Audre Lorde, Bitcoin, and the Spirit of the Ancestors

Last night I had a pleasant surprise.

I opened The Bitcoin Leap: How Bitcoin Is Transforming Africa and discovered that Chapter 4 opens with a quote from Audre Lorde. That stopped me in my tracks.

The quote from Audrey says: "there is no hierarchy of oppressions."

Once again, the spirit of the ancestors is speaking to us. Audrey is still making her presence known.

Several members of the King’s Circle—including Akua Naru—are longtime fans of Audre Lorde, yet are only now beginning to explore the power of Bitcoin. That connection matters. Lorde was never just a writer; she was a strategist for liberation.

What made this even more personal for me is that I interviewed Audre Lorde and photographed her for the Virgin Islands Daily News back in 1989. I’ve attached that article here, along with a video of Charlene Hill Fadirepo, the author of The Bitcoin Leap, speaking in an interview with the BBC.

The title of Chapter 4 is “Black Oppression Around the World.” Let’s be real: the mainstream crypto conversation—dominated by white “crypto bros”—almost never talks about how Bitcoin can empower Black and brown communities. This book does.

Some chapter titles say it all:

Bitcoin for African Activism and Economic Prosperity
Bitcoin and Financial Inclusion in Africa
Bitcoin as a Tool for Generational Wealth
Women in Bitcoin
Africa Is the Future of Bitcoin

Charlene Hill Fadirepo comes from a background in banking, engineering, and Bitcoin activism, and she’s the founder of Mango Digital Strategies. She understands Bitcoin not just as technology or speculation, but as a tool for liberation.

This is a must-read book.

I’m going to do my best to bring Charlene into the King’s Circle as a guest. She needs our support—and more importantly, this conversation needs her voice.

"For Africa, transitioning to Bitcoin as a currency is not merely a luxury about an absolute necessity. I believe it represents a moral obligation for humanity. Bitcoin safeguards human rights," says Charlene in The Bitcoin Leap.

"Through Bitcoin, we can envision a secure, lawful and prosperous Africa where financial freedom and economic justice are easily accessible to the 1.4 billion people across the continent."

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