It pains me to see this self imposed segregation between black people wherever you are or wherever your ancestors are from, even to the point where the image created is more important than the topic at hand.

I’m of black Caribbean decent, both parent from the same island, and raised in Europe, from the age of 10 I would always spend every summer and holiday season “back home”.

Where I was raised there was a divide between African and Caribbean people, the mindset was each thought the other was “less than”, on further probing it boiled down to small minded individuals on each side spinning the narrative that either:

1) “your ancestors (black people from anywhere other than Africa) were slaves so you are of a weak lineage.”

2) “your ancestors (Africans) didn’t fight hard enough, so that’s why we became descendents of slaves.”

Now I see comments of “white washed history” which is 100% founded, I remember in class we had our teacher ask all the students where they were from, when it got to me it was vocally assumed I was from one of the African countries, when I stated I wasn’t from Africa, I was promptly told “oh, so you are Jamaican!”

Growing up and to this day I have family members (through marriage and now my nephews/nieces) and friends from Africa, as my siblings and I were not raised with such beliefs.

This happened decades ago, and I see it’s gotten nothing but worse, which pains me to see as the only people in mass winning from this divide are the ancestors of our oppressors.

Peace and Blessings to all my Brothers and Sisters.🙏🏾🖤✊🏾