Maybe YOU'RE Not In The League You Thought You Was

Chyyyy... the app did what it does. I'm minding my business and a creator named @justicejarrett — man in his car, talking to the camera — says the thing he thinks everybody's scared to say: 'I think we need to normalize talking to people that are in our league.' He opens with 'it's going to sound pretentious, but it has to be said,' says the DMs he's been getting are 'insane' — okay, Justice. And to be fair to him, he softens it at the end: 'this also goes for me. I'm not special by any means... shoot for the stars, land on the moon, or whatever they say.'

But then there's the part that got me: 'But come on, babe. Me and you... no, no, no.'

THE FLIP. You already know how I feel about it, so I'ma say it back: I'm sorry to tell you babes — maybe YOU'RE not in the league YOU thought you was. That's the thing about handing out league cards: somebody can hand one right back. If the leagues are real enough to keep people from shooting their shot, they're real enough to measure YOU. And the DMs he calls 'insane'? Those are people TAKING the shot. The audacity he's mocking is the exact thing he admires — he said it himself: 'I admire the courage and the confidence... I wish I had that confidence to do that.' Read that back, baby. He wishes HE had it.

THE MATH. Idk when everybody became the crème de la crème. Because last time I checked, there's no draft. Who's the commissioner? Who set the rosters? A 'league' is just two people's insecurities doing arithmetic — and the math ain't math-ing.

THE DANGER. Here's the part that's not cute. Rhetoric like this is dangerous — ESPECIALLY coming from a person of color. Baby, they used to say WE were out of their league — the schools, the pools, the jobs, the neighborhoods, the whole club. People stood in lines and died at doors of leagues we weren't allowed into. And now some of us grew up, got a phone, and started doing the gatekeeping for free? We inherited the bouncer's clipboard and started clipping our own. No, babe. Not us.

THE HEADPHONES. And let me humble every single one of us — me first. It's like some of y'all got headphones in with a camera on: just because you have a phone doesn't mean we need to know what you're thinking 24/7 — 'cause I be talking some bullshit too. We ALL be talking some bullshit. Half the takes I've ever had, I thank God there's no tape of. If the internet had my every thought on record, my league would be a li'l lower than everybody thinks it is. Grace is free — hand some out.

So here's the whole sermon, Glowgetters: shoot your shot. Take the no. A 'no' heals. 'Stay in your league' scars. The only league I believe in is the one where you level UP.

THE FINE PRINT. This one's my opinion on a creator's public post — @justicejarrett's full clip is on TikTok, go hear him out yourself; the quotes are from his video. The group chat is OPEN at the bottom of this page: are leagues real, or is it math that ain't math-ing? Come argue with me.