Edited by Azizi Powell
Latest update- October 21, 2024
This pancocojams post presents excerpts from several selected online articles about ADOS (American Descendants Of Slaves) And FBA (Foundational Black Americans).
The content of this post is presented for historical, cultural, and political purposes.
All copyrights remain with their owners.
Thanks to all those who are quoted in this post.
-snip-
Click https://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2024/07/byron-donals-jim-crow-comments-and.html for the closely related pancocojams post entitled "Byron Donalds' "Jim Crow" Comments And YouTube Comments About Byron Donalds Being A "Tether" (A Black Person Whose Ancestry Isn't From The United states)."
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PANCOCOJAMS EDITOR'S NOTE
This pancocojams post isn't meant to be a presentation of information about what ADOS and FBA are or have been. Instead, most of the article excerpts that are quoted in this post provide opinions that are critical of those concepts and/or movements.
FULL DISCLOSURE
This isn't a neutral post.
I consider myself to be African American (Black American). I am pan-African in ideology and I'm highly distrustful of the motivations of the founders and spokespersons of both the ADOS and the FBA lineages.
People who use the terms "ADOS" and/or "FBA" wouldn't consider me eligible to use those lineage referents. That is because I am Black Caribbean on my mother's side and I can't trace any enslaved Black American ancestry on my father's side. (My father was adopted from New York state by a Black family in Michigan. I believe that he was Black/White racially mixed, but I don't know anything about his ancestry.)
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ARTICLE EXCERPTS
These excerpts are presented in no particular order and are numbered for referencing purposes only.
EXCERPT #1
From https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Descendants_of_Slavery
"American Descendants of Slavery (ADOS) is a term referring
to descendants of enslaved Africans in the area that would become the United
States (from its colonial period onward), and to the political movement of the
same name. Both the concept and the movement grew out of the hashtag #ADOS
created by Yvette Carnell and Antonio Moore.[1]
The ADOS movement focuses mainly on demanding reparations for the system of slavery in the United States.[2] They want colleges, employers and the federal government to prioritize ADOS and argue that affirmative action policies originally designed to help ADOS have been used largely to benefit other groups.[2]
Supporters of the ADOS movement say they should have their own ethnic designation on census forms and college applications, and should not be lumped in with other Black people—namely modern Black African immigrants to the United States and Black immigrants from the Caribbean.[2]
[…]
A distinguishing feature of the ADOS movement is its
explicit emphasis on black Americans who descended from slavery and its
disagreements with black immigrants from Africa and the Caribbean.[2] The group
demands "a new designation on the Census with ADOS and another for Black
immigrants" to the United States.[4] Supporters of ADOS push the issue on
social media with the hashtag #ADOS and state that it "sets out to shift
the dialogue around the identity of what it is to be African American in an
effort to move the discussion from melanin and properly center the discussion
around lineage";[5] they view ADOS as having distinct interests from
broader groups, such as people of color or ethnic minorities generally.[3]
[…]
In 2019, some ADOS activists challenged Kamala Harris's
authenticity as a Black woman, asserting that she was not "African
American" (Harris's father is Jamaican American). The claim suggested that
black Americans of immigrant descent, even from countries with a history of
slavery under colonial rule (such as Jamaica) do not share the same struggle
against racism and discrimination as the descendants of Black people in the
United States.[3] The claim that Harris was not authentically black was
amplified by right-wing figures, including Donald Trump Jr., and criticized by
civil rights leaders,[3] who accused Carnell of engaging in xenophobic
"birtherism."[2] Carnell and Moore have also criticized the
African-American intellectual Ta-Nehisi Coates for his past support of Barack
Obama because of his pushing only for a public study of reparations rather than
endorsing reparations.[3]
[...]
Size of movement
The movement is "tiny but outspoken";[3] the
number of active supporters is believed to be in the thousands.[2]"...
