The Throwaway: The Anti-Black, Pro-Black, Black Person

Have you ever been in the car with your family and the group of you saw a couple of young brothers on the porch and someone in the car says, “Wish those niggas would get off the porch and find a damn job”? Have you or a loved one been to a church filled with Black faces as the pastor preaches a homophobic sermon while obviously queer people are in the band or choir? Do you remember a time watching your favorite nineties sitcom and there was an episode where a character was made out to be less than, tainted, or not worthy of human compassion because they didn’t fit in the Black bourgeoisie framework the rest of the cast did? Hi, I’m James Luckey, and in this installment of the Throwaway, where we discuss topics that don’t fit into my main newsletter, we will be breaking down a few of these select “pro-Black” frameworks and highlighting some of your family and friends’ “pro-Blackness.”

For many people that claim to be “pro-Black,” there seems to be some sort of stipulation that warrants them to exclude certain types of Black people from their support. We have all heard someone say, “I love my Black people, I really do, but lord knows I can't stand my (insert group of Black people here).” This exception is normally rooted in a person's bias toward said group. These biases also expose themselves in anti-Black rhetoric that is associated with criticism of whatever particular group. My question to this issue is—how can you be pro-Black and also have deep disdain for fellow Black people?

Respectable Negroes

For some Black people, there is this idea that when you see a young Black man sagging his pants, wearing a durag, or a Black woman outside with her bonnet on, that they are lesser than because it doesn’t fit an aesthetic they deem respectable. There are Black people that will say dreads look wild when the dread head has just got a fresh retwist, or a Black woman looks like a hoe if she has a colorful wig on. This also can be seen in the ways Black women's clothing is policed when they wear something more revealing. Some of these comments and remarks are based in deep-rooted self-hate, some of it is rooted in misogyny and misogynoir. Whether the former or the latter, both stem from generation after generation of a colonized mind that upholds whiteness and what is aesthetically acceptable that was inevitably adopted by Black people.

Anti-gay Negro

Also, what was adopted by Black people through centuries of colonization is the anti-LGBTQI+ framework. The “anti-gay negro” can be found throughout all different groups of Black people, but famously in the church, where the Bible has been historically used to push anti-LGBTQI+ narratives. This happens all while select members of the church are part of the LGBTQI+ community themselves. The choir orchestrator, the drummer, and sometimes it might even be the pastor himself, but as long as they stay closeted, DL, and on the hush-hush, nothing is often addressed. Another interesting dynamic in the Black community is the hard-headedness when it comes to the understanding or acceptance of trans people. There seems to always be ignorance about trans people when it comes to gender affirmation and going through with transitioning, i.e., a trans woman taking hormones or having gender reassignment surgery. I find it odd that Black men specifically find gender affirmation confusing, because so much of a Black man's life is affirming his gender. You walk into any given predominantly Black space and the majority of men there are willing to sacrifice their life for their masculinity. It is not an uncommon story for Black men to kill to affirm their gender and sexuality.

In an episode of the “Signified Podcast,” guest Diallo Kenyatta says,

“If you ever went to a basketball court to play a pickup basketball game and in any way do anything that does not validate the gender of the brothers around you, you have a problem.”

Members of the LGBTQI+ community could be accused of sexual misconduct and harassment simply for existing outside of the status quo. Yet, in these same spaces, especially the church, pedophilia and sexual misconduct can run almost unopposed. We have all heard the stories of a pastor harming children and oftentimes a large amount of members know, but say nothing about it. “You better not speak about those allegations in this man’s church.” This can happen within any given household or patriarchal structure or community. This is especially prominent in the Black communities because women, children, or those who are abused may rely on the patriarch for financial, parental, or psychological reasons.

