How Can We Be ‘HIM’ When ‘The’ Man Still Dominates Us?

“I'm really him, nigga” – Dame Dolla

“A random white man approaches a Black man who says don’t step to me, don’t you know I’m ‘HIM’, the white man responds no you’re just a ‘nigga' and fires a fatal gunshot.” - CNK

The term ‘HIM’ has been popularly used by Black Rappers; to be ‘HIM’ is to be a dominant figure. The term ‘HIM’ has spread to the sports world describing dominant athletes like Lebron James and Steph Curry.

Coach Deion Sanders ‘Prime Time’ the current head football coach at the University of Colorado has highlighted ‘HIM’ referring to his two-way phenomenal football player Travis Hunter.

For me as an ‘old-head’ when I hear ‘HIM’ it’s another term to express an older positive acknowledging phrase ‘YOU THE MAN’ that Black men would say to respect or praise each other. ‘YOU THE MAN’ was in contrast to saying ‘The Man’ which was a derogatory term for figures of oppressive authority ‘white male supremacy’. Being ‘HIM’ has become a more popular term especially among young Black males, more popular than saying ‘You THE MAN’.

Regarding the term ‘HIM’, I raise the question to us Black men are we really dominant ‘HIM’? Yes, Black men when it becomes to being stylish and trend-setting we are HIM! On the football and track fields we are HIM! On the basketball court and entertainment stages we are HIM! Preaching inside Black churches we are HIM! However Black men we are not HIM in our communities that are dominated economically by non-Black men – no they are ‘HIM’!

Overall Black men we can’t be ‘HIM’ when massive numbers of us are poor, unemployed, homeless, incarcerated, sickly, addicted to alcohol and drugs. Indeed, Black men we can’t really be ‘HIM’ when we don’t have the ‘power’ to control our lives – to be self-determined. We can self-deceptively say we’re ‘HIM’ but ‘The Man’ still controls us!