Anti-Blackness is global, but it did not come from one source.
Long before European colonialism, human societies created hierarchies based on tribe, ethnicity, religion, class, conquest, skin tone, and appearance. Slavery existed across many civilizations, including parts of Africa, Asia, the Middle East, Europe, and the Americas. Africans were exploited through multiple slave trades, including the trans-Saharan and Indian Ocean routes, which lasted for centuries and involved millions of people.
But European colonialism and the transatlantic slave trade changed the scale and structure of racial oppression. They helped turn older prejudices into a global racial system backed by law, empire, pseudoscience, media, religion, and institutions.
This is not about blaming one group while excusing another. It is about telling the whole truth.
Anti-Blackness did not begin in one country, and it does not survive in only one. It draws from ancient tribalism, slavery, conquest, colorism, caste, class, migration, media, and local power dynamics.
If we want to understand why prejudice against Black people appears worldwide, including in East Asia, the Middle East, Latin America, Europe, and even parts of Africa, we have to examine the full roots.
The patterns run deeper than one empire, one continent, or one era.
Understanding that honestly is the first step toward real progress.
Coming Next: Part 2: Tribalism, Conquest, and Early Hierarchies
