African storytellers often use animals stories to teach life lessons. The benefit of growing up in the Black south is that our ancestors and elders passed down this knowledge. More than stories, they were analytical frameworks. They taught us about life & POWER.
- A thread

Many people want to be a lion. Bold, loud, threatening, powerful, and strong. They make for the best icons. They also make for the easiest targets. Everyone knows where a lion lives. Everyone knows how a lion acts. Everyone can hear a lion's roar. Everyone knows a lion's weapon.

But thanks to our West African ancestors for Anansi the Spider and African American ancestors in the U.S. South for Brer Rabbit. Through their stories we gain a different perspective.

Anansi and Brer Rabbit were tricksters and sometimes trouble makers. We don't always know where they live. We don't know what they will say. We don’t hear them coming. They were not physically strong. But they are legendary for using the greatest weapon of all - strategy.

Anansi and Brer Rabbit teach us that power is not always what it looks like. And that power requires more than a roar. It requires more than physical strength. That’s why in many tales Anansi the Spider defeats lions with his wits.

Lions are majestic and strong. But as powerful as they are, lions are limited in their abilities. You will never see an army of 10,000 lions. Their territorial nature prevents it. But you will see a plague of spiders, locusts or frogs.

Suddenly, what seemed harmless consumes and takes over the land. Because power comes in many different shapes and forms.

In Nigeria, the tortoise outsmarted the hippo. In Egypt, even a dung beetle had power. Ancient Egyptians associated them with transformation and the rising of the sun. The bug that eats feces and buries itself is a master navigator that moves with the sun and moon.

The moral of these stories? Power has many faces. Power is loud and quiet. Power can be physical, mental, or both. Power is in strategy. Power can be overt or covert. Power is in transformation. Power is in creativity. Power is in usefulness. And power is in understanding.

Finally, never underestimate someone because they do not roar. Everyone is not a lion. Some people are spiders, rabbits, locusts, frogs, tortoises, dung beetles, etc. They may appear harmless or even weak but you're in for a surprise. And that’s another story.