****
EXCERPT #2
From https://ibw21.org/commentary/understanding-ados-movement-hijack-black-identity-weaken-black-unity/ Understanding ADOS:- The Movement To Hijack Black Identity
And Weaken Black Unity
By IBW21, January 21, 2020; Prepared By Jessica Ann Mitchell Aiwuyor
"Introduction
The term “American Descendants of Slavery” (ADOS) was
created in 2016 to describe and distinctly separate Black Americans/African
Americans from Black immigrant communities (Africans, Afro-Caribbeans,
Afro-Latinos, etc). The movement claims to advocate for reparations on behalf
of Black Americans.
However, this movement’s leadership is linked to right-wing media and white supremacists that have a history of attempting to cause divisions in the Black community,” ADOS leaders say they’ll use the moniker “ADOS” as part of their legal justice claim for reparations. But instead, it is likely to be used to create policies that would further marginalize and oppress Black communities. The ADOS movement is particularly seeking to impact the 2020 presidential election, the 2020 census, and beyond.
ADOS appears to be a highly sophisticated propaganda campaign using the combination of African American history (in order to build trust) along with disinformation and misinformation tactics. Yet, with the support of economist Dr. William “Sandy” Darity and Dr. Cornel West, the ADOS movement has been able to garner legitimacy in various circles – allowing it to grow through support from unsuspecting Black Americans that support reparations.
[…]
ADOS leaders do not believe that Black Americans can or should have any connection with Africa. They tell their followers to trace their lineage to America only and to stop acknowledging Africa as the home of our ancestors.
ADOS leaders have stated that Pan Africanism is dead and
that African Americans are more closely connected genetically to white
Americans than other people of African descent.”…
-snip-
The bold font was originally used in this article.
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EXCERPT #3
From https://www.amazon.com/Foundational-Black-American-Who-Are/dp/B094NTGJY9 Foundational Black American Who We Are Paperback – May 9, 2021 by Christopher L Bowe DC (Author)
"A Foundational Black American is any person classified as Black, who can trace their bloodline lineage back to the American system of slavery. To be designated as a FBA, at least one parent must come from a non-immigrant background in The United States of America. If a person's matrilineal and patrilineal lineage traces back to slavery in the Caribbean, then they are not considered a Foundational Black American."...
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EXCERPT #4
From https://newsone.com/4375128/foundational-black-americans-explained/ Foundational Black Americans: Who Are They And What Do They
Stand For? Written by Shannon Dawson, July 19, 2022
"Foundational Black Americans are descendants of Black slaves
who built the United States from scratch.
Over the last year, you may have seen the phrase Foundational Black American (FBA) tossed around the internet thanks to the “World’s #1 Race Baiter,” Tariq Nasheed. In January, during a Twitter Spaces discussion, the controversial media personality sent the buzzword trending when he argued that Black Americans were the originators of the United States. Since then, the polarizing author and documentarian’s belief has attracted millions of supporters from the Black community, many of whom claim they too identify as a Foundational Black American. But what does the term mean exactly?
The History of the Foundational Black American
According to the Official FBA website,
[https://officialfba.com/] Foundational Black Americans are descendants of
Black slaves who built the United States from scratch. Followers of the
ideology, however, believe that the origins and history of Foundational Black
Americans did not begin at the start of slavery in the early 1600s. They
strongly believe that FBA’s settled in North America in 1526, when they were
allegedly brought over from the Caribbean by a “colonizer” named Lucas Vázquez
de Ayllón.
Ayllón and 600 of his men settled on what would later become the South Carolina and Georgia Coast, but they weren’t there for long. The enslaved Black captives organized a successful rebellion against the Spanish colonizers, ultimately forcing them to retreat.
FBA historians believe that the liberated Black people integrated with local Native American tribes in the region and formed their own community and culture as a result.
