American nationalism is a shit show, and the circus is back in town. If Trump is the ringmaster of the circus, then the Black celebrity class is the opening act, the halftime show, and the closing number. This year during Black History Month in the United States, Black leaders and celebrities adorned themselves in the costume of the empire. Atop their heads were oversized cowboy hats, relics of westward expansion and ethnic cleansing attempting to be reclaimed as ‘heritage’. The stars and stripes draped down their shoulders– an expensive silk fabric blowing in the wind. There’s a belt buckle that reads ‘Murica’ and boots that will be used to stomp in the skull of anyone who dares resist this so-called heritage.
It’s your heritage! Your ancestors built this country! You too, deserve a piece of this pie! That’s what they screamed as they waved their arms outside of the tent, absconding you to enter. Their purpose is distraction. They were paid to be here and to sell you products. They were paid to close your eyes. But what didn’t they want you to see?
While the state bans even the most watered-down versions of our true history, our entertainers were busy serenading us with new renditions of the national anthem. The illusion is that we are moving forward, when in reality, we are being lulled to sleep. With the wave of a finger, the state conjured up a spectacle so large, so overwhelming, that we were meant to forget—forget that that our own communities in the U.S. are crumbling under the weight of failed infrastructure and police violence, forget that the U.S. is leading a multinational invasion of Haiti, forget that the people of Cuba are being strangled under renewed sanctions, and forget that that the Alliance of Sahel States in Africa is rewriting the rules of self-determination. We are meant to look away from these fractures and instead, doom-scroll our way into submission.
The empire is losing its grip, and its answers are more repression, more spectacle, more celebrity-driven distractions to make sure we don’t see its weakness. There’s a table directly inside the tent filled with Democrats waving the white flag. African people of all genders approach their table to grab one of those cool flags, wearing shirts that read “You shoulda listened to the 92%.” An African man in a top hat is using his iPhone to call ICE. You overhear him yelling that he thinks he passed a group of “illegals” on the way to the show. “They did it to themselves,” he says as he daps up a friend in a shirt that reads “ADOS.”
You can’t shake the feeling that something here is about to go terribly wrong, and you’re right. Because the foundation of this coliseum-sized theatrical nightmare is about to come tumbling down and most people there have no idea. The very poles holding up this tent, capitalism and imperialism, are being weakened from within. And your brothers and sisters from the outside world, those not invited to attend, are about to come and deliver a final blow. This moment is not about Trump. It is about the struggle of an empire on the verge of collapse. And this African Liberation Month, we must commit to planning our escape. It’s time to get the hell out of the circus and back into our communities to build power. It’s time to renew our commitment—not just to observe the fall, but to collaborate with those who want to kill this freakshow before it sells another ticket.
DEI: They Even Snatched the Crumbs
This February, Google removed Black History Month from its Calendar app and gutted its DEI initiatives. Aldi wiped every trace of DEI programs from its websites. Target announced it was dumping its DEI efforts—only to panic and walk it back after a stock dip sparked a lawsuit. The Defense Intelligence Agency canceled its MLK Day and Juneteenth events. And Pete Hegseth, the newly appointed US Secretary of Defense, declared an all-out war on DEI within the Department of Defense.
This isn’t an accident. It’s not a coincidence. It’s a coordinated retreat. In the wake of a series of executive orders issued by the Trump administration targeting Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion initiatives, corporations, government agencies, and the military-industrial complex have scrambled like rats to fall in line. Overnight, they abandoned any pretense of commitment to “inclusivity” and equity, throwing their workforces to the wolves. We were told that the widespread adoption of DEI initiatives within these structures of power represented a tangible step forward in the struggle for better conditions for our people. But the past few weeks have laid bare just how shallow and conditional those so-called gains truly were.
Our people are understandably shell-shocked and traumatized by what’s happening. For decades, the African misleadership class has peddled the lie that the pinnacle of our liberation struggle is greater integration— for them— into the capitalist-imperialist power structure. Just one more African face in a high place, more transgender soldiers, more pronouns in VP bios, more mandatory implicit bias training, more listening to a narrow subset of African women pushing winning the narrative and electoral politics as our primary organizing strategies—just one more symbolic victory, and someday, somehow, our people would be free. This is what we were told. This is what we were taught to believe. And this is what we are now watching evaporate in a matter of weeks. It’s a lot to process.
But Africans, let’s be clear: it was always bullshit.
The reality is this: while the propaganda tactics of these entities are shifting—moving away from performative lip service to democracy and human rights and toward a narrow nationalist, patriarchal, turgid frat-bro vision of “strength”—the fundamental nature of their work and its material impact on the world remains unchanged. When they slapped pride flags on fighter jets and erected statues of Harriet Tubman at CIA headquarters, they were still propping up a world order built on the mass suffering of queer and trans people, Africans, colonized peoples, the elderly, the young, and the disabled across the globe. When Joe Biden apologized for forcing Indigenous children into boarding schools, he was simultaneously funneling billions in weapons and aid to Israel, enabling the destruction and devastation of Indigenous children in Palestine.
