Reign Badass Quotes

And once upon a time I wondered: Is writing epic fantasy not somehow a betrayal? Did I not somehow do a disservice to my own reality by paying so much attention to the power fantasies of disenchanted white men? But. Epic fantasy is not merely what Tolkien made it. This genre is rooted in the epic — and the truth is that there are plenty of epics out there which feature people like me. Sundiata’s badass mother. Dihya, warrior queen of the Amazighs. The Rain Queens. The Mino Warriors. Hatshepsut’s reign. Everything Harriet Tubman ever did. And more, so much more, just within the African components of my heritage. I haven’t even begun to explore the non-African stuff. So given all these myths, all these examinations of the possible… how can I not imagine more? How can I not envision an epic set somewhere other than medieval England, about someone other than an awkward white boy? How can I not use every building-block of my history and heritage and imagination when I make shit up? And how dare I disrespect that history, profane all my ancestors’ suffering and struggles, by giving up the freedom to imagine that they’ve won for me.

There weren’t many amulet smugglers around these parts. They mostly served Regime territory down south, where the so-called “demons” reigned. If you didn’t want a monster for a child, you’d pay a pretty penny for one of those necklaces. And if you were caught smuggling them, well, you’d pay with your pretty head.

You have yet to glimpse my reign, but it is not a crown you should fear falling to me. I will rain down the stars so you may never dream upon them. I will rain down Phoenixfyre to burn all you build to ash and I will rain down the might of the Ashfyre name to avenge the bloodline you betrayed. You are staring into the face of your deepest fear Malin, for when I am finished with you, - her chest heaved with a promise so final, words that struck like a declaration from the Gods- you will all yield to me.

This, of course, is nothing new. Eurocentric Christianity, since the days of Constantine, has predominately served as an apologist for authoritarian regimes, be they emperors, kings, crusading popes, or military dictators. In the last century alone, Eurocentric Christian jargon sustained and supported brutal regimes guilty of unimaginable human rights violations. Think of how the Catholic Church, fearing the loss of power during Spain’s Second Republic, threw its support behind the right-wing politics of the usurper Francisco Franco, who cloaked himself as a defender of religious liberties. The church stood by him as he ignited a civil war against the seculariziation of society, turning a blind eye to the Spanish killing fields. Or recall how, earlier, the Catholic Church in Portugal supported the right-wing regime of Estado Novo, whose coup d’état against the democratic First Republic ushered in a reign of terror, again justified because he advocated family values. We also cannot forget that the rise of Hitler was aided by conservative Protestant Christians calling for Ein Volk, ein Reich, ein Führer. This is not to say all conservative Christians are fascists, nor that the left is innocent of harboring those who exploit secularism to impose intolerance. Multiple leftist dictatorships around the world are as oppressive as right-wing dictatorships. Still, the point is that conservative Christians have maintained a tolerance for family values promoted by authoritarian rulers who have engaged in all sorts of heinous injustices in Christ’s name. If indeed Christ is the head of the church, and man is the head of his wife, then why be surprised when Euro-American Christianity celebrates patriarchy? What many of us find damnable is that proclamations of “family values” become the basis for a populist movement that is defining its family values by separating Brown families at the border. White Christianity is now and has historically been an apologist for white nationalism.

This white God of death will continue reigning because “his” devotees are quick to vote for a lower quality of life rather than sharing the goods and benefits of society with fellow citizens of color.

Vladimir Putin, Viktor Orbán, and Recep Tayyip Erdoğan become case studies on how the foundations of democracies are shaken to their roots by elected officials, who establish themselves as czars, emperors, and sultans masquerading as democratic presidents. Yes, they continue to reign over countries that are democracies in name only. Government of the people, by the people, and for the people is weaponized against those who dare challenge the ruling establishment. The rise of white Christianity during the second half of the twentieth century was purposely designed to be nondemocratic. Paul Weyrich, known as the “founding father of the conservative movement,” the architect of the Heritage Foundation, and a leader of the Moral Majority, made it perfectly clear he was against the democratic principle of one person, one vote. During his address at the seminal Religious Right gathering in Dallas during the fall of 1980 he said, “I don’t want everybody to vote…. As a matter of fact, our leverage in elections quite candidly goes up as the voting populace goes down.”34 In other words, when nonwhites vote, white Christians lose, so we do not want those people voting.