[…]
The ideology of FBA’s
[…]
On social media, proud FBA ideologists often debate that
American lawmakers should pay some form of restitution or even reparations for
the “400 years of unpaid slave labour” they endured.
[…]
FBA’s don’t believe in the concept of pan-Africanism. They
believe they are a unique ethnic group with complex cultural and societal
ideologies different from Africans and other Black immigrants. Community members often call those who do not
identify with the culture “non-FBAs.”
Some FBA-identifying individuals believe that Africans and other Black immigrant communities do not respect them and their lived experiences throughout history.”…
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EXCERPT #5
From https://honestmediablog.com/2019/11/12/whats-the-difference-between-fba-and-ados/ "What’s The Difference Between FBA and ADOS?" Posted by Broderick Russell Jr, November 12, 2019
"Social media is a hub for political commentary, and it’s
been my go-to for information on grassroots organizations. In a previous post,
the now mainstream ADOS (American Descendants of Slavery) movement and their
agenda was addressed. Well, there’s another movement, somewhat similar to ADOS,
that’s gotten my attention. FBA (Foundational Black American).
Film producer, author, and radio personality Tariq Nasheed, who coined the term, advised that Foundational Black American refers to one’s culture and lineage; it is not a group or organization. With FBA, you don’t have to have a specific political affiliation, group chapters, or events.
There’s been some discourse between both FBA and ADOS creators, most notably on Twitter, around the lack of clarity for the ADOS movement. The New York Times write-up for ADOS seemed to have been one of the precursors.
[…]
Both Yvette Carnell and Antonio Moore have reiterated that
the ADOS movement is a political movement centered around lineage, reparations,
and a Black Agenda for African Americans. They had a successful conference at
Simmons College of Kentucky this past October, and guest speakers included
Marianne Williamson and Dr. Cornel West. Several local chapters have been
created in the process as well. “…
****
EXCERPT #6
From https://dwomowale.medium.com/why-pan-africanism-matters-lessons-from-ados-vs-fba-c643223b5672 "Why Pan-Africanism Matters: Lessons from ADOS vs. FBA" by Dwayne Wong (Omowale), Nov 13, 2019
…"My initial issue with ADOS was the manner in which the ADOS
supporters were criticizing Pan-Africanism. The other issue that I had is how
misinformed the ADOS movement has been. Here are just some examples of things
that I have addressed. Yvette claimed that the Dutch invented dashikis and then
sold them to African slave traders, which was utterly false. Antonio Moore
(Tone Talks) has said that people in Africa do not identify as Africans. To
help cure his ignorance on this matter, I invited him to Africans Rising’s
African Liberation Day mobilization event to show Tone and others in ADOS that
there is a very strong Pan-African movement in Africa. Then there are the ADOS
supporters who keep spreading the untruth that Marcus Garvey came to America
because he didn’t have support in Jamaica. So I have always seen ADOS as a very
divisive and misinformed movement made up of people who don’t understand very
much about African history, Pan-Africanism, or even their own history as
African Americans.
For the most part, the people who supported the ADOS/FBA movement did not seem bothered by the divisiveness of their own movement, until recently when that movement began turning against itself when Tariq Nasheed fell out with Tone and Yvette. One of the issues that Tariq raised is the question of whether or not ADOS is a group or a lineage.
[…]
The problem is that Tone and Yvette are the founders of
ADOS. They are the ones who created the label, so ultimately they are the ones
to define what ADOS is. Tariq decided to use Foundational Black American (FBA)
and then began using FBA interchangeably with ADOS, which created a lot of
confusion. People were treating ADOS and FBA as if they were the same thing,
but they are not. ADOS is Yvette and Tone’s movement. They co-founded it and
continue to remind people that they are the founders of ADOS. It is their
movement, not Tariq’s, although Tariq supported ADOS and helped the movement to
spread.
[…]
I’ve argued that ADOS was not only divisive because of the
line that it tries to draw between African Americans and other African
descendants, but the movement has led to a lot of petty infighting among
African Americans.
