When blackness is used as a costume, Foundational Black Americans become invisible.
By: Beautiful Truth | Distorted Truths | September 4, 2025
Disclosure: This commentary was originally published on NewsBreak. I’ve chosen to republish it here on Truth Reign Unfiltered so it can live without platform filters, edits, shadow bans, or bias.
This commentary is a direct response to the Rolling Stone article titled ICE Raids Aren’t Just a Latino Issue — Black Communities Are Also at Risk by Meagan Jordan.
For related commentary on U.S. foreign policy and how aid, minerals, and migration collide, stay tuned. My next piece will be out early next week.
SUMMARY
Jordan’s article attempts to widen the immigration conversation to include black communities. But in doing so she blurs identity, erases Foundation Black Americans (FBA), and plays into a media trend that uses blackness as a marketing tool while silencing those whose lineage is tied to slavery and systemic oppression.
TODAY’S TRUTH
What happens when blackness becomes a marketing tool, but not a lived experience? When the story is told through a blurred lens, Foundational Black Americans become invisible—even in our own struggles.
But here’s where the issue begins: the author’s repeated use of the phrase black communities without ever defining who she’s referring to. Is she referring to Foundational Black Americans — those of us born in the United States with lineage tied to slavery — or black immigrants from Jamaica, Haiti, or Nigeria? That distinction is critical.
By leaving it vague, the article misleads readers into believing that U.S. born black citizens are at risk of deportation by ICE — which is categorically false. That’s a distortion that plays on fear and racial solidarity without being honest about who is truly affected. And if you’re not going to be honest, then don’t speak on our name to make your article believable.
The problem is that the system — and writers like Jordan — intentionally blurs the distinction between black immigrants and black Americans to craft a falsehood, stir emotion, and control the narrative.
Respectfully, if you weren’t born in the United States, you’re an immigrant. Period.
This has nothing to do with skin color — it’s about legal status and citizenship. But when it comes to resources, benefits, or political representation, black becomes a convenient box to check.
That’s where the erasure begins.
On college applications, government forms, and media narrative, black immigrants are often counted as black to gain access to spaces and programs born out of the blood, suffering, and activism of my ancestors — Foundational Black Americans who fought so I could stand here today. As a descendant of slavery, I see how we’re told to fight every battle, hold every sign, and show up for every protest — even when no one shows up for us.
And too often, those who benefit remain silent while enjoying the fruit of struggles my ancestors paid for in blood and survival.
Until it’s time to benefit — shouldn’t be the only moment blackness is claimed. — Beautiful Truth
While some black immigrants stand in true solidarity, too many only claim blackness when it’s advantageous. When inclusion, protection, or representation are at stake, identity becomes a tool — not a truth.
This has real consequences: resources, representation, and reparations are watered down and redirected.
Universities, corporations, and media platforms have inflated their black inclusion numbers, but the faces promoted are often Caribbean or African immigrants, not Foundational Black Americans. Meanwhile, the very people those protections were built for are left out.
Affirmative action? We fought for it.
Civil rights? We bled for it.
Voting protections? We died for them.
Yet once progress is achieved, we’re pushed aside.
This is not gatekeeping. It’s legacy protection.
If the media is going to talk about immigration, tell the whole truth — who is actually affected, and who is being erased. Otherwise, blackness becomes just another costume.
And the truth is — even when the author is black, that doesn’t erase the responsibility to be specific. Because blackness is not one story. Black immigrants and Foundational Black Americans do not share the same lineage, the same history of slavery, or the same systemic scars. So when those lines are blurred, our unique struggle gets erased — and we become invisible even in the telling of our own story.
This is not about hate. It’s about honesty. If you are going to speak for black communities on matters of deportation and systemic oppression, then specificity and cultural understanding are non-negotiable.
We are not interchangeable. Our history is not the same. And our justice cannot be borrowed, manipulated, or blurred to fit someone else’s headline.
Everyone wants to share in the rewards of black struggle — representation, rights, recognition — but few are willing to do the work or tell the truth.
This proverb reminds us that people want the benefits of sacrifice without doing the work to uphold it.
Everybody wanna eat at the table, but don’t nobody wanna cook.
— Black Southern Proverb
Thank you all for reading–not just for opinions, but for principle, fairness, and clarity.
— Beautiful Truth
Disclosure:
Truth Reign Unfiltered is an independent commentary platform that shines light where others stay quiet. All content published represents protected speech under the First Amendment of the United States Constitution. Opinions expressed are based on publicly available information, cited sources, and personal analysis.
We do not publish to defame—but to inform, challenge, and encourage critical thought. Accountability is not hatred. Truth is not defamation. And silence is never my strategy.