Black supremacy or black supremacism is a
racial supremacist belief which maintains that
black people are inherently superior to people of other
races.
Historical usage
Black supremacy was advocated by Jamaican preacher
Leonard Howell in the 1935
Rastafari movement tract The Promised Key.[1] Howell's use of "Black Supremacy" had both religious and political implications. Politically, as a direct counterpoint to
white supremacy, and the failure of white governments to protect black people, he advocated the destruction of white governments.[2] Howell had drawn upon as an influence the work of the earlier proto-Rastafari preacher
Fitz Balintine Pettersburg, in particular the latter's book The Royal Parchment Scroll of Black Supremacy.[3]
The
Associated Press described the teachings of the
Nation of Islam (NOI) as having been black supremacist until 1975, when
W. Deen Mohammed succeeded
Elijah Muhammad (his father) as its leader.[4] Elijah Muhammad's black-supremacist doctrine acted as a counter to the supremacist paradigm established and controlled by white supremacy.[5][6] The SPLC described the group as having a "theology of innate black superiority over whites – a belief system vehemently and consistently rejected by mainstream Muslims".[7]
Use by the Southern Poverty Law Center
Prior to 2020, the term black supremacy had sometimes been used by the
Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC), an American civil rights advocacy group, to describe several
Black separatist groups[citation needed] in the
United States. However, in October 2020, the SPLC announced that they would no longer use the "black separatist" category because:
the term created a false equivalency with white supremacy,
Black separatist should be seen as "black activism" against white supremacy,
the term black separatist may encourage over-criminalization and over-policing of black communities.
SPLC stated that it would continue to track some of the groups previously in their "black separatist" category, but only for antisemitic, anti-LGBTQ and male supremacist views, but not for anti-white views as "this prejudice does not represent the same threat as white supremacy in America."[8]
Groups associated with black supremacist views
Several fringe groups have been described as either holding or promoting black supremacist beliefs. A source described by historian
David Mark Chalmers as being "the most extensive source on right-wing extremism" is the
Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC), an American nonprofit organization that monitors
hate groups and
extremists in the United States.[9][10] Authors of the SPLC's quarterly Intelligence Reports have described the following groups as holding black supremacist views:
The
Nation of Islam (NOI) is a religious organization founded by
Wallace Fard Muhammad in the United States in 1930. They have been described by the SPLC as having "a theology of innate black superiority over whites".[13] SPLC cites the NOI leaders' "deeply racist, antisemitic and anti-LGBT rhetoric" as reasons for the organization being categorized as a hate group.[13]
The
Nation of Yahweh is a religious group based in the United States described as black supremacist by the SPLC. It is an offshoot of the
Black Hebrew Israelite line of thought. It was founded by American
Yahweh ben Yahweh (born Hulon Mitchell Jr.), whose name means "God the Son of God" in
Hebrew. The Nation of Yahweh grew rapidly throughout the 1980s and at its height had headquarters in Miami, Florida, and temples in 22 states,[14] ben Yahweh was imprisoned for 11 years for his links to nearly two dozen murders, and later released on restrictive parole.[15]
The
United Nuwaubian Nation of Moors was founded by the American
Dwight York, who has been described by the SPLC as advocating the belief that black people are superior to
white people. The SPLC reported that York's teachings included the belief that "whites are 'devils', devoid of both heart and soul, their color the result of
leprosy and genetic inferiority".[16] The SPLC described the Nuwaubianism belief system as "mix[ing] black supremacist ideas with worship of the
Egyptians and their
pyramids, a belief in
UFOs and various
conspiracy theories related to the
Illuminati and the
Bilderbergers".[17]
A doctrine of black supremacy is as dangerous as a doctrine of
white supremacy. God is not interested merely in the freedom of black men or brown men or yellow men. God is interested in the freedom of the whole human race, the creation of a society where every man will respect the dignity and worth of personality.