Lately, I have noticed that some “respected” scholars and media pundits have begun to associate the rise and prominence of the Foundational Black America (FBA) and American Descendants of Slaves (ADOS) as being rooted in the raising of awareness regarding how African American culture has been exploited and co-opted by people not of that lineage who wear Blackness like a costume. I find this argument to be specious as this position is averse to facts and belies that the FBA and ADOS movements emerged as a mutation of anti-Pan-African sentiment (by individuals who promoted Pan-Africanism for monetary gain until it was no longer useful to do so i.e. Tariq Nasheed, Yvette Carnell) Afrophobia, xenophobia, self-hatred, Americanized nativism, African American tribalism, militant integrationism, intellectual dishonesty, and adherence to white nationalist politics. These sentiments developed in part due to said adherents having a surface-level understanding of Black/African history and culture and due to the inability to effectively combat the ubiquitous nature of anti-Black racism in America. As powerless groups unable to effectively challenge the forces that oppress them, they attack themselves or people similar to themselves (manipulative deflection).
Thus, it is easier to attack those similar to oneself as opposed to the entities responsible for the African American community's social, political, and economic quagmire. Moreover, these attacks are rooted in surface-level tropes of Black or African American cultural appropriation, such as who created Hip-Hop, who ruined the Essence Fest, etc. While conveniently ignoring the powers that weaponize Hip-Hop as an incubator of profligate consumerism, normalizer of dysfunctional social behavior, and prurient chasing of the fast life (drugs, crime, money, women, etc. while concomitantly creating caricatures of Black life and people rooted in time-resistant anti-Black stereotypes.
Moreover, much of the rhetoric from FBA/ADOS adherents has less to do with issues of lineage or advocacy for reparations. As numerous talking heads (Afro Elite, Tariq Nasheed, Angry Man) consistently engage in vile stereotyping of African and West Indian immigrants, while also engaging in baseless attacks on Pan-Africanism. For example, FBA/ADOS adherents consistently articulate a belief that Black immigrants are trying to “leech” benefits from African Americans. While African Americans live in a country in which Black children are being shot down by the police, where our people are dying from air pollution, where Flint still does not have clean water, and where activists are being locked up for their political views. These are the challenges that African Americans are facing, yet the FBA/ADOS movement wants to make Pan-Africanists and Black immigrants the enemy (make it make sense)?
This conflict is rooted in resource deprivation, and the manipulation of both groups (African Americans, West Indians, and African immigrants) by Whites using the divide and conquer strategy that was effective in the creation of White colonies in African states in the 19th and 20th centuries. These issues are exacerbated by an American society that has been increasingly susceptible to globalization (has been in fact the globalizer-in-chief) and its influences including the economic shocks that result from a shrinking (or expanding) market or the economic meltdown that is thought to be partly the fault of porous borders and illegal immigration, people’s identity concepts, which are typically tied to their resources and opportunities, are increasingly undergoing change and are generating fear and provoking conflict.
Taking advantage of this uncertainty and fear, identity has become a tool for those desiring to control others (and annexing or appropriating resources and opportunities open to these others) by manipulating perceived differences in these “others.” By manipulating the identity concepts of those often unaware or who in any case have limited social resources and power to resist (African Americans), groups have fomented intragroup hate and instigated conflict — sometimes violent conflict — to protect and preserve their perceived dominant status and the opportunities and rewards that come with it, while diminishing the status and by implication the share of opportunities and rewards of minority populations such as Blacks in the United States.
Osagyefo Dr. Kwame Nkrumah taught us that if we are nationalistic in our outlook, we will be played against each other like pawns on a chessboard. As a Pan-Africanist, I will continue to work to correct misinformation and end the intragroup conflict that prevents African people from restoring ourselves to our traditional greatness.
This post originally appeared on Medium and is edited and republished with author's permission. Read more of Dr. Bakari K. Lumumba's work on Medium.