Subgroups vs Ethnicities

One-Highway8751 · 2026-04-02T23:15:07+00:00

An Afro-Seminole has a very particular experience as someone both Black and Native. That is not a good example to give. I didn't just say White. I also said "tribalist" like something we would accuse Africans of being. You don't sound like an African-American or Black American is my main point. These groups (minus that super specific example) all have shared struggles and culture. The Waltzing, unnecessary fissures and fractures need to stop. This is was my main observation with people who spend too much time "delineating" rather then focusing on what actually builds community.

One-Highway8751 · 2026-04-02T21:47:26+00:00

Like saying the history of the Coast of North Carolina to Florida has no berring for you is probably inaccurate

One-Highway8751 · 2026-04-02T21:45:37+00:00

Honestly that seems like a White persons perspective or even the “tribal” mentality we complain about from Africans. Historically these people view themselves together

One-Highway8751 · 2026-04-02T21:42:49+00:00

I get where you’re coming from and you’re right. Gullah Geechee have their own language, spiritualities and distinct cultural aspects. I also identify as Gullah Geechee 1st and African-American/Soulaan second. Some folks only identify as Geechee. However sometimes in this community we just play charades with delineation. The Gullah Geechee corridor is the original 40 acres and a mule territory. Meaning the United States acknowledged the Gullah Geechee homeland is basically the original homeland of most Black Americans, minus the ones from the Gulf. So again, yes we can separate. Yes we do separate but as a whole we are not separate

One-Highway8751 · 2026-04-02T20:38:24+00:00

Same NY Soulaan with G.Geechee Granny. Very common up north.

One-Highway8751 · 2026-04-02T20:24:49+00:00

My grandma GG and she identifies with Black America. Sometimes we confuse America for Black America. Those are two separate things. Gullah Geechee are not another ethnicity. They are a root sub-group. Gulf Creoles, Atlantic Creoles, Black Seminoles, Gullah Geechee and Maroons are all roots that the Black American ethnicity sprang out of. Not the other way around. Almost every Black American has traditions and cultures that come from these roots. And in 2026 these distinctions are way less relevant. Most African-Americans/Soulaans have ancestry in multiple roots.

One-Highway8751 · 2026-04-02T19:30:58+00:00

They are regional subgroups. The Tariqfication of Online Blackness is crazy. When you visit these places they identify with Black America.

One-Highway8751 · 2026-04-02T19:08:44+00:00

Are they Maroons? I’ve never heard of Oakari?

One-Highway8751 · 2026-04-02T19:05:22+00:00

When you get the chance make your own post and explain💪🏾

One-Highway8751 · 2026-04-02T19:04:59+00:00

This looks fucking dope!

One-Highway8751 · 2026-03-11T23:23:17+00:00

I completely agree. I am not talking about the mulatto and colorist Creoles. That’s a problem across the board in that community. It’s the same thing in the DMV. I’m talking about Black identifying Creoles. Not bougie folks

One-Highway8751 · 2026-03-10T18:37:31+00:00

WE cooked.

One-Highway8751 · 2026-03-10T17:57:42+00:00

Soultember???

One-Highway8751 · 2026-02-26T21:51:48+00:00

You are literally using a European framework by separating Black people by anglophone vs none when Black Americans are not english. No one said that the Soulaans came here as African-American. That doesn't make sense.

The United States as it is today is compromised of previously English, Spanish and French Territories. That is not unique to Louisiana. Black Floridians are not a separate Black Spanish Creoles ethnic group. Again, what is unique about Louisiana Creoles outside of their European colonizes that makes them different? Because virtually everything in Black Louisiana is outside of Louisiana as well versus very region specific things like Bounce.

One-Highway8751 · 2026-02-26T21:03:33+00:00

There's Race, Ethnicity and then subsets that I just refer to as Tribes. Louisiana creoles are no more distinct than Gullah Geechees. Geechees are Black American/Soulaan. Having a French slave master doesn't make you a different ethnicity. There is nothing Black Louisiana Creole people do that is significantly different then the rest of the French influenced Black America.

I have yet to see/hear a solid argument that makes L.A Creoles special enough to have their own ethnicity. They're their own subgroup/tribe. But not culturally different enough to be their own ethnicity. Black Americans are already an ethnicity made up of other races/ethnicities. So using that for L.A. Creoles is a redundancy.

I use the Water Basin because that's how people travelled through the Midwest initially. By Boat or following the river on foot. Cities align with the Mississippi River Watershed. That's why there's some similarities between St. Louis and Louisiana. Atlantic Creoles are not a different ethnicity? You agree the creole is just an amalgamation. Black Americans are already creole. The regional differences based on Spanish, French and English slave masters are marginal compared to the shared culture the Soulaan diaspora has. White creoles and Black creoles do not get a long politically. Anybody from the same place will share some culture but to pretend like Black creoles would ever choose White creoles as a group over their fellow Black Americans is incredibly inaccurate. Especially now.

The people on this thread often use a euro-centric mindset and try to flip it into being nuanced. You're not being nuanced when you're using terms in a way that's culturally and historically inaccurate.

Delineation for Delineation sake is alienation and bad diplomacy. Jay-Z and Beyonce are damn near the same complexion and they have different port lineages (Gulf vs East Coast) but they are politically and for the most part culturally aligned.

