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For African American Black people living in America (Freedmen, DOS, ADOS, FBA, etc.) labeling every person Black in the States has been a blessing and a curse. It’s been a blessing because the flat Black label of White Supremacy is an easy way to define the diaspora. The flat Black labeling is a curse to African Americans in particular because it does not allow for the differences in cultures, religions, political ideologies, morals, values, languages, social issues, histories, and discussions about national, tribal, as well as individual and collective pasts to stand or matter.
We’ve allowed White supremacists to define us, erase us, and steal from us.
While many Blacks were enslaved, millions of Blacks in America hail from nations and tribes that were not enslaved. Some Blacks are from the islands while others migrate from Europe, Africa, the United Kingdom, Latin America, and other places where the term Black isn’t used to refer to the skin hues of persons with African lineages. Many Black people immigrate from places where they’ve always had Black representation. They’ve never completely been colonized and forced to assimilate in the ways African Americans and Native Americans were.
Some Black people come from countries where they flat out call themselves Whites (for obvious reasons), they move like Whites and want nothing to do with anything remotely labeled as Black — and some of them have skin tones that are darker than mine. Other Blacks only want to be identified by their national origins, tribes, ethnicity rejecting any labeling White Supremacy forces upon them arriving here in the United States. Black in America is hard, and America has done nearly a century of anti-Black propaganda through international broadcasting to ensure we don’t get any help to strengthen our numbers.
America looks for a certain kind of Black to immigrate here, and it’s not the revolutionary type if you understand where I’m coming from.
There are plenty of Black folks who love White Supremacy. They love being the only Black everywhere — in class, on the job, in college, at church, on television. The first Black anything is what they pine for. They understand the assignment and they are all in. These types of Black folks aren’t going to fight for our liberation or their own. If there is a White system or structure to be in, they’re there. These types of Black folks would rather fight against us alongside White Supremacy and remain tethered to Whiteness and all the White things they’ve accrued over time that validates them.
We have some Black folks within our ranks who awaken every day with revolutionary and noncompliant mindsets because they understand we’re all hostages in the system of White Supremacy. All they want to do is be with like-minded individuals so they can fight to perhaps finally win the liberation so many of our elders and ancestors fought and died for.
There are the Black folks who still believe we are still on plantations laboring as house negroes and field negroes. They think Black folks are supposed to care for everything and everyone first but ourselves. Many of these Black folks are also die-hard integrationists who believe the best thing for Black people collectively is to support White people and the People of Color brigade while competing with them all for table scraps on the floor like old bottom-feeding catfish. With this crew of Blacks, any discussions of disaggregation for our collective protection and cultural preservation will get you called xenophobic.
We’ve got plenty of Black folks who think the best the world has to over them can only be attained from White spaces. These folks send their kids to all-White or predominantly White schools as if Black education didn’t produce similar results prior to integration. These are the same Blacks who live in all White or predominantly White communities because they believe being around Black people is unsafe. The parents of these types of Blacks taught them that being Black was bad and required assimilation for a better future. Assimilation was necessary for entry into these all highly coveted White spaces to receive the White programming with a side of anti-Blackness.
These types of Blacks don’t like anything outside of their assimilated social circles, aren’t interested in learning anything about us, and don’t want to be around us. Zaddy is good to them, for now.
We have a growing number of Black people who are pro-reparations movements for descendants of enslavement across the diaspora because they understand our perilous state in the world was caused by White Supremacy. Also within the diaspora, we have Black anti-reparationists and Blacks who are apathetic to the causes because they won’t be getting anything from the recompense. They have crabs in the barrel mentalities all day every day. These Blacks are mostly selfish and jealous. If they can’t have any, no one can.
They are also dangerous because they sabotage everything they touch of ours moving forward.
There are Black people within our flat Blackness labeling who have put everything before their Blackness. They’re conservative, liberal, progressive, LGBTQIA+, women, men, religious men/women, feminists, Black feminists, artists, pro-equality, pro-equity for all, businessmen/businesswomen, or anything before they are Black. We don’t see eye to eye on lots of things a lot. We talk differently. We socialize differently. We are often at odds with each other. They are on an unproductive Black island unto themselves like angry, bitter. Every time they speak they let us know it.
As you can see from the aforementioned examples, flat Blackness has always been problematic for us because Black people are not a monolith. No group on earth is. We’ve not been able to talk about our differences before now. Black gatekeepers blessed by White Supremacy had all the microphones and platforms to speak on our behalf until now. Thanks to social media and sites like 6ZEROS, we’re now able to speak for ourselves.
These disaggregation conversations we’re having are long overdue. Our Blackness is complex thanks to White Supremacy. Let’s make sure we give credit where credit is due because Black people didn’t create the problem, we’re simply using our self-determination to fix it. Black folks across the diaspora are having difficult discussions right now that make a lot of us uncomfortable, but these conversations must be had.
Our disaggregation from flat Blackness may finally lead to liberation for those seeking it.
