Read a Muthafuckin' Book

During my formative years in school, there was this chant that my classmates used to say as a way to build up the hype around the book fairs that would happen once during a school year: "read a book, read a book, read a muthafuckin' book." While thinking of this I remembered a conversation I had with someone whom I can't remember their name for the life of me lol. During our conversation, he made this comment—half-joking, half-serious—that black people would hide money in books because they know that's the least place someone would look for money. The implication behind his words hit me later: he was suggesting that books are the last place we'd go, that we'd seldom touch them.

Now, I don't know if he meant it as a joke or if he actually believed it, but that comment stuck with me. It made me wonder: where did this idea even come from? What's the real story behind our relationship with books and reading?

I did some research to deep dive into where all of this stemmed from, which we'll explore together. But the gist of this blog is to read a muthafuckin' book, as will I lol.

Picture this: You're scrolling through social media, complaining about the state of the world, feeling powerless against systems that seem designed to keep you down. Meanwhile, there's a book sitting on your shelf—dusty, ignored, holding secrets that could literally change your life. But you won't touch it. And somewhere, the ghosts of slave masters are laughing.

They made it illegal for us to read.

Imma say (really write, but you get the point) it again: They made it illegal for us to read.

Sit with it…..

Between 1740 and 1834, Southern states passed laws making it illegal to teach Black people how to read or write. In Alabama, if you got caught teaching a Black person to read, you'd face a $250 fine—that's about $7,600 in today's money. In South Carolina, it was six months in prison. They didn't do this because they were bored. They did it because they knew something we've forgotten:

Books are weapons of mass liberation.

When Frederick Douglass learned to read, his master's wife was scolded by her husband who said literacy would make Douglass "unfit to be a slave." That man understood what we don't: every page you read is an act of rebellion against systems designed to keep you ignorant.

Think about that. They were so terrified of us having access to ideas, to knowledge, to different perspectives, that they made it punishable by law. And now? We have unlimited access to more books than any generation in history, and we're choosing TikTok instead.

The Most Successful Con in Human History

They told you the library was free, so you figured the books couldn't be that valuable. They made education "accessible," so you assumed if it mattered, someone would force you to learn it. They put the most powerful books on the same shelf as romance novels, so you thought they were all entertainment.

This is the most successful con in human history.

The best way to hide something is in plain sight. Here's what they figured out: You don't need to burn books if you can convince people they're boring. You don't need to ban knowledge if you can make it seem irrelevant. You don't need to chain minds if you can train them to chain themselves.

So they let you have access to everything while ensuring you want access to nothing that matters.

Think about it: We live in the Information Age, but people are more ignorant than ever. We have libraries in our pockets, but we use them to watch dance videos. We have access to the greatest minds in human history, but we'd rather argue with strangers about celebrities.

This isn't an accident.

They Know We're Statistically Unlikely to Read

Here's the uncomfortable truth: They've studied us. They know our patterns. They know that if they hide the really powerful stuff in books, most of us will never find it.

So where do they put the real secrets to wealth building? In books. Where do they explain how systems of oppression actually work? In books. Where do they teach the strategies that could liberate entire communities? In books.

Meanwhile, where do they put the distractions? Everywhere else.

Your social media feed is designed to keep you consuming, not thinking. Your entertainment is crafted to keep you distracted, not empowered. Your news is formatted to keep you angry, not informed.

But books? Books require you to slow down. To think. To process. To imagine. They can't hit you with dopamine every 15 seconds like Instagram. They can't auto-play the next episode like Netflix. They require intention.

That's exactly why they're so powerful—and why you're subtly discouraged from reading them.

Books Are Consciousness Transfer Devices

What if I told you there's a technology more powerful than your smartphone, more addictive than social media, and more transformative than any app you've ever downloaded? You already have it. It's called a book.

Think about what actually happens when you read. Someone—maybe centuries ago, maybe yesterday—had a thought, an experience, a revelation. They captured that lightning in a bottle, encoded it in symbols, and now you can download their entire mental experience directly into your brain.

When you read Marcus Aurelius, you're literally accessing the private thoughts of a Roman Emperor from 2,000 years ago. When you read Zora Neale Hurston, you're experiencing the world through the eyes of a Black woman navigating the Harlem Renaissance. When you read James Clear's "Atomic Habits," you're downloading a system for transformation that's been tested on millions of people.