[…]
In my most recent article I addressed Morpheus Unplugged.
When ADOS really started gaining traction he was one of those people who tried
to present ADOS as a more practical alternative to Pan-Africanism. He recorded
a video explaining why he choose ADOS over Pan-Africanism.
[…]
I mention Morpheus Unplugged because he seem to take serious
issue with my argument that ADOS is a movement that is mostly talk and little
action, but his response to the claims that myself and others have made is to
do more videos where he talks about debunking Pan-Africanism. Again, more talk.
As I explained in an article on why Togo is an example of modern
Pan-Africanism, there are certain political and economic realities which makes
Pan-Africanism necessary. No amount of YouTube videos talking about debunking
Pan-Africanism can actually undo those realities. Doing so requires work and it
requires organization, but the problem with ADOS is that it is a completely
disorganized movement. As Morpheus himself admitted, ADOS seems to be
imploding.
[…]
Morpheus had some very strong criticisms against me when I
began criticizing ADOS. Perhaps if he listened to me he wouldn’t now be
expressing concern about the fighting between Tariq and the ADOS co-founders.
Morpheus himself said that choose the ADOS movement over Pan-Africanism, and
even used the fact that I am a Guyanese to criticize me, rather than addressing
my points directly. This the result of siding with a divisive movement that is
largely built on personalized attacks against other African people. As I noted
before, so long as the divisiveness was aimed towards Caribbean and African
people there was no problem, but it’s a problem now because of the internal
conflict within ADOS/FBA.
[…]
For some reason the ADOS movement thought that they could
spread division and confusion among African people and that it the consequences
of doing so would not eventually poison their own movement.
[…]
I just hope everyone who is paying attention to the conflict
between ADOS and FBA understands why the ideology of Pan-Africanism is
important. Pan-Africanism isn’t about building Wakanda, as Morpheus Unplugged
suggests. Pan-Africanism has always been about African people uniting towards a
common purpose. The ADOS vs. FBA dispute just further proves why we need unity
instead of movements that are built on historical ignorance and divisive
rhetoric."
Dwayne is the author of several books on the history and
experiences of African people, both on the continent and in the diaspora. His
books are available through Amazon. You can also follow Dwayne on Facebook and
Twitter."
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EXCERPT #7
From https://www.reddit.com/r/AskTheCaribbean/comments/1ckcn36/do_you_think_the_adosfba_movement_is_a_divide_and/ Do you think the ADOS/FBA movement is a divide and conquer strategy funded by conservatives in The US government?
[Pancocojams Editor Note: These are selected excerpts from that subreddict discussion thread. If you're interested in this subject, my recommendation is that you read that entire discussion thread.
Numbers are added for referencing purposes only.]
r/AskTheCaribbean
1. JungianFox, April 2024
"First, I’m a Black/African American with Pre-Civil War roots and I’ve been growing concerned with all the online BS activism and all these grifters co-opting actual concerns for American Black people.
ADOS stands for American Descendants of Slavery. FBA stands for Foundational Black Americans. Both ideologies are designed to delineate Pre-Civil War African Americans from other black diaspora groups and one of the goals for this is to make it easier to obtain reparations.
At first I was in support for ADOS/FBA because I definitely feel African Americans need a more specific term for our ethnicity and cultural lineage especially in regard to reparations and restorative justice. However the further I gotten into the movement, I noticed the alignment with Republicans and far right movements. Also the xenophobia, anti-African bias and colorism (many exaggerating the European DNA we have - rape blood ain’t no flex and Caribbeans are mixed too). Also what’s annoying is I grew up in the Northeast and had Caribbean, Latino and African friends and they were all Black to me. Also I never felt any confusion over who was who because they did all claim their heritage from the Caribbean or Africa.
