America Is a Continent, Not a Costume

Diaspora Is Recognized Everywhere Except Here

Across the world, diaspora is understood as a natural outcome of history, migration, and continuity. Africans recognize African diasporas. Europeans recognize European diasporas. Borders may divide states, but identity is allowed to stretch across regions without accusation or suspicion.

Yet when indigenous peoples of the Americas assert continental identity, the logic suddenly collapses. America is treated as a brand, a citizenship status, or a political allegiance, rather than what it is first and foremost: a continent with ancient peoples, cultures, and internal diversity that long predate modern nation-states.

This contradiction is not accidental. It is the product of colonial framing, where identity is only considered legitimate when filtered through passports, paperwork, or state recognition. Continental belonging becomes suspect, while foreign identities imported through modern migration are readily accepted and affirmed.

Borders, Diaspora, and the Denial of Indigenous Continuity

The denial of an American diaspora rests on a quiet sleight of hand. Indigenous peoples are severed from continental identity and reduced to racial categories, while others are permitted national, ethnic, and diasporic distinction. This imbalance forces indigenous peoples into defensive postures, constantly explaining their presence on their own land.

Works such as Hidden in Plain Sight unpack how this erasure operates through law, language, and administrative labels. When people are taught to see themselves as disconnected fragments rather than a continuous population, borders become tools of confusion rather than governance.

Likewise, Isonomi addresses the internal consequences of this denial. Without clarity about who we are and where we stand, external definitions rush in to fill the vacuum. Diaspora is then framed as something borrowed rather than inherited.

Continental Identity and the Discipline of Knowing Self

Recognizing America as a continent restores coherence. It allows for regional difference without cultural erasure. It explains why people from Chicago, Mississippi, Georgia, the Caribbean, and Central America can be distinct yet still indigenous to the same continental space.

The Holy Koran of the Moorish Science Temple of America emphasizes knowledge of self as the foundation of right action and right order. Continental identity is not a political demand. It is an orientation. It shapes how people understand history, jurisdiction, and responsibility.

Texts such as The Torch reinforce that clarity precedes unity. Without disciplined understanding, calls for togetherness collapse into confusion. With it, diversity becomes strength rather than division.

The issue, then, is not whether an American diaspora exists. It is whether indigenous peoples are permitted to name it without challenge. America is not a costume to be worn for convenience. It is a continent with living peoples whose identities do not require permission to persist.