Tyla Said She’s Coloured Not Black. Here’s the Real History Why

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When Tyla released her new EP WWP (We Wanna Party), headlines called it a flop after just 3,700 U.S. first-week sales. But what really caught my attention wasn’t the numbers, it was the backlash from Black America over her identifying as “Coloured.”

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I’m not here to defend Tyla.

I’m using this moment to explain: What “Coloured” means in South Africa, how apartheid created the “Coloured” category to divide people of African descent and the painful history of racial classification laws like the Population Registration Act (1950).

I also talk about why the Coloured vs. Black debate continues to cause confusion and what it reveals about global Black identity and solidarity.

Watch your inboxes as I will be posting an article on this as well as a premium article on wedge politics.

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