Also, people forget Harry Belafonte, Shirley Chisholm, Malcolm X, Louis Farrakhan, Cicely Tyson and others have Caribbean roots. And we all face anti-black racism and share a similar history of slavery and colonization. And it seems stupid to argue over lineage. Majority of Black people in The US are Pre-Civil War Afro Americans and nobody is replacing us. It’s literally the same fear that racist white Anglo Americans had over every immigrant group like the Irish, Italians, Germans, Chinese and now Latinos and Indians.
And we know that governments have used the internet for social engineering and propaganda just like they did with old school media. Because before Twitter, nobody was arguing about this.
We all Black at the end of the day and I hope this FBA/ADOS nativist nonsense doesn’t go beyond the chronically online. Power is in numbers"
**
2. adoreroda, April 2024
"The ADOS/FBA movement isn't an organisation, it's an
ideology, so it's nothing that the GOP could fund to begin with. The only thing
you are right about is that it is a conservative movement, but the difference
is that many if not most black americans are very~extremely socially
conservative and are only liberal on paper (largely voting democrat) pretty
much only because of race issues. The average cishet "ADOS" black man
whether they be from the north, south, or west has similar values to a conservative
(southern) white man if you pushed aside the views of race (particularly on
topics of queer acceptance, feminism, religious tolerance, diversity, etc.)
It also doesn't help that extreme conservatives and racists
are given platforms and often praised within the American-Black (ADOS/FBA
whatever) community (people such as Umar Johnson, Hebrew Israelites, erasure of
indigenous american history and saying that they were actually African and that
black people are the real native americans, etc.) Even amongst white americans
extremists like this (equivalents would be people like Nick Fuentes) are not
widely regarded or at least superficially accepted compared to black
equivalents"
**
3.JungianFox/ OP, April 2024
"It’s infuriating because so many of my people are so
uneducated on the left and radical views of activists like WEB Dubois, Booker T
Washington, Dr King, Malcolm X, Huey P Newton, Monroe Trotter, Lucy Parsons,
Ella Baker and Fannie Lou Hamer were. Many people don’t know Pan-Africanism
goes back to the 1800s among Black American intellectuals. It definitely seems
Evangelical Christianity and cults like NOI and Israelites did a number on a
lot of us to be indoctrinated into regressive social values."
-snip-
"NOI"=Nation Of Islam
**
4. adoreroda, April 2024
"I think to certain extents it's resentment for
Afro-Caribbeans and African immigrants (or their recent ancestors/descendants
i.e. children grandparent w/e) often having better predicaments than their ADOS
counterparts, especially Jamaicans and Nigerian Americans. Also doesn't help
that the first black president and black vice president (and female vice
president) are African and Caribbean rather than ADOS.
I also think something a lot of ADOS (only using this term
to distinguish them from Caribbeans and Africans) is that they are very
American in their thinking and can't process anything outside of their own
framework (ethnocentrism) and also often look down on people who are culturally
different from them, even other ADOS (especially queer black people or
specifically queer ADOS). The American mindset often times--and especially the
conservative variant--is very much "the nail that sticks out gets hammered
down"".
**
5. my_deleted-account_,April 2024
"Yvette Carnell and PFIR tried their right-wing
anti-immigrant pity party only to see it get screwed up by COVID-19. Tariq
Nasheed's involvement makes it FBADOSism impossible as a mainstream political
force.
The saddest part is that all their so-called evidence, when
examined are lies, with usually the exact opposite being true."
-snip-
Click https://www.splcenter.org/hatewatch/2010/10/08/anti-immigrant-groups-continue-greenwashing-campaign for a 2010 news article about the Progressives For Immigration Reform (PFIR).
**
6. Specialist-Smoke, June 2024
"Anytime Steve Bannon is on your side, you're moving in the
wrong direction. There's a reason Bannon wants you to focus on slavery. There's
no viable path for reparations through slavery. The path to reparations will
have to be for what happened after slavery. When Black people paid taxes and
didn't recieve the protection of the government.
