black people, but became immersed in an unanticipated inferiority that accompanies juxtaposition to black brilliance. 

7. The male friend that does not date black women This person may have liked a black woman at one point, but used this experience to fuel a dating life that eliminates black women as an option. This friend now restricts himself to the less intimidating and often less aesthetically pleasing non-black significant other— as a symbol of their upward mobility.

8. The fair-skinned woman who carries her skin color around like a designer clutch This person feels that the only thing going for them is their skin color, despite diligently working to prove otherwise. She'll drop her skin color in the most inappropriate ways, so that you remember she's light skin, because to this fair lady–light is right. 

9. The black friend unhappy with her blackness that tries to makes you feel badly about your own.This friend may not like their hair or her body, so they'll thrown digs at you in attempt to make you feel as bad as they do every day. 

10. The non-black man who is attracted to you but does not see color You'll see him looking at you from across the room. He'll make small talk, but if you say anything cultural he'll be immediately turned off at the reality of having to encompass the totality of your being. 

11. The non-black who is insulted by your brilliance This person might be a coworker, supervisor, or friend of a friend. This person thinks lowly of blacks. He or she views black people as base, and is completely thrown off course by any black person who challenges this thinking.  They will incessantly put you down to convince themselves that you are inferior, while they imitate your moves. 

12. The non-black who loves you for not being white This individual may be a teacher, coworker, colleague, or person encountered in everyday life, appreciative or fascinated by black culture. They see you as the epitome of blackness and often tokenize you in a genuine (but objectifying) effort to encapsulate your greatness. 

13. The black man or woman who takes you under his or her wind fearful for how you'll turn out without their guidance This person may not be the blackest person, but he or she appreciates your journey to an elevated consciousness and seeks to guide and protect you from the adversity that awaits. 

14. The confused black who things the white man's ice is colder This person is  scarily misguided, but often sees themselves as remarkable. They speak confidently in defending whites and ideas of white superiority, while vehemently supporting blacks who have either consummated white success or appear white in appearance. These are the same individuals who will say the fatal slaying of Bakari Henderson was an isolated incident, but the crimes in the black community reflect a hanus mindset. 

15. The pseudo activist who is using black consciousness as his or her claim to fame This person is an individual seeming to uplift the collective but in actuality merely seeks to appease their own insecure need to feel better than others.

16. The non-black person who thinks going to a black history assembly or calling enslaved Africans "African Americans" makes him or her a revolutionary These are the same individuals who mistake hurt feelings for oppression in a bizzare ignorance that distorts perception. 

17. The migrant black who thinks non-migrant blacks appropriate black culture  This person has no Pan- African understanding and therefore sees blacks (or displaced Africans) as "Americans" and not Africans. 

18. The confused black who aligns Obama with Dr. King or Malcolm X 
This person reflects a collective ideology that is in such desperate need for a leader that actual contribution or action is optional. Thus, they do not appreciate Dr. King or Malcolm X for their contributions, but for their image of strength. This makes it easy to compare President Obama to King and X, despite Obama allowing what King and X died trying to prevent.

19. The so-called black conscious person who lusts after non black men or woman 
I call it Cognitively dissonant coonery. 

20. The conscious black who shrinks in “mixed” company

This person is often extremely conscious in private. They quote powerful black thinkers, and oppose the status quo. In public however, they avoid saying anything that can be viewed contentiously.

21. The conscious soul who “gets” it
This person may be the strong silent type, or outspoken, but they live and breathe black. They see the unseen, and exist in the isolated state of cultural enlightenment. Their circle is small but dynamic. Their brain is in constant motion, their curiosity solely satiated by the thoughts and experiences of our ancestors and the enlightened few. This person is receptive to any invitation to be blacker, and will anticipate your gradual strive to a higher consciousness in the silent demand of their purposeful presence.

It may take years to find this person, and when you do you may never actually meet. But just knowing that they are out there makes the rough and unpaved road to consciousness well worth the while. 

Who have you met in your strive towards

consciousness? Tell me in the comments.

Black Power ❤