We allowed ourselves to be bought off with tokenism, symbolic concessions in language, and sanitized, deradicalized versions of our anti-colonial history used to sell the lie of intersectional imperialism. And in exchange? We got genocide. We got AFRICOM. We got queer Haitian White House spokespeople calmly justifying sanctions, mass deportations, and occupation. And in the end, we didn’t even get to keep the pronouns in our email signatures.
USAID: Good Riddance
The shutdown of USAID, particularly under the Trump administration’s cuts to foreign aid has resulted in strong reactions and protests. However, these cuts demand a critical and decolonial examination of the institution’s role in advancing U.S. imperialist hegemony. For Africans/Black people globally, understanding USAID requires peeling back its humanitarian façade to reveal its function as a tool of soft power. As Thomas Sankara famously warned, “He who feeds you, controls you.” USAID’s programs in health, education, and other sectors, while providing tangible benefits, are not neutral acts of charity. They are mechanisms designed to create dependency, undermine sovereignty, and subvert self-determination. By positioning itself as a benefactor, USAID entrenches U.S. influence, often at the expense of local autonomy and long-term development. This dynamic is particularly insidious in Africa and the Global South, where the institution’s operations are deeply intertwined with U.S. geopolitical interests.
The non-profit industrial complex (NPIC) and NGOs play a similar role globally, masking imperialist agendas under the guise of humanitarianism. While NGOs are not inherently harmful, their funding and operations often align with the interests of Western powers, perpetuating dependency and eroding local capacities. By addressing symptoms of poverty and inequality without challenging the root causes—capitalism and imperialism—NGOs maintain the status quo. This dynamic is particularly evident in the Global South, where NGOs are used to foment color revolutions, destabilize left-wing governments, and promote neoliberal policies. For Africans, this means recognizing that USAID’s shutdown or restructuring does not signify an end to imperialism but rather a shift in tactics. The fight for self-determination requires rejecting the dependency created by such institutions and building autonomous, community-led alternatives.
USAID’s collaboration with entities like the National Endowment for Democracy (NED) and the Department of Defense (DoD) reveals its role in advancing regime change, destabilizing governments, and co-opting opposition movements under the guise of promoting democracy. Initiatives like the Global Fragility Act, which frames U.S. intervention as a means to reduce violence, exemplify how aid is weaponized to secure U.S. dominance. The line between humanitarianism and manipulation is razor-thin, as USAID-funded NGOs often serve as extensions of U.S. imperialism, undermining grassroots movements and reinforcing neocolonial dynamics. For example, in Haiti, where over 10,000 NGOs operate—many funded by USAID—the country has become a testing ground for policies that prioritize U.S. interests over Haitian sovereignty. This pattern is replicated across Africa, where USAID’s presence often aligns with U.S. strategic goals, such as securing access to resources or countering “Chinese influence”, rather than fostering any genuine development or diplomatic relationships.
The role of Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) in the context of USAID and U.S. imperialist projects adds another layer of complexity. HBCUs have historically been centers of African/Black intellectual thought, activism, and empowerment, but they have also been implicated in U.S. foreign policy agendas, particularly through programs that engage students in international affairs. USAID has actively recruited HBCU students and faculty to participate in its initiatives framed as professional development and global engagement, such as training leaders in the Global South, promoting “democracy-building,” and supporting development projects. These programs, while offering opportunities, often prioritize U.S. influence over local autonomy, reinforcing systems of dependency and neocolonialism. For example, USAID-HBCU partnerships in Africa, the Caribbean, and Latin America have advanced U.S. geopolitical interests, including propping up color revolutions and soft power interventions. For Africans and the African diaspora, it is essential to question how HBCUs and their students are being used to advance U.S. interests abroad. This duality reflects the broader tension within HBCUs as institutions that exist within a system of racial capitalism while also striving to empower Black communities.
A deliberate shift away from uncritical engagement with institutions like USAID is necessary in this political moment mired by intentional. The shutdown of USAID, while significant, is not an end in itself. It is a call to action for Africans and the African diaspora to dismantle the systems of oppression that sustain imperialist domination and to build a future rooted in justice, equity, and self-determination.
What Is To Be Done?
Symbolism to Revolution
As we move toward solutions, first, we have to move from being satisfied with symbolism. As the U.S. empire stammers and its circus of distractions grows more desperate, we find ourselves at a critical juncture. The time for symbolic ‘wins’ and performative ‘inclusion’ has long passed.