Disaggregation Isn’t Wanted, But It’s Needed
If you haven’t read my essay to break down White folks’ flat Blackness labeling of the diaspora, you should start here before going forward. Thinking of Black through a White Supremacist lens for a discussion on the disaggregation of flat Blackness will have you in your feelings and believing you’re being attacked personally. Maturity and a little nuance are required to have this uncomfortable discussion. What should be common sense to most, unfortunately, isn’t common at all. All Blackness is beautiful, but it’s definitely not all these same.All Black Is Beautiful, But All Black Isn’t the Same The mythical monolith of Black in Americamedium.comFor African American Black people living in America (Freedmen, DOS, ADOS, FBA, etc.) labeling every person Black in the States has been a blessing and a curse. It’s been a blessing because the flat Black label of White Supremacy is an easy way to define the diaspora. The flat Black labeling is a curse to African Americans in particular because it does not allow for the differences in cultures, religions, political ideologies, morals, values, languages, social issues, histories, and discussions about national, tribal, as well as individual and collective pasts to stand or matter.
We’ve allowed White supremacists to define us, erase us, and steal from us.
While many Blacks were enslaved, millions of Blacks in America hail from nations and tribes that were not enslaved. Some Blacks are from the islands while others migrate from Europe, Africa, the United Kingdom, Latin America, and other places where the term Black isn’t used to refer to the skin hues of persons with African lineages. Many Black people immigrate from places where they’ve always had Black representation. They’ve never completely been colonized and forced to assimilate in the ways African Americans and Native Americans were.
Some Black people come from countries where they flat out call themselves Whites (for obvious reasons), they move like Whites and want nothing to do with anything remotely labeled as Black — and some of them have skin tones that are darker than mine. Other Blacks only want to be identified by their national origins, tribes, ethnicity rejecting any labeling White Supremacy forces upon them arriving here in the United States. Black in America is hard, and America has done nearly a century of anti-Black propaganda through international broadcasting to ensure we don’t get any help to strengthen our numbers.
America looks for a certain kind of Black to immigrate here, and it’s not the revolutionary type if you understand where I’m coming from.
There are plenty of Black folks who love White Supremacy. They love being the only Black everywhere — in class, on the job, in college, at church, on television. The first Black anything is what they pine for. They understand the assignment and they are all in. These types of Black folks aren’t going to fight for our liberation or their own. If there is a White system or structure to be in, they’re there. These types of Black folks would rather fight against us alongside White Supremacy and remain tethered to Whiteness and all the White things they’ve accrued over time that validates them.
We have some Black folks within our ranks who awaken every day with revolutionary and noncompliant mindsets because they understand we’re all hostages in the system of White Supremacy. All they want to do is be with like-minded individuals so they can fight to perhaps finally win the liberation so many of our elders and ancestors fought and died for.
There are the Black folks who still believe we are still on plantations laboring as house negroes and field negroes. They think Black folks are supposed to care for everything and everyone first but ourselves. Many of these Black folks are also die-hard integrationists who believe the best thing for Black people collectively is to support White people and the People of Color brigade while competing with them all for table scraps on the floor like old bottom-feeding catfish. With this crew of Blacks, any discussions of disaggregation for our collective protection and cultural preservation will get you called xenophobic.
We’ve got plenty of Black folks who think the best the world has to over them can only be attained from White spaces. These folks send their kids to all-White or predominantly White schools as if Black education didn’t produce similar results prior to integration. These are the same Blacks who live in all White or predominantly White communities because they believe being around Black people is unsafe. The parents of these types of Blacks taught them that being Black was bad and required assimilation for a better future. Assimilation was necessary for entry into these all highly coveted White spaces to receive the White programming with a side of anti-Blackness.
These types of Blacks don’t like anything outside of their assimilated social circles, aren’t interested in learning anything about us, and don’t want to be around us. Zaddy is good to them, for now.
We have a growing number of Black people who are pro-reparations movements for descendants of enslavement across the diaspora because they understand our perilous state in the world was caused by White Supremacy. Also within the diaspora, we have Black anti-reparationists and Blacks who are apathetic to the causes because they won’t be getting anything from the recompense. They have crabs in the barrel mentalities all day every day. These Blacks are mostly selfish and jealous. If they can’t have any, no one can.
They are also dangerous because they sabotage everything they touch of ours moving forward.
There are Black people within our flat Blackness labeling who have put everything before their Blackness. They’re conservative, liberal, progressive, LGBTQIA+, women, men, religious men/women, feminists, Black feminists, artists, pro-equality, pro-equity for all, businessmen/businesswomen, or anything before they are Black. We don’t see eye to eye on lots of things a lot. We talk differently. We socialize differently. We are often at odds with each other. They are on an unproductive Black island unto themselves like angry, bitter. Every time they speak they let us know it.
As you can see from the aforementioned examples, flat Blackness has always been problematic for us because Black people are not a monolith. No group on earth is. We’ve not been able to talk about our differences before now. Black gatekeepers blessed by White Supremacy had all the microphones and platforms to speak on our behalf until now. Thanks to social media and sites like 6ZEROS, we’re now able to speak for ourselves.
These disaggregation conversations we’re having are long overdue. Our Blackness is complex thanks to White Supremacy. Let’s make sure we give credit where credit is due because Black people didn’t create the problem, we’re simply using our self-determination to fix it. Black folks across the diaspora are having difficult discussions right now that make a lot of us uncomfortable, but these conversations must be had.
As African Americans Attempt To Disaggregate Our Blackness, Expect Pushback | 6ZEROS
For African American Black people living in America (Freedmen, DOS, ADOS, FBA, etc.) labeling every person Black in the States has been a blessing and a curse. This is why we must disaggregate our Blackness.
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