Black Unity is Non-Negotiable In This Political Climate

As a Black woman who walks around daily loving her Blackness, I’m tired.

Tired of seeing the same recycled “African vs. African American” debate clog my timelines and create division-centered conversations that should be rooted in solidarity. Tired of watching “light skin vs. dark skin” tropes resurface every summer like it’s tradition. Tired of watching us fight each other while living under a political administration that barely even acknowledges our humanity, let alone our pain.

At a time when we are being bombarded by misinformation and disinformation, the infighting is not only divisive, but also dangerous, because while we’re busy arguing about proximity to the motherland or the perceived perks of skin tone, we’re missing the fact that we’re all navigating a society that doesn’t value our Blackness—period.

Let’s look at the facts.

Anti-Blackness is global. It doesn’t stop to ask whether your ancestors were enslaved in Virginia, or if your parents immigrated from Ghana or Nigeria. It doesn’t differentiate between a Jamaican-American CEO and a fourth-generation Dominican-American teacher when police officers simply see you as a “threat.” Systemic racism doesn’t care about your background; it’s trained to react to your Blackness. Whether via policing, housing, healthcare, or hiring practices, the unfair practices and systemic roadblocks affect us all.

Meanwhile, the current administration has shown us who they are—repeatedly, and you still have Black folks championing his abrasive and archaic rhetoric as “telling it like it is.” This is the same administration that gutted diversity and inclusion initiatives under the guise of “anti-woke” policies. The same administration that orchestrated the erosion of voting rights protections and slashed federal aid programs and failed to address police brutality, maternal health disparities, or the racial wealth gap in any meaningful way– but sure, let’s continue to make our fellow brothers and sisters from the motherland the problem.

The “African vs. African American” divide is rooted in centuries of trauma, colonization, and deliberate miseducation. Many African immigrants were taught that Black Americans are “lazy”, “complaining,” or “dangerous,” while African Americans were taught that Africans “sold us into slavery” or “looked down on us.” Both are oversimplifications born from colonial propaganda, and while unpacking that history is important, weaponizing it against each other is counterproductive. Just like the tired old “light skin vs. dark skin” trope– equally corrosive. Colorism is real and stems from white supremacy and has been embedded in everything from media representation to sentencing disparities; but blaming each other for the roles we’ve been cast in by a racist society doesn’t get us free—it keeps us shackled.

It’s important to remember what unity has truly given us. The Civil Rights Movement wasn’t perfect, but it was powerful because it was collective. Leaders like Malcolm X and Stokely Carmichael—both with Caribbean lineage—stood side by side with descendants of enslaved Americans to fight Jim Crow and demand justice. Shirley Chisholm, the first Black woman elected to Congress, proudly claimed her Barbadian heritage while championing the rights of and for all Black people. Together, they mobilized communities, passed laws, and changed the course of history, without any regard to where the individuals in the communities they served were dropped off first during the slave trade.

Fast-forward to today, we are losing ground with the rollback of affirmative action, the attacks on Black history, and the rise in voter suppression laws; it’s all part of a strategy to weaken our political power and erase our progress, while we remain distracted and weirdly upset at the fact that Essence Fest featured a jollof rice competition. We are fighting for our future; this is not the time for division– it’s time for strategy, solidarity, and collective movement forward.

We need to educate ourselves about all facets of the diaspora in addition to the Black experience. That means embracing the stories of Africans, Afro-Caribbeans, Afro-Latinos, Black immigrants, and Black Americans. We have more in common than we’ve been taught to believe, and the beauty of our diversity is our strength and their threat.

It’s time to raise our children not to internalize these old tools for division, and instead teach them that Blackness is beautiful, expansive, global, and powerful. Future generations who understand that whether you’re from Baltimore or Botswana, we’re all a part of the same legacy of resilience and the same ongoing struggle for liberation.

We need to call out internalized racism and colorism when we see it, even in our own homes. We need to uplift, protect, and invest in each other. Our votes matter. Our dollars matter. Our voices matter, but only if we use them together.

Because the truth is, no one is coming to save us. We’ve seen that over and over again, and while America continues to debate our worth, strip our rights, and deny our realities, we cannot afford to continue to be distracted by stereotypes or shade–literally or figuratively.

Black unity is not a hashtag or a moment; it is power and a political weapon. The stakes are too high for petty debates or performative divides. Our ancestors fought too hard and gave too much for us to squander the progress they made by turning on each other over something as miniscule as a boat stop that destroyed our families centuries ago.

So to those still holding on to these tired arguments and spreading them online for clout, I say this with a smidgeon of love left and urgency: Playtime is over. Get your life and mind right before we leave you behind.

Now, for the rest of us, it’s time to get focused and strengthen our community — together.

Y’all Must Be Trippin’: Why Black Unity Is Non-Negotiable In This Political Climate  was originally published on newsone.com