Should the #ADOS movement be trusted?

There has been a raging debate on my twitter feed between folks from the #ADOS movement, and other blacks who consider themselves supporters of the Pam-African movement. For the most part I have tried to stay clear of it, because, frankly, this ADOS movement is new to me, and I wanted to understand a little more about what they are about, and why they are becoming so popular before I take a definitive stand.

For the record, I would not qualify as a true member of ADOS because I was born in Jamaica, and I immigrated to this country later on in life. I have always considered myself firmly in the Pan-African camp, because I believe that there is strength in  numbers, and all black people, regardless of where they were born, share a common bond and interests when it comes to the improvement of our race and out collective struggle.

Some of  my ancestors were Maroons, and I am very proud of that fact. They were sold into slavery from West Africa like the ancestors of  my African American brothers and sisters. They just happened to get off the slave ships a little sooner, and they fought the British like crazy for their freedom.  The folks in the ADOS movement do not consider me a part of the movement because my ancestors were not enslaved here in America, and that's fine, but I do need them to respect and understand the struggle of my ancestors as well.

I suspect that the folks who found the ADOS movement were more concerned with reparations and financial justice than anything else, and so there had to be a weeding out of the blacks who they did not consider worthy to benefit from whatever reparations the American government is willing to give out. This aspect of it seems reasonable. If your ancestors did not contribute to the building of America, you shouldn't benefit from the financial compensation that is due to your family.

My issue with the ADOS folks, though, is this: They seem to be more exclusionary than anything else, and there is a gleeful us against them projection whenever they write on message boards and engage other members of the African diaspora. It shouldn't be about that. I want no part of whatever reparations you they due, but I do want to see folks from my race thrive and be uplifted, wherever in the world that they happen to be.  . 

I get it, some Africans (and Afro- Caribbeans as well) at times tend to treat their African American brothers and sisters as less than equals. They buy into the majority population's stereotyping of the African American as lazy and non-industrious. They think that they are different because they came to America for a better life and were, for the most part, accepted into white American society. They even allow some folks in the majority population to let them think that they are somehow different and better than their African American brothers and sisters. (I know some West Indians like this.)The folks who are down with ADOS have a right to be upset with these immigrants, because they are not about unifying, either. But I certainly don't want them to lose sight of the divide and conquer tactics that is so frequently used against us. 

I just worry about the the end game, and who benefits from all this infighting among black folks. My twitter feeds have been like a war zone of late between these two groups.

Now, more than ever, is the time to come together around what unites us. The things that divide us should not take up so much of our energy.

I have my suspicions about some of the folks in this movement and their social media personas. Why now? Is this some kind of political disinformation movement spurred on by the Kamala Harris campaign for president? Her parents were immigrants. And so, like Barrack Obama, she is not 100% ADOS.

Still,  I also know that some of the people in ADOS are genuine true believers, and that they really want what's best for their fellow African American brothers and sisters.

I want what's best for them as well, but I don't want them to lose sight of the bigger picture, which is where they stand in the world itself, and how, ultimately, we can all be better off in the long run.