We have to categorically reject the trap of symbolic victories within a materially destructive system. While representation and recognition may feel like progress and may feel good to us, that feeling ultimately distracts us from the reality that they serve as pacification tools that leave the fundamental structures of oppression intact. Every “first Black” is an indictment of the institution, not a point of celebration, and no amount of recognition from ‘milky white’ capitalist institutions has freed a single one of our political prisoners, nor dismantled any aspect of the carceral state.
The revolutionary path demands material gains: community control of resources, such as community control of police and community control of school boards. It demands land reclamation projects, dual power strategies toward economic independence, and the dismantling of the military-industrial complex that occupies our communities both domestically and abroad. When corporations and government agencies can discard DEI initiatives overnight without consequence, it reveals these programs for what they always were: window dressing on systems of domination, crumbs falling from the master’s table and licked off the floor.
Ask Critical Questions
Second, we must develop individual and collective literacy to recognize and resist the psychological warfare waged against us. The empire’s propaganda machine—whether through liberal “inclusive” messaging or conservative nationalist rhetoric—is specifically designed to manipulate our emotions, and use that emotional manipulation to drive us toward certain objectives. This includes fragmenting our unity, forcing us to consume products and services we don’t need, and to abandon key aspects of revolutionary struggle.
When Beyoncé dons a cowboy hat and sings country music underneath the U.S. flag, or when Kendrick Lamar performs at the Pentagon-loving SuperBowl mixing radical aesthetic with red, white, and blue imagery, we must build a consciousness that asks critical questions by default:
Who benefits from this cultural act economically and politically? What class does this narrative of Black “integration” into American cultural symbols serve? Who is funding this display, and what motives could they have? What is the relationship between this symbolic act and the material conditions?
This literacy requires political education that includes understanding of how capitalists use culture to ‘capture’ and co-opt revolutionary aesthetics, how capitalist media manufacture consent for imperialism and capitalism, the ways that non-profit industries channel our rage into reformist dead-ends, and how intelligence agencies infiltrate and disrupt our movements.
Avoid The Traps
Third, this all requires a clear understanding of the fascist, imperialist landscape, and the dire situation we’re left in without principled unity. In order to foster this unity, Black History Month itself must be transformed from a corporate marketing opportunity into a revolutionary time of study, organization, and action. As we have previously proposed, African Liberation Month provides one option for making this happen.
The empire thrives on our division by strategically exploiting tensions between different segments of Africa and its diaspora: so-called “gender wars” which pit brothers, sisters, and TLGBQ siblings against each other; constant “diaspora wars” between various Africa ethnicities such as U.S. vs. U.K. Africans, the rapidly growing divide between “ADOS/FBA” and Pan-Africanists within the U.S., not to mention conflicting groups within the continent itself.
By rejecting the “great individual” narrative of Black History Month that obscures our history of collective struggle and placing emphasis on the revolutionary movements that have challenged the systems of our oppression, we can move towards unity on the basis of a true understanding of history. Unity of principles, unity of objectives, and even the vague ‘racial unity’ all can only come when we understand our history and see it as a weapon for our liberation.
Organize, Organize, Organize
Finally, we have to strive for more than individual awareness, which is necessary but insufficient. The lie perpetuated by the co-opted Black History Month industry is that our history is the combination of revolutionary individuals, making individual acts and achievements, with individual motivations. This is antithetical to our true history, which is one of collective movements, mass organizations and institutions, and dedicated work among entire communities to create the ‘leaders’ we only remember.
Revolutionary change requires organized masses, disciplined formations, and coordinated collectives read for action. This means:
- Joining existing African/Black liberation organizations with clear political programs, particularly those who are grassroots-based and not dependent on corporate or state funders.
- Forming political education study groups within your community, dedicated to rigorous political education and teaching our history in many forms.
- Building art and culture collectives that create culture outside capitalist frameworks, who help people reconsider what they consider as “culture”, recognition, and achievement, thus combatting the emotional manipulation that often comes from cultural spheres.
- Establishing or supporting existing mutual aid networks that demonstrate our capacity for self-determination, such as grocery distributions, cop watches, and tenants unions.
This requires showing up consistently, developing useful and relevant skills, committing time and resources, and helping to build organizational structures that can withstand both co-optation and repression. The state doesn’t fear our hashtags—it fears our organized power. It doesn’t fear our ‘awareness’—it fears our action. It doesn’t fear our criticism—it fears our alternatives.
As fascism accelerates globally and the American circus tent begins to collapse, we face two possible futures: one where we remain trapped inside, fighting over scraps as the structure crushes us all. Or one where we escape the burning empire together and build something new upon its ruins. The empire is weakening—evidenced by its increasingly desperate attempts to maintain control through both overt repression and sophisticated distraction—and the rest of the world knows this well. But a wounded empire is also a dangerous one, willing to sacrifice anything and anyone to preserve its dominance.
Let us not be lulled by symbolic illusions into being the sacrifices of empire.
Let us leave the circus behind and help build the world African people deserve!