The Black American ego

Today I am going to be discussing the American Ego most importantly, the BLACK American ego.

If you can’t tell by now, I am a black American woman so I truly can only speak confidently on my experiences. I am not white so I won’t be diving into that side too much. Perhaps other Americans can share in the comments how they differ or relate.

Beyoncé’s formation music video

I noticed the sheer differences between black Americans and the rest of the black diaspora. A lot of black people here tend to have a confidence about them, an arrogance, they tend to be very unapologetically black. Though the media has spewed propaganda about black people here in America not loving themselves or not loving their people, I think it’s exaggerated. Extremely. Especially in 2025. Now, sure we still have our issues in our community, such as colorism, texturism, and ancestral ptsd.. but when I talked to other ppl throughout the diaspora, I’ve noticed how strikingly different are experiences were.

A TikTok has inspired me to dive into this topic. I’ll link it below but she explained how while in a different country, a foreign white person assumed she did not understand their English and said something along the lines of “I wonder what kinda nigger she is” then proceeded to take a guess saying “is she an American nigger? , or an nigger from Jamaica?”. Eventually, the black American woman slapped the woman, and the person witnessing it then said “American” with such comedic timing.

Black American Ego-tiktok🤎

I giggled to myself because she was explaining how sometimes black people from other places tend to not be as assertive and more docile in foreign countries, so white people there felt more comfortable being openly racist. They assumed she wouldn’t even understand their English.

After watching this, it confirmed what I already thought.

The same “aggressiveness” we get criticized for is our strong suit, our weapon against being treated poorly. Everything about the black American ego was built up from oppression. Our ego was built from blood, sweat, and tears. There’s a certain pride you carry knowing that a country was built on the backs of your ancestors. There’s a certain arrogance you maintain when you know you’re a descendant of one of the strongest people. The fact that you exist today is because your bloodline survived. Slave masters bred the strongest Africans together. Even if you’re not consciously aware of this, your body knows. DNA remembers.

I don’t think people in America realize how privileged they are, and I think that privilege can sometimes impact Americans negatively. It can cause a lot of Americans to be ignorant and naive about the harshness of the world because of being in their bubble. So when id hear foreigners express different experiences, I listened carefully.

I remember listening to a foreign South African story, and she mentioned how she felt the most comfortable in an all black school in Brooklyn, NY. Out of all the places she lived, including parts of Africa, that’s where she felt the most black. She said that the girls there were unapologetically black, while back home, the elders would encourage people to bleach, and she had no friends in a lot of European countries, such as Sweden, because of the racism and because she was “different”. I talked to another foreigner who was Nigerian, and he told me that wearing braids was taboo, and growing out his hair caused elder West African men to call him gay for growing out his natural hair. I thought it was so odd because I grew up seeing black boys and men in America having all types of hairstyles…from locs, to cornrows. I thought these stories weren’t real until I encountered people who looked down on black Americans for being too carefree about their naturalness. It is very interesting how we all collectively were affected by colonialism. Still, things such as bleaching creams were really foreign to me because in the black American community, it’s frowned upon. It’s a very outdated thing to most—a thing of the past. I heard people back in the day down south did it.

Now I’d like to clarify, this isn’t a battle of whose the most self-hating or which group is better at performing blackness… this is simply me highlighting reasons why black Americans, and even some Afro-Caribbean Americans, may be more liberated. I am well aware that black immigrants got teased for being different in black spaces as well, which isn’t talked about enough.

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The liberation of n*gros

The liberation of niggas,…Dare I say…liberated other ethnic groups. Throughout the civil rights era, plenty of movements that were similar liberated not only black American people but also Latinos, Asians, white feminists, etc.

This history contributes to why black people here handle attacks differently. Any disrespect triggers a fight or flight response that is deeply ancestral. We handle it like our ancestors would. When you have that along with the privileges you gain in a first-world country, you tend to develop an ego based around that. Though black people do not inherit the same privileges a white people would we still have certain privileges that I don’t think people realize.

We were once assimilated by force. Some laws stopped women and men from getting jobs unless they permed their hair. Even fast forward back to the tignon law that prevented women from showing their hair. Yet Black women still found ways to rebel against it. If everyone around you shames you for being you…. You have no choice but to uplift yourself and that’s exactly what black Americans did and continue to do. They gave us scraps, and we made soul food. That’s what we do with everything. Our souls instinctively reach for more ways to embrace our west/central african heritage. Creative and innovative things are often born out of struggle.

This reminds me of when I was watching a reel on instagram of a comedian. He mentioned how he grew up in a predominantly Irish community, but he lived closed by to black folk. He jokingly said how him and his community admired black people because they seemed so “free” in his words, yet they weren’t free. Not free systematically, of course.

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This is not to generalize anyone, this is simply an observation. If you experience differently, please comment below. I’d love to hear and learn more as a predominantly African American person with some Caribbean heritage. I do believe every black person, regardless of ethnicity, has some level of rebellion in them since each community has been impacted negatively by colonialism. I am only speaking from the American perspective. That “feisty” nature has been demonized as ghetto or wrong, but of course, it would be demonized as such when we are willing to protect ourselves more.

More about “uppity” Americans

I’m being facetious when I call Americans “uppity” although to some extent they are. It’s bound to be some sort of arrogance ingrained in you as an American. I speak for all Americans when I say this, not just black Americans. I do believe this attitude is even higher if your lineage goes all the way to the 1600s here in America. White Americans’ egos tend to give off an impression of entitlement. I once read an article about how Europeans can spot an American a mile a way because they take up more space. French people complained that they walked slower or took wider steps on the sidewalks of Paris. A Canadian girl complained about Americans being the loudest in a restaurant. I’d like to apologize on behalf of all Americans, we simply don’t realize how unintentionally obnoxious we can be towards others. This isn’t inherently a good thing or a bad thing, it just is, and the result of being in a privileged country.

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Thank you to everyone who took the time out of the day to read this, and please share your experiences or how you may relate

—uppity blackamerican