The Keepers’ Collective is a group of Black marginalized people from across the diaspora. We have taken the time to create a flag for Black people from the middle South and Mid-Atlantic, those of us whose families suffered under the domestic slave trade or Second Middle passage, those whose families moved North fleeing terrorism and the Black people who moved and continue to move here and add to our communities.
We felt like when it comes to history, ours is often left out especially when talking about our connections to Africa. The very symbolism of this flag emphasizes our history:
- The cross representing the Dikenga and the Cross in the Kongo flag where our ancestors here were largely from as well as the Southern flags where Black people largely reside having crosses in them (Fuck the Confederancy)
- The Cross is Black for Black people, we recognize that Blackness specifically Dark Skin is what connects us throughout the African Diaspora
- Blue for protection and to represent the Atlantic Ocean that our ancestors were forced to cross
- The green is for the land we cultivated physically and built a relationship with spiritually
- Red for the Blood of our people and our freedom fighters
- The Yellow Sun represents our rise as a people and references the Igbo state of Biafra , Igbo people were The Second largest ethnic group brought to what is now the US
- All of the colors are also in reference to the Colors from the flags of Senegal and the gambia the third place where our ancestors largely come from as well as the Pan-African flag
WHY THE FLAG WAS CREATED & WHO CAN USE THE FLAG
- We created this flag to honor our people, to honor our ancestors, to honor the diaspora and continue the fight against global anti-Blackness.
- This is a cultural heritage flag and a radical Black nationalist flag. We as a collective do not fuck with hypernationalism among Black people and xenophobia. We don’t fuck with harm against marginalized Black people and we don’t want the flag to be usedin those ways. We do not claim ADOS folks because they are classist, xenophobic, queerphobic and etc and as a collective of marginalized people who recognize that the United States is and will never be for Black people we refuse to entertain it being associated with America.
- We recognize that we are displaced AFRICANS ( emphasis on African) on Turtle Island or what is now the US. And we are continuing the tradition of Black Radical cultural creation.
- This flag is for Black people from the Middle South, The Gulf Coast, the West Coast, the Low Country, the Sea Islands, The Northeast, the Midwest , Florida to the Chesapeake Bay and all of the other regions where Black people are. This flag is for Caribbean, African and Black people from Central and South America that come here and contribute to our communities if they want to use it .
~ The Keepers Collective
