When Nativism Wears a Dashiki: How Black Nativist Movements Like ADOS and FBA Divide Black Communities — and Harm Black Workers at Work

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There’s a dangerous trend growing within parts of the Black American community — one that, in my opinion, mirrors some of the very ideologies found in MAGA that many in the Black American community claim to oppose. Movements like ADOS (American Descendants of Slavery) and FBA (Foundational Black Americans) present themselves as righteous and focused on justice for Black Americans, but at their core, they operate on the same toxic logic that fuels white nationalism and nativist politics: division by lineage.

Nativism is the belief that only people with a certain origin story belong — whether that’s a “real American,” a “real Black person,” or a “true descendant.” Nativism is about drawing lines. Policing identity. Deciding who’s in and who’s out. And while we expect it from white supremacists, it’s especially heartbreaking — and harmful — when it comes from within our own community.

ADOS and FBA: More About Gatekeeping Than Unity

The ADOS movement and FBA movement position themselves as advocacy platforms for reparations. And while the pursuit of reparations is just and overdue, these movements consistently conflate justice with exclusion. They push the narrative that only Black Americans descended from U.S. slavery have the right to speak, organize, or benefit from Black-centered political agendas.

And the exclusion doesn’t stop at immigrants. What’s most disturbing is that even Black people born in the U.S. to immigrant parents — American citizens — are treated as outsiders by these groups. That’s not a fight for justice. That’s just a fight to dominate the room.

I’ll say it plainly: A Black person born in the United States is a Black American. Whether their parents came from Jamaica, Ghana, Nigeria, Haiti, Trinidad, or elsewhere, they are just as American as anyone else born in this country. They experience anti-Black racism. They are surveilled, stereotyped, and discriminated against. They deserve to be part of the conversation about the future of Black America — because they are Black America.

Black Diaspora Contributions We Can’t Ignore

We can’t forget: some of our most influential civil rights leaders, cultural icons, and trailblazers were U.S.-born children of immigrants.

• Malcolm X, born Malcolm Little — his mother, Louise Little, was from Grenada.

• Stokely Carmichael (Kwame Ture) — born in Trinidad, moved to the U.S. as a child, and became a key leader in SNCC and the Black Power movement.

• Harry Belafonte — son of Jamaican immigrants, legendary artist and tireless civil rights activist.

• Colin Powell — son of Jamaican immigrants, became the first Black U.S. Secretary of State.

• Sidney Poitier — born to Bahamian parents while they were visiting Miami, a groundbreaking actor and civil rights advocate.

• Shirley Chisholm — first Black woman elected to U.S. Congress, daughter of Guyanese and Barbadian parents.

• Louis Farrakhan — born in New York to a mother from Saint Kitts and Nevis and a father from Jamaica.

• Cicely Tyson — daughter of immigrants from Nevis, legendary actress and cultural icon.

• Maya Angelou — her maternal grandfather was born on the island of Trinidad.

• Barack Obama — the first "Black" President of the United States, born to a Kenyan father and a white American mother. Are we going to call him a “tether”?

These leaders didn’t just join the fight — they shaped it. Imagine if they had been told they weren’t “Black enough” to lead or didn’t have the “right lineage” to speak on Black issues. Our movements would be smaller, weaker, and far less visionary without them.

Addressing Real Tensions in the Black Diaspora

Instead of collaborating with the broader Black diaspora, Black nativist rhetoric too often targets it. African and Caribbean immigrants are labeled “tethers.” U.S.-born Black citizens with immigrant parents are side-eyed as not “really us.” And support from outside the U.S. is viewed with suspicion instead of embraced.

This is not how we win.

We also have to be honest about the real tensions that sometimes exist. Many African and Caribbean immigrants come to the U.S. influenced by colonialism, colorism, and harmful narratives about “American Blacks.” Some have pursued or internalized white proximity as a form of survival or advancement — consciously or unconsciously distancing themselves from Black American communities. These attitudes can create deep hurt and mistrust, reinforcing divides that white supremacy loves to exploit.

It’s important to acknowledge that these dynamics are real and harmful. There are times when immigrants have perpetuated anti-Black stereotypes, looked down on descendants of U.S. slavery, or failed to show up in solidarity for domestic racial justice movements. That behavior deserves critique and accountability.

But here’s the key: these tensions should be addressed through honest dialogue and community building — not through blanket exclusion or lineage-based gatekeeping. We can hold each other accountable without deciding that some of us don’t belong.

How Black Nativism Undermines Us in the Workplace and Hurts Black Workers

These ideologies don’t just live on social media or in heated panel discussions. They show up at work — and they cause real harm.

You see it when:

• A Black American colleague questions the “Blackness” or “authenticity” of a U.S.-born coworker with Caribbean or African parents.

• Black immigrant colleagues or children of immigrants perpetuate harmful stereotypes about Black Americans, viewing them as “lazy,” “unprofessional,” or “angry,” narratives deeply rooted in colonialism and white supremacist respectability politics.

