Shaboozey just added gasoline to an already heated diaspora war with his statement at the 2026 Grammys when he said, “Immigrants built this country.” If you are not aware, there has been a troubling and ongoing conflict between Black Americans and other Black groups who do not originate from the United States.
The attacks on Black Americans have been happening for at least five years. Out of nowhere, Black Americans began catching constant shots from Africans appearing on podcasts and online platforms, comparing themselves to Black Americans. They made statements like, “We came to this country with nothing and still do better than them,” or “We are more educated than Black Americans.” Then those same voices turned around and told the world that Black Americans have no culture and do not know where they come from. Eventually, Black Americans had enough and started responding. What followed was a massive online war. Africans from all fifty four countries, the entire Caribbean, and even Black British voices joined in on attacking Black Americans.
So how does Shaboozey’s statement affect Black Americans? It contributes to erasure. It erases struggle, accomplishments, and a culture that dominates the globe. His statement came off as disrespectful because he did not say immigrants contributed to building this country. He said immigrants built it, as if they have been here for centuries and as if the country was not already built before their arrival. How can immigrants be credited with building a country when many did not even have the legal right to enter it prior to the civil rights era of the 1960s?
This is where wordplay and manipulation come in. When people hear the word immigrant, they usually picture Hispanic, Asian, Indian, or African people. What is rarely discussed is that Germans, Irish, British, French, Russians, and many other Europeans were also immigrants. These white immigrant groups played a major role in building this country, yet they are almost never referred to as immigrants today. This allows non white immigrants to ride the coattails of that history, even though they did not share the same role or timeline.
The statement “Immigrants built this country” angered Black Americans because it completely disregards the massive amount of free labor and wealth generated off Black American backs. Now Africans are claiming that Black Americans did not build anything and that it was African slaves who built America. These arguments come from people who do not fully understand the historical timeline. This misunderstanding is why slavery gets mocked with statements like, “You came over here in chains, I came over as a passenger.” They fail to understand that Black Americans today are not the same people as the Africans who were brought here centuries ago.
Due to mass rape, forced mixing, climate, and generational trauma, Black Americans became an entirely new people with a different genetic makeup. Language, culture, names, identity, and food were stripped away. Black Americans as they exist today were present when America was founded and still barely established. The Africans being referenced did not build America. They built colonies for the British. Everything they built served British interests, and within one or two generations, their original bloodlines, languages, and cultures were erased. There is nearly a two hundred year gap between the arrival of Africans and the founding of America, a fact many refuse to acknowledge.
So what comes next? This conflict will continue until Africans stop attempting to take credit for Black American accomplishments. Some now claim that R and B music comes from Africa because enslaved Africans chanted in fields. What they fail to understand is that those chants were in different languages and were not shared or preserved. Black Americans did not have access to African rhythms or music traditions.
Others claim that Black American soul food comes from Africa. They claim the fashion, the slang, the hairstyles, and nearly everything Black Americans are known for originated there. If that were true, why have they not recreated any of it? Where are their equivalents of Michael Jackson, Prince, Janet Jackson, James Brown, The Temptations, Mike Tyson, or Michael Jordan? Everything they claim Black Americans inherited from them seems absent in their home countries.
So why attempt to erase Black American accomplishments or claim them as their own? The answer is visibility. Black American culture is global. There are very few places on Earth untouched by it. The world admires and imitates Black Americans, and the global recognition of their struggle places them at the forefront.
Africans, Caribbeans, Black British, and other Black groups who did not descend from chattel slavery rarely receive the same level of recognition. This lack of attention appears to fuel resentment, leading to constant comparisons. When comparisons are made, Black Americans are judged at their worst while others are shown at their best. This is the same tactic used in Shaboozey’s statement. Saying immigrants built this country is another way of saying Black Americans did not.
This behavior led many Africans to begin calling themselves African American. Black Americans noticed the tactic and responded by identifying as Black American instead. Africans then followed by adopting that label too. In response, Black Americans clarified their identity further by identifying as Foundational Black Americans. Africans cannot claim that status because they are not foundational to this country. Even so, new labels were created in an attempt to attach themselves to that identity.
The delineation movement continues. Foundational Black Americans no longer identify with non foundational groups, and while this is called divisive, it exists for a reason. When non Black Americans face legal trouble, they are labeled Black. When Black Americans achieve something, others attempt to claim it. When a Nigerian wins an award, it is framed as a win for immigrants, not for Black Americans. Yet when statistics are negative, Black Americans absorb the blame.
So what do you think about Shaboozey’s statement? Was he correct, or was it another attempt to erase Black Americans?
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