ChakaBars EXPOSES South Africa’s Xenophobia Wave — Debunking the Diaspora Wars

Summary

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Earn Your Leisure Podcast: ChakaBars EXPOSES South Africa’s Xenophobia Wave — Debunking the Diaspora Wars

Date: May 5, 2026
Hosts: Rashad Bilal & Troy Millings
Guest Commentator: ChakaBars

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Episode Overview

This episode dives deep into the contentious topic of the so-called "diaspora wars"—the social media-fueled conflicts and tensions between Black communities across the globe, focusing particularly on recent xenophobia in South Africa. Special guest ChakaBars joins the conversation to dissect the legitimacy (or lack thereof) of these diaspora wars, highlight the dangers of manipulated narratives, and call for unity and empowerment within the global Black community.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Understanding the Diaspora Wars

• Social Media Feuds:

  • The "diaspora wars" are characterized by online contention among Black Americans, Africans, Nigerians, South Africans, and others.

  • These disputes are mainly seen on social platforms and rarely manifest as real-life conflict.

    "Let's talk about the diaspora wars. We never really got into that on this show, but there's a thing called diaspora wars on social media... It's a whole thing going on right now."
    [Commentator 1, 02:04]

• Fictitious Nature of the Wars:

  • ChakaBars asserts that the "wars" are mythologized on social media and stoked by outside influences, rather than fueled by legitimate, widespread animosity.

    "I feel like the diaspora wars are mythological. I think that they only really exist on social media until you have recently people trying to boycott businesses which didn’t work."
    [ChakaBars, 02:29]

2. External Manipulation and Cointelpro Influence

• Online Agitators:

  • ChakaBars draws parallels between current events and historical programs (e.g., Cointelpro, media operations by Breitbart) designed to sow division among Black communities.

    "It's always interesting how the South Africans that have issues with Nigerians and Somalis and Ethiopians, etc. They never have the same smoke for the Aronia white-only towns and those type of things."
    [ChakaBars, 02:29]

    "I think that the diaspora wars are essentially just like a exacerbation of Cointelpro. If you look at organizations like Breitbart... they pay to sow the seeds of distrust... between black people."
    [ChakaBars, 03:10]

• Who Benefits?:

  • The main beneficiaries of so-called diaspora wars are those who create and lead divisive narratives—often for profit or notoriety, not genuine community betterment.

    "The people who are perpetuating these wars and these narratives are also benefiting from them... masquerading as patriots... The ones who hold the meetups and cookouts... under this banner."
    [ChakaBars, 04:15]

    "Have the same smoke for Koreans, Chinese, Indians, and white supremacists... I don't see y'all... trying to find the KKK the same way that you're trying to come and find the Nigerians on Twitter..."
    [ChakaBars, 04:55]

3. Debunking Cancel Culture and Power Dynamics

• The Illusion of Cancel Power:

  • ChakaBars points out that true power in "cancel culture" requires ownership of media and distribution platforms, which most so-called cancelers lack.

    "In order to cancel somebody, you have to have the power... Do you own the distribution? Do you own the social media platforms?... No, you don't. You're just talking."
    [ChakaBars, 05:24]

• Urgent Call to Unity:

  • The solution is shutting down divisive talk and focusing on building and uplifting Black communities.

    "As progressive black people, we just need to shut it down. Every time we see, we just say, no, no, we're not doing that. We're building the city... the tech company..."
    [ChakaBars, 05:46]

4. Solutions: Reclaiming Narratives & Building Movements

• Positive Storytelling on Social Media:

  • ChakaBars recounts organizing grassroots efforts on Instagram to combat racist memes with campaigns of self-love, such as the natural hair and melanin movements.

    "We started a natural hair movement... We started a bunch of self-love movements at a time when nobody was talking about that on social media."
    [ChakaBars, 06:25]

• Anthropological Depth:

  • The initiatives evolved to spotlight and celebrate the diversity of African cultures, moving beyond pan-Blackness to specific traditions and people.

