Have you ever accused a white person of racism to only hear the inevitable retort of, "but I have a black friend"?

If you're a Black Person reading this then you've likely been frustrated with this deflection. If you're not Black and you're reading this then there are likely one of two responses with one being deflection and outright rejection or agreement. There generally isn't a gray area with this issue. A gray area is only really ever granted to something where there is room for debate. You simply can't put two Black People from certain tribes and from certain areas in the same room and not expect hostility. With that in mind, it is ignorant to equate all Black People as the same just because of skin color alone.

Here is a good example using myself as to why equating all Black People is silly. I'm a supporter of the 2nd Amendment and a citizen's ability to own as many firearms as they wise without government interference or knowledge. This is mostly due to my radical beliefs about Systematic White Supremacy, protection from "race soldiers" commonly referred to as U.S. Law Enforcement, and I'm from the American South. Generally speaking, Black People from the American South are more likely to support gun rights versus a Northern born Black Person. So if there is a claim of racism against a white person when discussing gun rights why would that white person mention their Black friend who is from the North and therefore isn't likely to share my unlimited gun rights beliefs? Wouldn't the only reason why someone would pit another Black Person against myself who I have nothing in common with other than skin color be racism or the idea of using Black People against one another much like a game of Pokemon with monsters fighting one another because humans can't?

A cursory look at a tribe such as the Fulani would show someone why just invoking random Black People in conversations without knowing cultural or ethnic backgrounds is silly. You couldn't justify Flat Blackness in the United States with just Black People who live in the South and North. Notice how I haven't used shade of skin color, dialect, muscular build or even diet to explain differences. Flat Blackness is a problem from an ideological position alone. Some African Countries are Christian and others are Muslim. Some prefer a belief in Ancient African Deities such as the Orisha. The kinds of conversations that a Black Person would have would differ greatly depending on if they follow Allah, Jesus or the warrior god Ogun. 

Flat Blackness or the serious misunderstanding of differences in people of African Descent or Black People causes unneeded drama and insults. This is often by design. In the United States, White People who want to undermine Reparations or Black Led Initiatives often use "Buffer Groups" or a group of Black Immigrants to undermine those efforts in a way White Society cannot. It isn't an accident that many of the far-right voices in Black America are disproportionately from Immigrant backgrounds such as Stephen A. Smith or Candace Owens. That isn't to say there are no examples of Black Americans who share similar beliefs to Candace Owens but we are talking about disproportionality. 

It is very true that there are Black People in Mexico. To suggest that a Black Person in Mexico has anything in common with a Black Person living in New York when their lineages aren't even the same is absurd. This isn't done with any other group. You can't say that just a Japanese person is the same as a Chinese person just because they're both Asian. Stranger still, the only group that this appears to apply to is specifically Black Americans. The world mostly understands that there are, for example, diferent African Tribes. When the colonizers came, stole artitifacts and put those artitifacts on display they took care to label which tribes and countries those items came from. So why is it all of a sudden the descendants of those very same colonizers don't understand that Flat Blackness is an issue when their Forefathers went out of their way to show that we aren't all exactly the same just for being Black?

It's as if people are trying to not get the point. 

But I guess that was always the point...