As with the NOI, the ADOS people are asking for something Bannon can't and won't give. Also as with the NOI, if the KKK supports you and agrees with your message, you're broken and need a new message that doesn't resonate with those whom hate you.
I'm blocked by damn near every ADOS ijiot. I call them out
on their love for their colonizer DNA, they're slippery grasp on history, and
most importantly, how they sound just like white supremacist. The truth hurts."
**
7. Specialist-Smoke, 2024
"So do we stop claiming those who aren't FBA? How is this
different from other races who do this? You can't separate Black people from
other Black groups of people. Slave records aren't well kept, so how would you
know if a Black person had roots in slavery?
It's a reductive movement meant to appease and never obtain
results. If Bannon, Steve Bannon supports you, then you need to rethink your
rethoric."
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EXCERPT #8- DEFINITIONS FOR THE WORD "TETHER" USED AS A PARTICULAR POPULATION REFERENT (revised on October 19, 2024)
Here's two definitions from https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/tether for the noun "tether":
" a
: a line (as of rope or chain) by which an animal is
fastened so as to restrict its range of movement
b
: a line to which someone or something is attached (as for
security)
A crewman can clip the tether of his harness to the [safety
line] and leave it clipped as he makes his way forward and aft".
****
Here are some urbandictionary.com definitions for the word "tether" when it is used as a verb or a noun by Black people from the United States who identify themselves as "Foundational Black Americans (FBA) or as American Descendants Of Slaves/ADOS) or as used by their supporters or people influenced by FBA/ADOS people.
* Urban dictionary.com is an online dictionary of slang words, phrases, and sayings. Visitors to that website submit their definitions of particular words to that dictionary.
As of October 19, 2024 there are five urbandictionary.com pages for the word "tether" and forms of that word. However, only the first page contains seven definitions for "tether" that pertain to its use as a population referent.
Here is the earliest urban dictionary entry:
"Tether
A slur used by ados and fba cultists as a means to degrade
and intimidate black immigrants from across the globe
Ados npc 134685: “ThESe TeTHerS KeEp UnDERmiNing Us!”
by TheBaiterX January 19, 2022, https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Tether
-snip-
As of October 19, 2024, this definition was upvoted by 111 visitors to that page and downvoted by 283 visitors to that page. As such, it is ranked as the fifth out of seven definition for that term (when it is used as a population referent). The ranking order of urbandictionary.com definitions is is subject to change over time.[For the record, I didn't submit any up or down votes for any of these entries.]
Here are the first two visitor submitted definitions as of Oct. 19, 2024 at 9:30 PM EDT.
https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Tether
Definition #1
"Tether
A term used by members of the American Negro ethnic group
(refered to later in history as colored, African-American, Black, FBA/ADOS) to
describe African and/or Caribbean immigrants who move to America for economic
opportunity using the benefits of the American Negro Civil Rights struggle
while simultaneously disparaging the history, legacy, and lineage of the Negro
American movement.
I don't know why Kuku Kufi is on the news saying
African-Americans don't need reperations, he/she is a whole tether. Why are
they even in the conversation? Why do they keep saying WE? Yo, that's a whole
first generation immigrant.
by Crispus Attucks Reloaded September 1, 2022"
-snip-
upvoted by 560 people/downvoted by 121 people
****
Definition #2
"Tether
A black person who moved from Africa or the Caribbean to the
United States and pretends to be a Black American native to the country. Often
they take anti-Black, white supremacist view points despite being black.
Jafari comes from Ghana, he’s always talking bad about Black
Americans, but he wants to appropriate their culture when it’s convenient for
him. He’s a tether.
by Red Joker August 4, 2022"
-snip-
-snip-
upvoted by 321 people/downvoted by 66 people
-snip-
As of October 19, 2024 there are four additional definitions for "tether" (as a population referent) on that urbandictionary.com page.
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