By Von C. Howard – For The Westside Gazette
We are living in a time of heightened self-awareness and social reckoning. Across the country, and especially in Black communities, people are reexamining their place, their purpose, and their power. There’s a growing call to move beyond survival into systems-building, healing, and legacy work. But first, we must be honest with ourselves: In this moment, are we the Spider, the Web, the Fly, or the Exterminator?
The Spider represents those who create. Builders of communities, movements, families, systems, and institutions. Spiders are visionaries who weave opportunity and structure. But unchecked, that same ability to build can create webs that trap, isolate, or exclude. Some Spiders spin webs so intricate they lose sight of who’s getting caught in them, sometimes even their own people. In truth, the Spider isn’t inherently good or bad. It’s about intention. Are you weaving pathways or prisons?
The Web, then, symbolizes the systems that hold people, economic injustice, systemic racism, cycles of generational poverty, trauma, and even complacency. Webs are shaped by history, policy, media, culture, and the hands of those with power. These systems don’t run themselves; they’re maintained, sometimes unintentionally, by those who benefit from their design. Angela Davis once said, “I am no longer accepting the things I cannot change. I am changing the things I cannot accept.” If you’re part of a system, at work, in your organizations, or even your family, are you reinforcing a harmful web, or helping to redesign it?
The Fly is the one who gets caught, often vulnerable, often overlooked. Sometimes the Fly is a child growing up in a school system that never truly saw them. Sometimes it’s a brother stuck in the cycle of incarceration, or a sister forced to choose survival over peace. Sometimes, it’s us. The Fly reminds us how easy it is to get trapped and how necessary it is to show compassion to those still struggling. As Kendrick Lamar told us, “We gon’ be alright.” But surviving can’t be the only goal. We must also learn to fly forward and help others do the same.
Then, there’s the Exterminator, the disruptor. The one who sees the web for what it is and comes not just with critique, but with a plan. They’re the community organizers, the teachers who go the extra mile, the youth who use their voice to challenge norms, the elders who refuse to remain silent. The Exterminator isn’t destructive just for the sake of rebellion, they’re committed to building something better in the ashes of what no longer serves us. Amanda Gorman said it best: “There is always light, if only we’re brave enough to see it. If only we’re brave enough to be it.”
Each of us has played all these roles at different points in our lives. The question is: Which one are you choosing today? In a time when misinformation, division, and apathy are spreading fast, we need more Exterminators, more truth-tellers, bridge-builders, and liberators. We need fewer people spinning traps and more people creating blueprints for liberation.
As we navigate politics, community building, education, and even internal family dynamics, this metaphor can serve as a mirror. Are you building with integrity, or are you entangling others in your need for control? Are you a cog in a harmful system, or are you working to reimagine it? Are you stuck and silent, or are you finding your wings? Are you lighting the way for others to walk freely?
As J. Cole reminds us, “If you don’t stand for something, you’ll fall for anything.” We all have a choice. Your role in the ecosystem of change matters more than ever. What you do with your influence, big or small, determines the future not only for you, but for your children, your neighbors, your people.
So, who are you, today, right now? The Spider, the Web, the Fly, or the Exterminator?
Choose with courage. The world is watching and waiting.
