Smokey Robinson recently appeared on “The View” and shocked the audience when discussing his poem, “A Black American”, by admitting his resentment of the ‘African American’ label. His reasoning centered around the African part subtracting from the labor his enslaved ancestors contributed to building this nation since white Americans generally do not add European American, or English American (for example), to their identity. He feels the classification creates a needless separation from American culture. The mixed online feedback showed that some fans shared his sentiments, while others interpreted his actions as more divisive.

I understand his desire not to be called African American because of what he outlined and more. Firstly, race is a construct, which I will prove using my life experience shortly. Secondly, a growing amount of evidence points to ‘black’ Americans likely having a significantly higher amount of indigenous heritage than previously thought. In a book called “They Came Before Columbus”, celebrated historian Ivan Van Sertima asserts with evidence from Columbus’ journals and more, that African descendants were already present in America. 

Most people do not realize that less than 400,000 enslaved people ever landed in America, but there are now about 40M black people in America, with only one in ten of those being immigrants. Given the prevalence of disease before medical advances we have today, it seems illogical to believe such a small number of enslaved people trafficked from Africa produced the number of black people in the country now. Even official records show a significant number of Native Americans being captured and shipped all over the Caribbean:

“Native American slavery “is a piece of the history of slavery that has been glossed over,” Fisher said. “Between 1492 and 1880, between 2 and 5.5 million Native Americans were enslaved in the Americas in addition to 12.5 million African slaves.”

While natives had been forced into slavery and servitude as early as 1636, it was not until King Philip’s War that natives were enslaved in large numbers, Fisher wrote in the study. The 1675 to 1676 war pitted Native American leader King Philip, also known as Metacom, and his allies against the English colonial settlers.

During the war, New England colonies routinely shipped Native Americans as slaves to Barbados, Bermuda, Jamaica, the Azores, Spain and Tangier in North Africa, Fisher said.”

Though the article talks about the vast amount of Native American slavery, it does not discuss their possible genealogy. When academic sources report on an issue so significant being conveniently “glossed over”, one must consider the possibility this was coordinated on purpose by institutions that would profit from that ignorance. Suppose there was an African presence in America before Colombus. In that case, one could envision it strengthening the reparations argument, making the establishment nervous during the time of relatively manageable cancel culture and cosmetic social justice since virtue signaling gestures that do not address systemic problems often appease the crowd.

If there is truth to what is being said, black Americans would be more Indigenous than African (with African mixed in), so Smokey is right to consider the denial of his roots offensive. However, this controversy boils down to a debate about identity and how people want to be recognized. Different constructs have been used to create your identity throughout history, including everything from tribes to religion and status. More recently, race has been a massive part of that as the elite of colonial, religiously controlled, feudalist systems used their influence in the media and religious institutions as a critical part of their ‘divide and conquer’ strategy to expand their empire and centralize wealth. 

The reality is that the culture and environment we grow up in has far more to do with how we act than our genealogy, since one of the traits that separate humans from every other animal is our ability to learn from (then influence) our environment. My experience is a perfect example, as I was adopted and utterly unaware of my biological makeup. Growing up in Turks and Caicos, I was so tired of being a minority, a mulatto surrounded by primarily black peers, that I lied about my racial makeup for a few years when I graduated from elementary school to high school. I never faced any threats or racial violence; it was simply kids being kids, looking for a reason to tease each other, and me looking for the easy way out.

As soon as I claimed I was half Dominican instead of half white, the teasing about being soft stopped even though nothing else about me changed. Then I arrived in college, decided it was time to come clean, and told the truth. However, I was labeled black in America after being thought of as a ‘white boy’ in my home country. But the story doesn’t end there – while in college, I started watching videos on YouTube, and nearly convinced myself that Jews were the cause of all the corruption in the world. Thankfully, Jon Stewart and a little more critical thinking reversed my opinions there, and ironically, I found out my biological mother was an Ashkenazi Jew a few years later. According to tradition, the Jewish birthright passes through the mother, making me an Ashkenazi Jew.

Depending on who you ask and what criteria the judge uses, I could be labeled a Jew, a mulatto, a black person, an immigrant, a Jamaican, or a Turks and Caicos Islander even though I’m just one person. Unfortunately, black folks face systemic discrimination unlike any other race in recent history, so we’re not yet at the point where I’d be able to say race doesn’t matter. I would never use race to judge someone’s character, but if we start pretending race doesn’t exist tomorrow, it would be mean the victims of systemic racism and slavery wouldn’t receive a helping hand to recover from their recent oppression. When the day arrives that where you’re born and your skin color does not impact your opportunities and experiences in life, we will be able to close that book.