Hoteps

Which brings me to my next “pro-Black” group. For the sake of this article, Black Israelites, 5 percenters, the Nation, etc., are going to be placed under the banner of Hotep¹. Hotep brothers and sisters have a very important place in the Black community. We need these certain groups that adopt a pro-Blackness that can be borderline to the absolute fringe; their Blackness can oftentimes exist in a way that is unapologetic and completely unacceptable by the white social constructs put onto society. Similarly to how we need the very woke leftist like myself 😌. In all fairness, we have similar mindsets and ideologies. There are spaces where the groups differ, though. If you happen to live in any city in America, you have come across by chance Black Israelites or a group of men who dress in ancient royal garb that call themselves Moors². They will often drag passersby into conversations with them. In these conversations, specifically if you are Black, they will assess “how Black you are”—the test, and their entire ideology is based in misogyny. There is an entire hierarchy based on the bloodline of what race your father is. Once while living in Oakland, I was sucked into a conversation with a group of Black Israelites that were stationed on Lake Merritt. After I told them my mother was Black and my father was white, they told me I was at the bottom of the totem pole when it came to who would be allowed into heaven, but the Puerto Rican guy within their group who didn’t have an ounce of Black blood in him since the days of Spanish colonialism and the slave trade, sat above me on the “who is truly Black” scale. How can you, as a “pro-Black” organization, strip me of my Blackness with your ideology and say someone who is not Black is more welcome into the kingdom of heaven?

There seems to be a lot of policing of Black people's Blackness by other Black people nowadays. I never had my Blackness questioned outside of Black Israelites till it became a fad on Twitter. Black people will “you are not Black, you are mixed” other Black people to death. In most cases, because my mother was Black, I am the “accepted” type. Who is coming up with these stipulations? For many Hoteps, whose ideology is rooted in misogyny, the father dictates your Blackness, but in semi-leftist, Black girl boss-esque spaces who often times spew the rhetoric of “ew, Black man, why are you dating that white woman” and “yes, girl, go get yourself a white man,” the mother is who dictates how Black you are, or more so, you are a “better half-breed” than the former.

Hyper-capitalist Negro

The hyper-capitalist³ negro is the one who thinks he or she can reach a certain level of capital that would exclude them from being Black. They will be absolved of Black struggles and brought into a kingdom of whiteness. “I'm not Black, I'm OJ.” Make no mistake, many of these people still maintain a pro-Black facade. Think Jay-Z, Beyoncé (yes, her, argue with the mirror and your deification of her), Diddy, Oprah, etc. These select negro capitalists have built their ultra wealth off of the backs of other Black and Brown people. That level of capital cannot be obtained without the exploitation of a labor class. We cannot forget the Black and Brown faces, hyper-Black capitalists claw and step over on their way to the top as well. Now you may be thinking to yourself about all of the philanthropic efforts put forth by the group I chose to highlight above. You may be telling yourself that Beyoncé couldn’t be evil; she has helped with aid during Katrina and marched over the death of Sean Bell. This is true, but I would argue a level of “giving back” is necessary to keep up the facade of pro-Blackness. At the end of the day, how can you be pro-Black and also take the Black Panther aesthetic and commodify it for the sake of selling products and records? How can you take a “pro-Black” stance and a Black Panther aesthetic and connect yourself with a political alignment without addressing the radical thought and practices of the Black Panther Party? Beyoncé sells the pro-Black aesthetic but does not take the pro-Black stance. You cannot take the Black Panther aesthetic to any degree and also align yourself with a politician whose stances would be historically frowned upon by the Black Panther Party. If she were to truly be an ally to her fellow Black people, along with her husband, Oprah, Tyler Perry, etc., much more of their capital would be allocated to real pro-Black interests that align with the group whose aesthetic she commodified.

The Coon

Now, on to everyone’s favorite anti-Black person, the coon⁴. One of the worst things you can use to describe a Black person, up there and akin to an Uncle Tom. In many ways, everyone I have listed above and everyone I will continue to list below can be categorized as a coon to some extent. Personally, for me, to be specific, a coon is someone who doesn’t believe in anything pro-Black. The coon’s entire personality, ethos, and purpose exist to appease white people and the systems set forth by whiteness and led by white people—The Hodge twins, Jason Whitlock, and Herschel Walker. Another lane that I have failed to mention is the sell-out. This type of Black person exists also within all of the spaces I mentioned above. A sell-out is someone who has put their Blackness up for a price for the powers that be to use them against their fellow Black people—Candace Owens, most famously, and recently, unfortunately, Snoop Dogg, after his performance at the inauguration.