    "Love your culture... We started talking about people from Eswatini, Congo, Sudan, Nigeria, Mali, Senegal... Speaking about the Wolof people."
    [ChakaBars, 07:43]

5. Combatting Dehumanization: The Drum as Symbol

• Fighting Racist Art Exhibits:

  • ChakaBars shares a powerful anecdote about shutting down a racist art installation that restaged "human zoos" to objectify Africans.

    "There was this racist guy who created... basically put Africans in the same human zoo position, but he called it art... We had to go and shut that down."
    [ChakaBars, 08:35]

• Weaponizing Culture: Drumbeat as Resistance:

  • Drums were used in protest, and the media misrepresented them, which ChakaBars interprets as fear of collective Black power.

    "The next day in the national paper... 'Black activists brandish drums.' I said to my elder, how are they saying you brandish drum like it's a weapon?
    He said, 'Because they gave us the Bible, they took away the drum. The drum can call something in your spirit that a book that's not of your people can't do anyway.'"
    [ChakaBars & Elder, 09:21–10:13]

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• "I feel like the diaspora wars are mythological... They only really exist on social media..."
  — ChakaBars (02:29)

• "In order to cancel somebody, you have to have the power... Do you own the distribution?... No, you don't. You're just talking."
  — ChakaBars (05:24)

• "We started a natural hair movement... We started a bunch of self-love movements at a time when nobody was talking about that on social media."
  — ChakaBars (06:25)

• "Because they gave us the Bible, they took away the drum. The drum can call something in your spirit that a book that's not of your people can't do anyway."
  — Elder, as recounted by ChakaBars (10:07)

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Timestamps for Key Segments

• [02:04] — Introduction to the "diaspora wars" and their social media roots
• [02:29] — ChakaBars on the myth of diaspora wars and real-life context
• [03:10–06:12] — Historical manipulation, profit motives, and the need for unity
• [06:25–07:29] — Strategies for positive community building on social media
• [08:35–10:13] — Personal experience: resisting racist narratives and reclaiming symbols of power

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Summary

This impactful episode of Earn Your Leisure unpacks the roots and realities of so-called diaspora wars, debunking the notion of inherent tribalism or animosity among global Black communities. ChakaBars exposes the artificiality of these divisions, their historical underpinnings, and the profit-driven motives of those who perpetuate them. The episode concludes by emphasizing the power of collective cultural pride, self-love, and tangible community-building as antidotes to division.

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Transcript

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[Diaspora Wars Commentator 1]

Let's talk about the diaspora wars. We never really got into that on this show, but there's a thing called diaspora wars on social media where. Yeah, it's a diaspora wars. Black Americans versus African Africans versus Black Americans. Nigerians versus South Africans. It's a whole thing. It's a whole thing going on right now.

[Diaspora Wars Commentator 2]

Yeah, I feel like the diaspora wars are mythological. I think that they only really exist on social media until you have recently people trying to boycott businesses which didn't work. It actually just got more support for the businesses in America. In the Americas, I think on the continent, there is some legitimate issues. It's always interesting how the South Africans that have issues with Nigerians and Somalis and Ethiopians, etc. They never have the same smoke for the Aronia white only towns and those type of things.

[Diaspora Wars Commentator 1]

But we do love South Africa, by the way.

[Diaspora Wars Commentator 2]