This is magic disguised as mundane.

Every book carries the thoughts, experiences, and revelations of another human being. When James Baldwin wrote "The Fire Next Time," he wasn't just putting words on paper—he was transferring consciousness. When Maya Angelou wrote "I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings," she was passing down survival strategies wrapped in poetry.

Books don't just contain information; they contain transformation. They hold the power to shift your entire worldview in 200 pages. That's why they tried to keep them from us. That's why they still try to ban them today.

Books Reveal You to Yourself

Here's something wild: the books that change your life aren't just teaching you about the world—they're showing you who you are. The passages that hit different, the quotes you underline, the chapters that make you cry—that's not random. That's your soul recognizing itself in someone else's words.

I remember the first time I read Ta-Nehisi Coates' "Between the World and Me." It wasn't just that he was telling me something I didn't know about America—he was giving me language for things I felt but couldn't articulate. He was helping me understand my own experience of existing in this world.

That's what books do. They don't just inform you; they reveal you. They hold up mirrors and show you parts of yourself you didn't know existed.

The books you avoid reveal you too. Notice what you won't read. Notice what makes you uncomfortable. That resistance? That's where your growth lives.

If you avoid books about money, ask yourself why. If you skip over anything too "intellectual," dig deeper. If you won't touch anything that challenges your worldview, that's exactly what you need to read.

Your avoidance patterns are treasure maps to your limitations.

The Books That Could Change Everything Are Hiding in Plain Sight

Want to understand how money really works? Read "Rich Dad Poor Dad" or "The Millionaire Next Door." Want to understand how systemic racism operates? Read "The New Jim Crow" or "Stamped from the Beginning." Want to understand how to build habits that stick? Read "Atomic Habits" or "The Power of Habit."

These books aren't hidden in some secret vault. They're sitting on shelves, available for free at your local library. Amazon will deliver them to your door in 24 hours. You can download them instantly.

But they're counting on you not wanting to.

They're counting on you choosing the easy path. It's easier to watch a YouTube video than read a book. It's more immediately gratifying to scroll through Twitter than work through a challenging text. It's more socially acceptable to binge Netflix than spend your weekend reading.

They've made the path to real knowledge look boring, difficult, and antisocial. They've made the path to distraction look fun, easy, and communal.

But here's what they don't tell you: The path that looks harder is actually easier in the long run.

Your Brain on Books Is Different

Neuroscience backs this up: reading literary fiction literally increases empathy. Reading non-fiction creates new neural pathways. Reading poetry activates different parts of your brain than reading prose.

When you read, your brain doesn't distinguish between experiencing something and reading about it. This is why a good book can feel like you lived through the story. This is why reading about someone overcoming obstacles can actually increase your own resilience.

You're not just killing time when you read—you're sculpting your consciousness.

Books let you download decades of experience in hours. They let you learn from people's mistakes without making them yourself. They let you access wisdom that took lifetimes to accumulate.

This is why Frederick Douglass said knowledge makes a person "unfit to be a slave." Knowledge makes you unfit to be controlled, manipulated, or limited by anyone else's vision of what your life should be.

The Revolution Starts in Your Mind

Every time you choose to read instead of scroll, you're rebelling. Every time you pick up a book instead of a remote, you're fighting back. Every time you feed your mind with substance instead of distraction, you're refusing to be controlled.

They want you ignorant because ignorant people are easier to exploit. They want you distracted because distracted people don't organize. They want you entertained because entertained people don't question.

But when you read—really read—you become dangerous. You start seeing patterns. You start asking questions. You start imagining different possibilities.

You start becoming who you're supposed to be.

Every day, you choose what to feed your mind. You can feed it the fast food of social media, the junk of mindless entertainment, or the gourmet meal of books that challenge, inspire, and transform.

Your ancestors who died for the right to read didn't sacrifice so you could scroll through TikTok. They fought for your access to knowledge because they understood what we've forgotten:

The person who reads lives a thousand lives. The person who doesn't live only one.

So the next time you reach for your phone instead of a book, remember: your ancestors died for the right to read. They risked everything—beatings, imprisonment, death—just to access the knowledge you're ignoring.

Read a muthafuckin book. Not because you should. Not because it's good for you. But because it's the most subversive thing you can do in a world designed to keep you small.

Your liberation is hidden in plain sight. Go find it.