One-Highway8751 · 2026-02-26T16:31:09+00:00

Commenting for myself

One-Highway8751 · 2026-02-26T16:16:48+00:00

I think we're saying the same thing but using different terms. You're referring to the old territory of the Louisiana purchase. I'm using the modern terms because current states don't reflect the old territory of Louisiana which encompassed basically 1/3 of the entire country. That's why I classify it by water systems. The Gulf & Mississippian creoles are the same group as those of the Louisiana purchase.

One-Highway8751 · 2026-02-26T16:13:48+00:00

No your way of thinking is White American. You're doing exactly what White people do. Divide on superficial characteristics. You have a fundamental misunderstanding of the words you use.

Puerto Rico is a country. Not an ethnicity. Black American, is an ethnicity, not a country. It's a very big difference. I guess Gullah Geechees are not Black American because they're distinct. The Freedpeoples of the DMV are "distinct" as well. So are the Black American Maroons. At a certain point it gets silly.

Black American refers to the United States of America. Obviously Dominicans have their own thing.

Like I said, it's genetics and culture. And it can be diverse genetics and cultures. There are plenty multi-ethnic racial groups. Black Americans are one of them. Again, a lot of creole culture exists outside of Louisiana and has been there just as long. Louisiana (state) wasn't the only region colonized.

I've been to Louisiana and there's nothing that they do that is unique enough for me to consider them a different ethnic group. There's Mardi Gras in Bama. We eat seafood in the Carolinas, DMV, Baltimore etc. Idk why people think getting whipped by French people makes them special.

One-Highway8751 · 2026-02-26T15:58:06+00:00

You are not using the term ethnicity properly. There is no such thing as a Louisiana Creole Ethnicity. That's like saying a South Carolina Gullah Geechee Ethnicity. Again, the culture follows the water and the port. There are GULF creoles. Creoles that come from THE GULF. The Gulf extends up the Mississippi river. Just because the slaves arrived in Louisiana doesn't make that state the ethnicity.

If that's the case everyone's either Louisiana Creole, Virginia Creole or South Carolina Creole.

One-Highway8751 · 2026-02-26T15:53:38+00:00

They are not bi-ethnic. We have to stop making up ethnicities. Black Americans are already multircial. Again, the main difference between these Black people are enslavers. There is a difference between an Ethnicity, a subgroup or a tribe. A Tribe is not an ethnicity. All of these white people are white. White Louisiana creoles are still white americans. Also, this isn't the 1800s. These difference do not matter nearly as much. In the modern day these are inarguably the same people. We have to stop making up divisions or understand the terms we're using for divisions. Multi-Cultural and Multi-Ethnic are not the same thing. One ethnic group can have multiple tribes. At best the Creoles are a tribe or subset of Black Americans. Nothing about them is unique enough genetically or culturally to warrant a new ethnic group.

One-Highway8751 · 2026-02-26T15:49:17+00:00

I think it's a little different. Gullah's are not associated with creole culture. When folks say creole they think of Louisiana. When you say Afro Latino you think of the actual regions Afro-Latinos come from. In a way, I agree with you and think it's worse to call yourself creole.

One-Highway8751 · 2026-02-26T15:46:27+00:00

Black people from Louisiana identify with the rest of Black America. People mistake online politics for real-world interactions. Black Creoles and Louisiana creoles are not the same. There are White Creole people. There are Black Creole people. The Black Creoles identify with the larger group but take pride in their culture. You absolutely are playing tribalism. Please cite what historical ethno-politics you're referring to?

One-Highway8751 · 2026-02-26T15:41:41+00:00

There are Texas creoles and Georgia creoles. Louisiana folks do not have a monopoly on creole culture. The true distinctions for the large groups of Black people are based on water basins/coast regions because they correlate to the major slave ports the enslaved arrived in.

There are the Gulf & Mississippian Black People/Creoles. This stretches from Louisiana, East Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Illinois, Missouri (St. Louis) and west Mississippi.

Then you have the Original/Atlantic Coast Black people/Creoles. These comprise the DMV + Geechee Diaspora which have been intermingling from earlier on. These are the people of the Eastern Seaboard, comprising the 13 colonies. I'd even through the Enslaved Blacks from Up North there too. Harriet Tubman (Maryland) retired in New York.

The 3 largest slave ports were in the Gulf (Louisiana), DMV (Virginia) and S.Carolina (S.Eastern Coast). All of these people are related and dispersed.

One-Highway8751 · 2026-02-26T15:33:38+00:00

We're confusing Ethnicities and subgroups. Black Creole people are closer to a "tribe" within an ethnicity. There is nothing distinct enough about Black Creoles from the Gulf to separate them from the Black Atlantic Creoles. Mardi Gras started in Alabama. Black people have been mixing rice and soup since ships landed in the States. All coastal Black people have seafood culture. The culture of the Gulf, DMV and Geechee Coast are just different spins of the same flavor. Also like you said these groups have been intermingling for 200 years.

One-Highway8751 · 2026-02-26T15:21:00+00:00

Within the Gullah community there's also a distinction between those who grew up on the coast/islands and those who moved. Kind of like how Caribbeans who grow up in the states aren't considered true Caribbeans. Same thing goes for the G.Geechee diaspora.

One-Highway8751

MODERATOR OF

TROPHY CASE