Identity is a powerful thing for every human being. The Black diaspora encompasses Black people from a variety of native lands across the globe, resulting in cultural pride that can often lead to misunderstandings. Diaspora wars can be defined as the rising conflicts amongst diasporic groups that create a negative impact on our communities, creating disunity. The term “diaspora wars” depicts the intercultural struggles between Black diasporans. It is a conversation on social media, in living rooms, neighborhoods, schools, dorm rooms, and within the entertainment industry. Black diasporans also have real world experiences that pinpoint the tensions in the diversity of identity within the global Black community.
Often, gaps of understanding and cultural distinctions fuel rivalries: Caribbeans versus African Americans, African Americans versus Africans, Africans versus African Europeans, and the list goes on. From stereotypes, to our lost or untold histories, the root of the conflict within the Black diaspora have not been properly exposed, and we as a collective must come to terms with the reason why. The main arguments within diaspora wars are caused by
prejudice, ignorance and inexperience.
As much as we think the diaspora war is a modern problem, it has existed for a while and unfortunately will not be solved until we sit down and have serious and open-minded dialogue about the divisions within Black community. Diaspora wars ultimately distract us from problems within the Black community that are more demanding of our energy, efforts, and attention, and this is why a shift is needed. The only way to solve diaspora wars is to understand the history and diversity of the African diaspora.
Prior to the 15th century all Black people existed on the continent of Africa. When Europeans
claimed the “discovery” of Africa, the Transatlantic Slave Trade, the most horrendous example of human trafficking and capitalism in history, relocated stolen Africans to the Western hemisphere. Displacement to the America’s created new enclaves of Black people in North America, South America, Central America, and the Caribbean. Colonization on African soil also spurred subjugation of those Africans who were not displaced.
Decolonization and the abolition of slavery created an aftermath that was still soaked in oppression and injustice, atrocities that still have social implications and effects on Black communities present day. Atrocities that include Jim Crow in the United States, apartheid in South Africa, the colonial tax in Haiti, the exploitation of the Congo by King Leopold II, and more. The strategy of colonization and enslavement, to divide and conquer as a way to manipulate vulnerable people, keeps them collectively weak, and this is the principle conversation that needs to be had in the Black diaspora. We are all, regardless of where you are from, impacted by strategic and systemic oppression.
On a positive note, the diaspora boasts a vast array of gorgeous and vibrant cultures, foods and languages that deserve to be recognized and celebrated. Soul food has many intersections in the Black diaspora: plantain, gumbo,collard, mustard, and turnip greens, yams, okra, fufu, egusi soup, jollof rice, chapatii, and many more. Languages such as Creole, AAVE, Kiswahili,
Yoruba, Zulu, Twi, Patois, and hundreds more shape our identity. Music is arguably one of the main components of culture across the diaspora. Different music styles like jazz, the
blues, hip-hop, reggae, calypso, jab jab, amapiano, gwitjo, afrobeat’s, juju, and many more, run through our community and family gatherings.
There is so much we can learn from each other, and likely many areas of overlap that we have not even considered because we have not given each other a chance. We should be sitting down with each other trying to learn more about our different histories as well as the histories we share. History shows us the power of solidarity. During the Civil Rights Movement, Black people from all over came together to oppose segregation. During the1950’s and 1980s, Black British and Black Americans (respectively) came together to protest apartheid in South Africa. History has shown us countless times that we are stronger together.
As we debate over matters of culture, Black people globally are still facing trauma in real time. As this article is being written, there is displacement of the Congolese for cobalt and copper, displacement of millions of Sudanese people in East Africa, heightened exploitation in Haiti as the hunger crisis and violence prevail due to the assassination of their president, and the death and wrongful conviction of Frank Tyson in Ohio or the murder of Ahmaud Arbery in Georgia.
In the words of Malcom X, “There can be no Black-white unity until there is first some Black
unity. There can be no workers’ solidarity until there is first some racial solidarity. We cannot
think of uniting with others, until after we have first united among ourselves. We cannot think of
being acceptable to others until we have first proven acceptable to ourselves. One can’t unite
bananas with scattered leaves.”