Hoodoo is an herbal-based ancestral system of healing. Anti-Blackness condemned Hoodoo, forcing Hoodoos to hide in plain sight. That’s why many of us practice Hoodooisms without even realizing it. Monaleo’s powerful lyrics help us unpack them.
“They wanna spit on the broom.”
If you’ve ever been warned not to sweep your feet, that’s the Hoodoo belief that swept feet are a sign of terrible luck. Thankfully, spitting on the broom can counteract it.
“I need my reparations.”
We all know the broken promise of “40 Acres and A Mule.” What’s less known is that hundreds received titles to plots of 4 to 40 acres on islands along the Georgia, South Carolina, and northern Florida coasts. Freed people established communities, built homes, created local governments and militias, and began farming. But the government returned most of the land to former enslavers within a year. So like Monaleo said, we need that.
“You never supposed to put your purse on the ground.”
Remember when Beyoncé put her purse on the ground? The internet was in shambles because of the Hoodoo belief that “a purse on the floor is money out the door.”