• Diaspora colleagues are excluded from DEI discussions or Black employee resource groups under the assumption they “don’t get it,” while at the same time some immigrant colleagues separate themselves socially, seeing Black Americans as a group to be avoided.

• Intra-racial microaggressions and gatekeeping from both sides undermine workplace solidarity, weakening collective advancement.

These divisions weaken our leverage when fighting for equitable hiring, leadership representation, pay equity, and fair treatment.

We also have to remember that bias and discrimination are illegal in the workplace — even when it comes from other Black people. Choosing to hire, promote, or include someone based on shared origin or community ties rather than qualifications is discriminatory. Making assumptions about someone’s skills, values, or "fit" based on where their parents came from is also a form of bias.

These situations can be harder to prove, but they are still unlawful. If carefully documented, these patterns can and should be raised.

That’s why I strongly encourage every Black professional to protect themselves by using specific tools and resources:

📓 The AntiHR Documentation Journal was created specifically to help you capture these details clearly and strategically, so you have evidence if and when you need to escalate.

📘 The AntiHR Roadmap to Understanding Your Workplace Rights breaks down key federal laws and helps you recognize when your rights are being ignored or violated. You need to know what activities are actually protected by law.

💬 Join the AntiHR Membership Community 

— inside the community you’ll get:

• Free access to the Documentation Journal and the Roadmap ebook.

• A supportive space for real-time resources, advice, and community discussions.

• For annual members: one free Discovery Call per year to discuss your exit strategy or workplace situation with me directly.

Documentation is your best protection. By keeping thorough records of conversations, decisions, and actions, you create evidence that supports your experience — because discrimination is never acceptable, no matter who it comes from.

And this is exactly what white supremacist systems want. They thrive on our internal divisions because a divided Black workforce is easier to marginalize, easier to silence, and easier to push out.

How White Supremacy Feeds (and Profits From) These Divisions

These harmful ideologies don’t grow in a vacuum. They are amplified and fueled on platforms like TikTok, Instagram, and YouTube — often with the help of algorithms designed to push the most divisive, sensational content.

White supremacist groups and other outside forces deliberately inject misinformation and disinformation to deepen these divides. These narratives aren’t just organic — they are pushed strategically because dividing the Black community serves the same purpose it always has: keeping us powerless and distracted.

Divide and rule has always been a cornerstone strategy of white supremacy. Today, it's turbocharged by social media, which offers endless opportunities to spread messages of exclusion and suspicion disguised as "authenticity," "pro-Blackness," or "protecting the culture."

There is a direct throughline from these divisive nativist ideologies to the MAGA movement’s obsession with “purity,” “real Americans,” and weaponized anti-immigrant and anti-Black sentiment. We must not ignore that connection.

This Isn’t About Reparations — It’s About Division and Survival

Let’s be honest: the U.S. government isn’t handing out reparations anytime soon. The political conditions aren’t there. And if we’re ever going to get to a point where reparations become possible, we’ll need massive organizing, strategic alliances, and broad-based solidarity — not just within the U.S., but globally.

Meanwhile, Black people across the diaspora are moving. The CARICOM Reparations Commission is actively pressing former colonizers for reparations and gaining real traction. Instead of seeing these efforts as separate from ours, we should see them as a blueprint for what is possible when we build collective power.

Here’s the truth: No one in the diaspora has asked for reparations from the U.S. government. The narrative that "immigrants want our reparations" is a myth meant to distract and divide.

"We Are Resting" or "I’m Minding My Business" Won’t Save You

I get deeply concerned when I hear narratives like “I’m minding my business” or “we are resting,” especially in the context of ICE raids and deportations targeting Black immigrants, like Haitian immigrants being snatched off the street.

First, it’s the Haitians. Then, it’s other folks from across the Black diaspora. And eventually, it will be anyone with Black skin, regardless of whether your great-great-grandparents were enslaved in the U.S. or not.

Don’t think that where your ancestors were enslaved will save you. White supremacy does not care about lineage when it decides who is disposable. Once they’re done with immigrants, the same systems and cages will be waiting for Black Americans, too.

If they come for them at night, they will come for the rest of us in the morning.

Minding your business or “resting” will not protect you from a state built on anti-Blackness. Only collective solidarity and shared defense will.

We Must Reject Nativism in All Its Forms

We don’t have to agree on everything to fight for something bigger than ourselves. But we do need to understand that nativism dressed in kente cloth is still nativism. And it serves the same purpose as it does in white conservative spaces: to divide and destabilize.

We’ve always been strongest when we move in unity. From the Harlem Renaissance to the Civil Rights Movement to today’s global Black Lives Matter protests — Black power has always been rooted in solidarity, not separation.

So the next time someone says you’re not “really” Black because of where your parents came from — or because you support global Black liberation — remember this:

Gatekeeping Blackness is not liberation. It’s sabotage.

We must choose unity. We must choose a strategy. We must choose each other — at work, at the ballot box, in our neighborhoods, and everywhere we exist.

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