In moments of national crisis and civil unrest, Black Americans often find themselves at the center of the conversation…sometimes by choice, often by expectation. Once again, there has been a noticeable push urging Black Americans to be on the front lines of protest, resistance, and political confrontation with ICE. At the same time, many Black Americans have made a very different decision: to stay home, disengage, or redirect their energy elsewhere. The ancestors have spoken and as a COLLECTIVE we have listened.

Both realities deserve examination.

Why the Push Exists

Historically, Black Americans have been catalysts for social change in the United States. From abolition to civil rights to labor movements, progress has frequently come after Black people organized, marched, boycotted, and sacrificed many times at great personal cost. That legacy has created an unspoken assumption: when America is in turmoil, Black people will lead the charge. Black people have always had to be front line and center when it comes to these movements. What does that mean for us? It means that because society has been conditioned to us doing this, they have become conditioned to seeing us get shot, and endure the various modes of retaliation from the oppressors, aka since we are the front line, we get killed first.

There are several forces behind this push:

1. Moral Authority and Visibility
Black Americans are often seen as having moral credibility when speaking on injustice because of the long, documented history of systemic oppression. When Black voices speak, the nation is forced, at least briefly…to listen. For instance Martin Luther King’s “I Have A Dream” Speech that has been hijacked and use over and over again watering down his true vision.

2. Political Utility
Activism can be co-opted. Political groups, media outlets, and even corporations sometimes amplify Black outrage when it aligns with their goals, while offering little protection or follow-through once attention fades. Many folks only want to utilize us, when things line up with their agendas. Not really fully understanding that when that happens, Black folks become the face, but get nothing else in return. News outlets and social media platforms love to highlight when Black folks are enraged and angry, but almost never care when positive things happen to us.

3. Historical Conditioning
There is a deeply ingrained narrative that resistance is a duty rather than a choice. Many Black Americans were raised on stories that frame silence as complicity, even when speaking up carries real risks. This is because everything that we have gained in this country as a people has had to be fought for. We have never had the luxury to sit things out or to pretend like they aren’t happening or not there.

4. The Urgency of Harm
For some, the push comes from a genuine place. Civil unrest often intersects directly with policies and systems that disproportionately harm Black communities, making disengagement feel dangerous or irresponsible. Because of whatever notion that Black people are scary, and commit all of these crimes, so forth and so on…certain people think that we are truly terrible people. When that is in fact the polar opposite.

Why Many Black Americans Are Opting to Stay Home

The decision to disengage is not apathy…it is often strategy, self-preservation, or exhaustion. In this case it is to save the nation from a complete shit show of a presidency that will do any thing to remain in power.

1. Protest Fatigue Is Real
Generations have marched, voted, organized, and buried loved ones, only to see cycles repeat. As of recent years we have had all of the Black Live’s Matter Protests and Rallies. In the past there have been protest after protest and march after march. Spiritually I can tell you firsthand Black Americans are TIRED. Tired of organizing and little to nothing getting changed and so much more. Many Black Americans are asking a hard question: What has this cost us, and what has it actually changed?

2. The Cost Is Uneven
Participation in civil unrest carries risks that are not shared equally. Arrests, violence, job loss, surveillance, and even death disproportionately affect Black participants. For some, the price is no longer acceptable.

3. Survival Is Also Resistance
Choosing rest, safety, family, financial stability, and mental health can be a radical act in a system that thrives on Black burnout. Staying home can be an assertion of autonomy in a society that often demands constant labor from Black bodies…emotional and physical.

4. Distrust of Outcomes
Many have grown skeptical of movements that generate headlines but fail to deliver policy, protection, or lasting change. Opting out can be a refusal to be used as symbolic fuel for causes that won’t materially improve Black lives.

5. Redefining Power
Some Black Americans are shifting focus from public protest to private power, building businesses, educating their children, protecting their peace, and investing in community in quieter, less visible ways.

A Necessary Reframe
The idea that Black Americans must always be visibly engaged in civil unrest ignores a fundamental truth: Black people are not a monolith. Engagement looks different depending on age, class, geography, trauma, and lived experience.

Marching is one form of resistance.
Voting is another.
Withdrawing consent is another.
Rest is another.
Survival is another.

None of these choices invalidate the others.

The Bigger Question

Perhaps the real question is not why some Black Americans stay home, but why the nation continues to expect Black sacrifice as the engine of its moral progress, often without guaranteeing safety, equity, or repair in return.

Choosing when and how to fight is not weakness. It is discernment. It is listening to our ancestors before us.

And for many Black Americans today, discernment looks like this:
We have fought before. We will fight again. But not on demand, not without protection, and not at the expense of our lives and sanity.

That, too, is a form of power.