It seems to be part of human nature to desire superiority over another human being. Human history is filled with examples of this phenomenon, from slavery to social class systems, so it only makes sense for it to exist in one of my own communities— the Black diaspora. All through my life, I have heard Black people of various nationalities and ethnic groups claim that theirs is better than another— or even every other— because of this or that. Yet I find it hard to believe because I can see that what unifies us is always greater than what divides us.
We’re not all that different, since we have all been influenced by Westerners, their imperialism, and its consequences. We were all colonized (except Liberia and Ethiopia), enslaved, and/or robbed by Western nations, so how can any Black person feel superior to another because of their place of “origin”?
The concept of origin is tricky in and of itself. One characteristic of human beings is our tendency to migrate to improve our situation, so when we claim to be from one place, we don’t capture the entire picture of origin identity because we more likely than not have a number of ancestors who came from other places and settled where we profess to be from.
Yes, you ended up being born in one place, but you may as well have ancestors or cultural practices that came from a place you talk down on.
Knowing this should force us to realize that we have a lot in common with other Black people, but instead we choose to segregate ourselves.
We have shared struggles in our Blackness. When non-Blacks see you, the first thing they see is that you are Black, not African, or Caribbean, or Latinx. If you are unable to tell someone where you come from, you will just be Black, and nothing more. Yes, adding the country or countries we come from may help us connect to our histories and tell others about a vital piece of our identities, but we have to remember that our collective existence as people of African descent should also be a big part of who we are.
Black people as a whole share so many cultural aspects across the board that makes it incredibly easy to relate to one another. At the same time, we also have struggles specific to where we come from. An African may have to deal with the erasure of their culture due to globalization and the lack of interest many African people have in preserving what is actually theirs. On the other hand, an African-American may deal with the targeting of predominantly-Black neighborhoods by those who wish to impede their success.
Still, at the end of the day, we have to realize that we are all fundamentally Black. Take away the ethnic groups and we are left with what we are at the root of our being— individuals strongly connected to our African bloodlines. Whether we decide to accept our Blackness or not does not change anything about who we are. We need to understand that we are all part of the same diaspora, no matter how far away our fellow Black’s home country may be from ours.
By trying to separate ourselves from other Black people, we create and feed a false sense of supremacy over the others, which doesn’t sound too different from what people of other races have done to Black people throughout history. So next time you hear someone insinuate that they’re better because they come from somewhere, or you think to do it yourself, remember that though recent origins may differ, we all come from the same motherland.
