Culture is a collective manifestation of customs, arts, social institutions, and achievements. While culture is shared, we safeguard it against people looking to redefine it. We hold pieces of it, a sliver of our understanding of Blackness, and reference it whenever we have unexpected encounters. We judge the authenticity of a thing against what we know to be accurate as naturally as we see predators in the jungle. We sense it with a certainty born of the need to survive the trauma of American racial dynamics. We feel the collective is a part of us and protect it as we would ourselves. This space manifests the spirit of Blackness. It’s full of color, movement, joy, and life. The construction in the back of the space is a physical representation of the spirit we hold true, embued with the spirit of our ancestors. The gate keeps guard of the space of Blackness.