I feel like the FBA and ADOS movements have really lost the plot. What may have started as a real and necessary push for reparations for Black Americans has, over time, turned into something that feels way more divisive than productive. Instead of building power, it often seems like it’s creating more arguments, more suspicion, and more separation within the Black community. At this point, I can understand why some people wonder if the movement has been influenced or taken advantage of by outside interests. Whether that’s true or not, the impact is clear: we’re being pulled into new beefs that keep us distracted from the bigger issues. It divides us politically. It divides us over history. It divides us over how we spend money in our communities. It divides us over identity. And most importantly, it divides us over what we should actually be fighting for. My biggest issue is that some parts of these movements seem to push Black Americans away from having pride in our African roots, culture, hair, skin, traditions, and connection to the diaspora. That pride didn’t come easy. Our ancestors had to fight through generations of forced self-hatred just for us to be able to love who we are. So I hate seeing movements that make “African” sound like something we should distance ourselves from. And the way some people in these spaces talk — the arrogance, the constant labels, the heavy focus on American identity, the waving of the flag, and the “us versus them” mindset — makes it too easy for people on the right to latch onto it and act like they’re allies, when really they may just see an opportunity to divide us even more. We keep falling into new versions of the same old trap: division. And I really wish we would stop. We can absolutely educate people about reparations. We can talk about Black people’s roots in North America. We can highlight the uniqueness of Black American culture, struggle, history, DNA, and power. But we should be able to do all of that without tearing down Pan-Africanism or alienating our brothers and sisters across the diaspora. There’s room to fight for what Black Americans are owed without cutting ourselves off from the larger Black family.