My uncles always said I was too city to work the land.
I hated that.
But I think I hated the sight of cotton more.
I spent summers on my grandmother’s farm, the sun pressing down, the air thick with earth and sweat. I learned to tend the land, to listen to it, to respect it—but I could never adjust to the sight of a cotton plant.
If you’re a descendant of enslaved Africans in America, you understand.
I hated how its sharp edges caught my eyes, how its history pressed against my family like an old weight that had never been lifted. I hated how small I felt when I saw it. But even still, I respected my grandparents for their strength. My grandmother picked 800 pounds of cotton a day for years just to survive. Their quiet defiance in working land that had once been forced upon us became a source of pride in my hardest moments as a young creative. But if I’m honest, part of me wanted nothing to do with it. The past felt too close, the ghosts too loud.
It wasn’t until I visited coffee farms in Ethiopia that I saw the land differently. There, I stood among trees stretching toward the sky, roots deep in soil that had never been stolen. Surrounded by song and ceremony, I watched farmers harvest coffee as their ancestors had for centuries—free from the weight of colonial erasure. It wasn’t until I learned the pre-colonial legacy of coffee that I could see a story in working the land beyond the trauma.
“Buna Fi Nagayaa Hin Dhabina” ☕✊🏾
May your house lack no coffee nor peace.
Now, years later, we’re flipping the narrative. We’re reclaiming what was always ours—on both sides. This collaboration isn’t just about a t-shirt—it’s about reclaiming what was stolen and using it to build our future.
“Black creativity is the foundation of so many industries, yet we rarely own the means of production,” says Bartholomew Jones. “This collaboration proves that we don’t have to ask for a seat at the table—we can build our own, from the soil up.”
Stephen Satterfield echoes that vision: “Cotton and coffee built global economies on Black labor. It’s time for them to build Black futures. Through this collaboration, we’re creating a blueprint for how Black creatives can reclaim supply chains and reshape entire industries.”
The land has always spoken. It holds both the pain of our past and the possibility of our future. From the cotton fields to the coffee farms, from the soil to the sip—this is our legacy, and we are the future.
Collaboration available while supplies last.
Hit the link to read more and cop yours before they’re gone: