What The Word "Tether" Means To Foundational Black Americans (FBAs)

Edited by Azizi Powell

This pancocojams post presents the standard English definitions for the word "tether" along with the Foundational Black American (FBA) meanings of that word. 

This post documents a small number of comments about FBAs and tethers from two YouTube discussion threads for Tariq Nasheed's radio call in talk shows. 

In addition, this pancocojams post also presents some urbandictionary.com definitions of the word "tether" as that word is used by Foundational Black Americans.

The content of this post is presented for historical, socio-cultural, and linguistic purposes.

All copyrights remain with their owners.

Thanks to all those who are quoted in this post.
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For the record, based on their definitions, those commenters would consider me to be a third generation tether.

My maternal grandparents came to the United States from Barbados and from Tobago in 1899 and my mother was born in New Jersey in 1927 and I was born in New Jersey in 1947. Since my father was born in New York and was adopted by a Black family in Michigan, I don't have any United States enslaved ancestors that I know of (although it's possible that I do have ancestors who were enslaved in the United States since slavery existed in New York state until July 4, 1827. 

I don't agree with FBA's disparaging definitions' for the population that they refer to as "tethers". I consider FBA's tether population referent to be highly toxic and I believe the delineation of FBA vs tethers to be part of a long term divide and conquer strategy that the White power structure has been waging against Black Americans.
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Click https://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2024/06/article-excerpts-about-population.html for a related pancocojams post entitled "Article Excerpts About The Population Referents "ADOS" (American Descendants Of Slaves) And "FBA" (Foundational Black Americans)".

Also, click https://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2024/10/why-havent-black-people-in-united.html for another related pancocojams post entitled "Why Haven't Black People In The United States Been More Supportive Of Haitian Immigrants In Springfield, Ohio Who Are Being Falsely Accused Of Eating Cats & Dogs? (a YouTube discussion sub-thread)."

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STANDARD DEFINITIONS FOR THE WORD "TETHER" 
Here's two standard American English definitions for "tether" from https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/tether for "tether":

"noun

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".

Verb

tether

2 of 2

verb

tethered; tethering 

transitive verb

: to fasten or restrain by or as if by a tether

felt tethered to her desk until the work was done

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WHAT THE WORD "TETHER" MEANS TO FOUNDATIONAL BLACK AMERICANS (FBA)
by Azizi Powell, October 22, 2024 

[Additions and corrections are welcome]

According to Foundational Black Americans*, the verb "tether" means "to flee one's homeland, emigrate to the United States, and attach yourself and your descendants to the United States for your own economic and cultural benefit while imitating and disparaging Foundational Black Americans.* Foundational Black Americans use the noun "tether" as a negative referent for Black emigrants and their descendants who fled their homelands in the Caribbean, Africa, or elsewhere to tether on to (attach themselves on to) the United States are derogatorily and disdainfully called "tethers"

*"Foundational Black Americans" (FBA) is a population referent that was coined by Tariq Nasheed around 2021.  Tariq Nasheed may also have been the person who coined the meaning for "tether" that is associated with people who identify as Foundational Black Americans. 

Here's an excerpt from a 2022 online article about Foundational Black Americans.
 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.

[...]

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.

[…]

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."...
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 Tariq Nasheed created the concept of Foundational Black Americans (FBA) around 2021 as as offshoot of ADOS and he remains the most prominent spokesperson for that lineage concept. 

Read information about American Descendants of Slaves (ADOS) in this pancocojams post: https://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2024/06/article-excerpts-about-population.html 

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SOME COMMENTS FROM TWO YOUTUBE DISCUSSION THREADS ABOUT TARIQ NASHEED'S RADIO CALL IN SHOWS
Commenters from discussion threads for Tariq Nasheed's YouTube videos indicate that there are different types of "tethers". Here's one example of those comments from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Poge5W4fv6I "Can People Who Fled their Homelands Be Critical of FBAs?", published by Tariq Nasheed, Oct. 6, 2024

@flame-sky7148 Oct.2024
"The most dangerous tether is one that is a 1st generation American born in the USA between the 80's and 90's. They can sound "sort of" like an FBA, walk "sort of" like and FBA, try to eat like FBA.  But the psychology is totally oppositional.  Like Tariq said the  blacks from the Caribbean or African that came to America in the 60's like the Minister, Stokely, Belafonte and before were riders. Also he questions the existence of atrocities of the past because neither his parents nor grandparents were here in America to tell him how it was back then. His parents fled, he couldn't possibly know, he doesn't even care, and that's what make him dangerous.  Our parents, grandparents and great grandparents told us what they went through."
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A  comment from that same discussion thread documents that not all people who identify as FBA consider tethers to be negative.

@sweetwonkahallelujah7016,October 2024
"as an FBA man who was born in New Jersey and my roots are in North Carolina and Virginia, NEVER EVER at any time in my my life can I remember my parents, my grandparents, and other relatives speak of negativity against foreign melanated ppl…we might have jokes becuz of differences but not disdain."

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Here's a portion of a June 2, 2024 Tariq Nasheed discussion thread entitled Jamaican Upset That He Can't Tether Onto FBA Lineage https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I34Kjx95Lro that documents several opinions from Black Americans about "tethers"

All of these comments were published in June 2024.

Numbers added for referencing purposes only.

1. @jeremiahrobinson3745
"I’m from NYC, the Jamaicans up here cosplay Black Americans the most and act like they created OUR culture"

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2. @firstbase1171
"NY/NJ is riddle with tethers"

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3. @keithdavid1544
"Yeah but we're cool with a lot of caribbeans here in new york. We're close and live in the same neighborhood. Tariq is trying to divide us"

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4. @louisluck
"@keithdavid1544  This ain't exactly true either."

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5. @Sharif-ln2qk
"I can't stand these tethers.  Seriously"

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6. @jeremiahrobinson3745
"@keithdavid1544  FBA & Jamaicans are close here in NYC but all Tariq is doing is building the cultural fence that our ancestors should’ve built DECADES ago. When there’s no fence around your property, ppl think they can walk all over your property anytime they want."

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7. @FBA_God_Emperor_Doom
"@jeremiahrobinson3745  facts, we should have been put up fences because fences makes for good neighbors. But now we have the problem we have now where they feel they can dictate what's Black culture to us but all they know is NYC culture and have no knowledge of anything else outside of that. When we bring up the fact the southern culture is the foundation of NYC culture because most of us came from the south they try to make it seem as if that's something totally different because they don't know about it, that's why I don't listen to them whenever they try to talk about anything Black culture."

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8. @DarkKnight-yr5pz
"@FBA_God_Emperor_Doom  Please...fba ancestry goes all the way back to sub Saharan Africa. Your dna doesn't lie."

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9. @denisebycapricorn
"@jeremiahrobinson3745  Leeches are always close"

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10. @davidfoley726
"And hate us at the same time. It’s bad; I started to notice it in the late 80’s /early 90’s and it has turned into vitriol."

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11. @brendamatthews8502
"I’m aware that some non FBA’s are very weird when it comes to Black Americans at times but I still rock with the ones that understand, respect and SUPPORT our culture. WE know they’ve felt the sting of being black in America at some point in their lives …don’t get it twisted.😒"

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12. @Cahluvca
"@brendamatthews8502 They will never go against thier own...which I respect but that is why they aren't an ally. People do not go to another country to take on others social/economic issues"

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13. @JoeNeely
"@Rio-uv1gs they ACT like us,but they NOT like us!!! Foh. FBA or nothing."

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14. @loriannrichardson7644
"@louisluck  Many of them actually in NYC, a large presence in Brooklyn, Queens, Bronx  -- but less so in Harlem.  Because many are 2nd, 3rd generation and on the census identify as Black American, it's difficult to know the true numbers."

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15. @TigerCraneShakir
" @jeremiahrobinson3745 WRONG! Bro. Tariq Nasheed ISN'T the one "causing division" between Afro-Caribbeans and Black-Americans(FBA's). This "division" you and others speak of was already there for many years

I'm an "⚓ baby" of 🇯🇲 descent and growing up in NYC in the mid 1970's throughout the 1980's and early 1990's and I've seen the arrogance and solipsism from some of my own countrymen towards the Black-Americans. There are many Africans that have deep animosity towards Black-Americans(FBA) as well. We NEED TO address THAT

$h!t and nip it in the bud!"

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16. @caramelcosmo71147
"@FBA_God_Emperor_Doom I’m not from NYC but Love it bcuz I’m a Chicagoan and FBA… my observation is that alot of FBA New Yorkers moved either back South or out West heavy in the 2000’s, so that’s the only reason why you don’t run into FBA as much (I’m sure as you already know lol) but when I used to visit NYC in the mid 90’s!!! It was HEAVY, beautiful FBA energy EVERYWHERE…NOW…it’s WAY too many tethers and YT folks everywhere that they shouldn’t be and it pisses me off! Same here in Chicago w the YT folks, Mexicans and now the Venezuelans ️"

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URBAN DICTIONARY DEFINITIONS FOR THE WORD "TETHER" 
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 22, 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

All of these urban dictionary definitions were published in 2022.

This 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
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As of October 22, 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 three highest ranked definitions for the population referent definition of "tether" as of October 22, 2024 at 9:03 AM EDT

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"
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upvoted by 563 people/downvoted by 121 people 

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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"
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upvoted by 321 people/downvoted by 66 people 

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Definition #3

"Tether

AS Defined by FBA's

Background Information: FBA(Foundational Black Americans) refers to the LINEAGE OF Black people who are the descendants of those blacks who were enslaved during the period of U.S chattel slavery. Those include:

-native born indigenous black Americans

- Black Freemen

- the 3% or so of Africans arriving during the American slave trade and mixed in with the natives.

Tether refers to a subset of black immigrants arriving mostly after changes to the 1965 Naturalization and Immigration Laws, whom appear to have an Anti-FBA, sociopolitical agenda to replace them and undermine their efforts to pursue protections legislation, long overdue reparations from the U.S Government, and other resources that were originally earmarked to benefit FBAs. FBA's interpret the actions of these "tethers" as traitorous and treasonous since they were primarily responsible for fighting to have the 1965 immigration laws changed and amended to allow black immigrants an unprecedented pathway to citizenship in the U.S. NOTE THE DISTINCTION being made: A "tether" does not refer to "ALL" black immigrants as suggested by the hyperbole of those black immigrants who would be considered "tethers" by FBA's. This only refers to those insurgent black immigrants who move to undermine the efforts of FBAs.

A black immigrant acting as a tether will frequently undermine the efforts of FBAs.

by [no name given], July 3, 2022
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upvoted by 563 people/downvoted by 121 people 
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Click that urbandictionary.com link for three additional definitions for "tether" (as a population referent).

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