I think that the diaspora wars are essentially just like a exacerbation of cointelpro. If you look at organizations like Breitbart, they have. First they have their bots, but then they have agents that they pay to sow the seeds of distrust and they pay to sow the seeds of disassociation between black people. Because it's. Everybody kind of just forgets history. We're living in 24 hour feed life right now, rather than living in the real life, which is actually in the 60s, in the 70s. Coin Soil Pro was created to try and create diaspora wars that never existed before as well. And I think, you know, you're not hearing Nigerians getting shot by black Americans or Nigerians shooting black Americans, like black Americans are shooting black Americans and Nigerians are shooting Nigerians in Nigeria. I don't think that the diaspora wars is a legitimate war as much as it is. As much as it said that it is on social media. And also, sorry about the beeping. And also the people who are perpetuating these wars and these narratives also are benefiting from them. That's what we have to remember. They are masquerading as patriots, American patriots, or masquerading as Nigerian patriots or whatever. But the reality is that the people who are going the hardest and leading the lambs to the slaughter essentially are the same people who are also the ones who have the trademark, the ones who hold the meetups, the ones who hold the holidays, the ones who hold the cookouts, etc, etc, under this banner or this guise of whatever it is, it's like, well, all right, cool. Well then have the same smoke for Koreans, have the same smoke for Chinese, have the same smoke for Indians, have the same smoke for white supremacists. I don't see y' all coming, you know, and trying to find the KKK the same way that you're trying to come and find the Nigerians on Twitter, you know, So I just, I just don't think that it really holds legitimacy. And I think that it's one of those things like cancel culture. In order to cancel somebody, you have to have the power to cancel them, right? So like when you have somebody who's got TikTok or whatever, and they're like, right, all black Americans you're gonna cancel this person. It's like, okay, do you own the distribution? Do you own the social media platforms? Do you own any of the, the modalities in which you could cancel somebody? No, you don't. You're just talking. So I think it's a lot of talk, it's a lot of hot air. And we just need to, as progressive black people, we just need to shut it down. Every time we see, we just say, no, no, we're not doing that. We're building the city. No, no, we're not doing that. We're building a tech company. You know, it will go away.

[Diaspora Wars Commentator 1]

How do we offset the use of

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technology to create the dissension, to create more peace or more alignment within the community?

[Diaspora Wars Commentator 2]

You know, I've been on instagram now for 14 years, 15 years, since 2011. I think I started my account and I don't know if I can use expletives on the show, but there used to be a whole meme factory that was being spit out by racists. And when we identified it, we shut it down. And it was, it was saying N word be like and B word be like. I don't know if you remember that, but there was this whole negroes be like and then women be like, but in a derogatory fashion. And it was just the most racist, xenophobic, sexist, just horrible stuff. Right. And, and we actually flipped that on his head and we started a natural hair movement. We started the melanin movement. We started a bunch of things that were self love movements at a time when nobody was talking about that on social media. People were using social media to take pictures of food and stuff. Right. It wasn't about what it is now. It wasn't a business at the time. Right?

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No.

[Diaspora Wars Commentator 2]

So it was, it was a brand new thing where people use for creative expression. So what? Myself and a group of other accounts, some of them have been deleted, some of them are still there and going strong did is we, we had many meetings. Almost like it was almost like a social media think tank. And we basically said, all right, cool, we're going to put out this message for a month and then the next month we're going to put out this message. And we started with love your skin, love your hair. We also did love your culture. And we kind of went from the brand of melanin and the brand of, you know, love blackness to actually getting down into niche anthropology where we were talking about people from Eswatini, we were talking about people from Congo, we're talking about people from Sudan, we're talking about people from Nigeria, we were talking about people from Mali, Senegal, and we're speaking about the Wolof people. And like, as far as, as far as I'm concerned, it was one of my elders said this to me many years ago when there was this, this racist guy who created this. I don't know if you're aware, but in the 60s, in the 50s, in the 40s, there were these human zoos, right, where they used to go and get Africans from Congo, from Senegal, etc, bring them into France, bring them into Brussels, bring them into various places and basically put them next to monkeys and feed them and have people feed them, right? And so this guy decided to do a art exhibition, which art exhibition where they basically put Africans in the same human zoo position, but he called it art, right? And so we had to go and shut that down. We had to fight police. And the next day what happened was

[Diaspora Wars Commentator 1]

because, oh wait, what that happened that

[Diaspora Wars Commentator 2]

happened recently was, you know, there was a scene where a woman had just been sa'd and then that was an art scene and you would go in and, and watch how she's trying and all of this stuff. There was a scene where, you know, someone was feeding an actor. He was an actor, but he was being fed by white people. And I was just like, no, no, no, we don't need any more disempowerment stuff. And the next day in the national paper, there was a, there was a message and it said, black activists brandish drums. Because they brought that. We brought down drums and we were banging the drums and you know, it was like a call to action. And, and I said to one of my elders, I said, how are they saying that you brandish drum like it's a weapon? And he said, because they gave us the Bible, they took away the drum. The drum can call something in your spirit that a book that's not of your people can't do anyway.

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