Colorists

Colorism⁵ within the Black community will be our final category. To this day, in 2025, you will still hear a Black person refer to another Black person as “too Black.” Turn on the TV, and you will see Black women praising themselves for being light-skinned while making fun of their dark-skinned female counterparts. You will still see Black people making fun of a light-skinned man and emasculating him because he isn’t deemed as rough and rugged as darker-skinned men. All throughout the Black community, especially outside of the United States, skin bleaching routines have run wild, with Black people wanting to achieve their desires of being lighter-skinned. For many of them, it is to be deemed more desirable, but this, like everything else, is rooted in a subconscious desire to achieve proximity to whiteness and to be accepted by white people. Where does this tie into “Pro-Blackness”? Within these issues of colorism, there is always a group of Black people that are more often than not Hotep adjacent who are adamant about policing who is and isn't dark enough to call themselves Black and will use literal eugenics to validate their claims. The well-known irony about this group, specifically the men, is that you will always see them bunny hopping, playing in the snow, ⁶and in pursuit of white women.

BONUS: The dehumanization of the Alt-Black

Making fun of Black people that inhabit an “alt-Black” space or a predominantly white space is not only a common thing within the Black community; it can even be the main way a Black person can find themselves being identified as. If a Black person fits the punk aesthetic, listens to rock and roll or electronic music, or likes anime, they can find themselves being called “white boy.” Which is ironic because two of the examples I gave were created by Black people, and the third is Japanese, yet their Blackness will still be stripped or, at best, questioned because of their interests that are not necessarily deemed “Black.” Things have gotten better over the past ten to fifteen years, but there still is this underlying idea that these groups of Black people exist within the alternative. Black people that do this put a limitation on what Blackness can be or what it means to be Black.

My own anti-blackness

I am not alienated from these ideologies myself. I would say, due to colonization and the way whiteness and capitalism work, it is nearly impossible for any Black person to escape these frames of mind. Yes, you may be able to recognize and challenge some of these ideologies, homophobia in the church, being anti-capitalist in the face of hyper-Black capitalists, but be accepting or at least understanding of all Black people? Can you be understanding of how a coon became a coon and honestly be sympathetic toward them because you understand how they became that way? I have my problems with it, my reservations toward it. I see a Black person saying something anti-Black; I think “white man’s dick sucker.” The reality is this person is a product—a psychological prisoner of whiteness, but they can break free. This issue is not only in the Black community. You can find people of all racial backgrounds that are stuck in this colonized mindset—Hispanics for Trump, Asian immigrants with a fixation on being a model minority in the hopes whites won't group them together with Black people, and even Caribbean and African people who are obsessed with being capitalist because they have seen the life of luxury because of it, although these same practices exploit their own people.

What we can do as a people is ask ourselves questions about what we are witnessing and critiquing. Is this thing harmful to the Black community, or does it benefit us? If so, then to what degree. Some of you who are reading this may have mothers, fathers, aunties, and uncles that fall into one or more of these ideologies. If so, check them on that. Maybe you, yourself, fall into one of these categories. If so, check yourself. Because at the end of the day, we are all Black, and no amount of capital is going to erase that.

1. The term "hotep" was originally used among Afrocentrists as a greeting, similar to "I come in peace", but by the mid-2010s had come to be used disparagingly to "describe a person who's either a clueless parody of Afrocentricity" or "someone who's loudly, conspicuously and obnoxiously pro-black but anti-progress". -Wikipedia

2. The Moorish sovereign movement, sometimes called the indigenous sovereign movement or the Rise of the Moors, is a small sub-group of sovereign that mainly holds to the teachings of the Moorish Science Temple of America, in that African Americans are descendants of the Moabites and thus are "Moorish" by nationality, and Islamic by faith. -Wikipedia

3. Extreme capitalism at the expense of traditional values. -Wiktionary

4. A term used to discriminate black people in the earlier centuries by white people to put them down similar to nigger. I'm the late 2000s however, the premise of the term changed. More ethnicities started using it to call other ethnicities who put down their own communities in order to favour Themselves or other ethnicities who do the same. Similar to the "Uncle Tom". - Urban Dictionary

5. prejudice or discrimination against individuals with a dark skin tone, typically among people of the same ethnic or racial group. -Oxford Dictionary

6. A term coined by American African scholar Dr. Umar Ifatunde Oguntade referring to African brothers or sisters who choose to engage themselves romantically with white people, almost sole.