OG Jerè

What’s weird to me is how some Black immigrants or children of immigrants hold onto resentment toward Black Americans because they were teased or bullied growing up, as if that experience was uniquely tied to them being African or Caribbean. The reality is that kids from all backgrounds, especially those of us who grew up in predominantly Black and/or brown communities, got teased about something. That’s not me condoning bullying or treating it like some harmless rite of passage. Bullying can absolutely leave lasting scars. But turning those childhood experiences into a broader grudge against Black Americans, while framing it as though African or Caribbean kids were uniquely targeted, feels misplaced. There’s a difference between acknowledging the very real xenophobia some people experienced and generalizing that experience into resentment toward an entire group.