The Myth of “Black Fatigue”, the Reality of White Fatigue

America was built on contradiction: a nation that declared liberty while trafficking in chains, a nation that preached Christianity while distorting scripture to justify oppression. Racism is not a side effect of this country, it is its foundation, and its legacy is alive today.

Now we hear the term “Black fatigue.” Let’s be clear about what that means. Some white Americans use this phrase to express their supposed exhaustion with Black people, with our culture, or with what they label as “bad Black behavior.” But here is the truth: Black fatigue is a myth.

Yes, people can grow tired of dysfunction, but dysfunction is not culture. Ghetto culture is not Black culture. Black culture is the brilliance of Tulsa before it was destroyed. It is the creativity of Harlem, the rhythm of jazz and hip-hop, the innovation, fashion, and resilience we have carried through centuries. To confuse stereotypes with culture is not just lazy, it is dishonest.

White Fatigue: The Real Story

If there is any true fatigue, it belongs to us. Black people have been white-fatigued for over 400 years. We have endured:

• Slavery and dehumanization.

• Jim Crow and lynching.

• Segregation and systemic theft of opportunity.

• Redlining, mass incarceration, and generational poverty.

• Microaggressions, police brutality, and the daily weight of racism.

We have been tired, not of whiteness itself, but of racism masquerading as whiteness. Just as “bad Black behavior” cannot define all Black people, racism cannot define all white people. But make no mistake, racism is a culture in America, one deeply woven into laws, churches, and systems. That is what we are fatigued with.

The Illusion of Exception

This must also be said: to Black content creators like Mody Speaks, the Hodge Twins, and Cartier Family, I understand this is how you make your money. But let’s call it what it is, a form of selling your soul.

When you pander to white America, especially to racist ideologies, you are not simply “building a platform.” You are trading truth for clicks, exaggerating or bending points you know are shaky just to keep your audience satisfied. You are selling out your own people for profit. And let’s be honest, many of you are not even rich from it. You have gained some visibility, some revenue, but at what cost?

It reminds me of Judas betraying Jesus for a bag of coins. I would rather be broke and real than rich and fake. Because what good is wealth if it comes at the expense of your integrity and your people? If your “success” demands that you sell out, then it is not success, it is bondage dressed up as freedom. No matter how loudly you echo white America’s complaints about Black people, no matter how much you pander to racist ideologies, you are not exempt. You are not carving out some unique category that racism will honor.

Racist systems will never separate you from your skin. To them, you remain Black. No amount of siding with whiteness will protect you from being seen the same way they see the rest of us.

Christianity’s Distortion and God’s Truth

As a Christian, I must address the church’s role. White slave owners twisted scripture to justify their crimes. They weaponized verses about servitude, ignored the Gospel’s call to equality, and baptized injustice in the name of Jesus. That distortion did not die with slavery, it is still alive in American evangelicalism, where racism often hides behind piety.

But scripture unmasks the lie: “He that loveth not his brother whom he hath seen, how can he love God whom he hath not seen?” (1 John 4:20). God’s Word was never meant to be a tool of oppression, and those who twisted it will answer to Him.

What America Owes

White Americans often say, “We don’t owe you anything.” And individually, perhaps not. But America as a nation absolutely does, and the record is clear.

• Forty Acres and a Mule (1865): On January 16, 1865, Union General William T. Sherman issued Special Field Order No. 15, redistributing 400,000 acres of confiscated Confederate land in coastal Georgia and South Carolina to newly freed Black families in 40-acre plots.[1] But by the fall of 1865, President Andrew Johnson reversed the order, restoring land to former Confederates. Black families who had already begun farming were evicted. Meanwhile, under the Homestead Act of 1862, over 270 million acres of free land (10% of U.S. land) was given to white settlers and European immigrants, creating generational wealth gaps that endure to this day.[2]

• Tulsa Massacre (1921): On May 31–June 1, 1921, the thriving Black district of Greenwood, known as Black Wall Street, was attacked by white mobs. Over 300 Black residents were murdered, more than 10,000 were left homeless, and 35 city blocks were destroyed. Estimates of property loss range from $20 million to $200 million in today’s dollars.[3] Survivors and their descendants never received restitution, despite city and state acknowledgment of the atrocity.

• Redlining and Federal Policy (1930s–1960s): The federal government, through the Home Owners’ Loan Corporation (HOLC), created maps marking Black neighborhoods in red, labeling them “hazardous.”[4] This practice denied Black families access to federally backed mortgages under the Federal Housing Administration (FHA), while white families received low-interest loans to buy homes in newly built suburbs. This directly fueled the racial wealth gap. By 1960, less than 2% of FHA loans had gone to nonwhite families.[5]

• Holocaust Reparations (1952 onward): After World War II, the U.S. actively supported reparations for Holocaust survivors. On September 10, 1952, West Germany signed the Luxembourg Agreement, committing 3 billion Deutschmarks (over $7 billion USD today) to Israel and Holocaust survivors.[6] Survivors who immigrated to America received direct payments through the Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany, administered in cooperation with the U.S. government.[7] Additionally, the Displaced Persons Act of 1948 authorized over $90 million (about $1.1 billion today) in aid for refugee resettlement in the U.S.[8]

Meanwhile, Black Americans, who endured 250 years of slavery and another 100 years of legal segregation and racial terror, received no reparations. In fact, every attempt at building wealth, from Reconstruction to Tulsa to Black banking institutions, was undermined, destroyed, or excluded from government support.

So yes, America owes us. This debt is not vague, it is historic, documented, and unpaid. It would not even be a debate had reparations been honored when they were promised. If my grandfather were owed land or wealth and it was stolen, I as his descendant would still have every right to collect. That is not entitlement, it is justice.

The complexity we face now is not of our making. It is the direct result of America’s refusal to pay its debt when it was due.

The Measure of Respect

Consider this: when a white male Christian like Charlie Kirk speaks his perspective, even when his words are considered racist by many, he is accepted, platformed, and celebrated. When voices like Candace Owens or the late Kevin Samuels speak down on Black communities, or on Black women in particular, they are likewise elevated and respected.

If such voices can be honored while speaking against Black people, then surely I, as a Black American Christian woman, can be equally respected when I speak for my community. I do not speak from bitterness, nor from hate. I speak from history, from truth, and from love for my people. And I will not be silenced.

A Final Word

I am not here to bow to victimhood, but to speak truth with strength. I love white people. But I also know that racism is not a myth. Black people are not racist, we are products of a racism we did not create, a racism we are forced to respond to.

So yes, let’s retire this shallow myth of Black fatigue. The reality is that Black people have endured white fatigue for centuries, yet we are still here, creating, thriving, believing, building, and refusing to be reduced to stereotypes.

And as the Apostle Paul reminds us: “Be not weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not.” (Galatians 6:9).