However, there may be many of you who may not be familiar with the term “Coon”. Although at first glance, it appears to be a nickname reserved for those pesky stripe-tailed rodents who terrorize homes and property, we’re referring to a “coon” in a different sense. By the time you finish reading this, you’ll have a better understanding of who coons really are, and their characteristics.

1. Regurgitating White Supremacist Rhetoric

As Melanoid people, we are clearly under attack on all fronts from the system of racism/white supremacy. One of the methods of attack is through propaganda. This includes media, academia, and any other platform that allows a group of people to spew their venom towards the global Melanoid family. One example of such venom spewing white supremacists would be Rush Limbaugh. “Brothers” and/or “Sisters” who choose to engage in such talking points are clearly playing for the other team.

2. Shunning African/Black Culture

Regardless of whether you’re from Boston or Botswana, if you ethnically and biologically identify as an individual of African descent, then that is how the dominant society views and treats you. There are Melanoid people who attempt to distance themselves from their African roots, whether it be by their actions or their shared ideologies. Whenever you come across a Melanoid person who says they’d rather be caught dead than to attempt to embrace–or even acknowledge–their African ancestry, then

3. Making Excuses For Other Cultures’ Mistreatment Of Melanoid People

From the Middle Passage of the 1700s, to the miseducating institutions (called “schools”) that our children are enrolled with in the 2010s, to acknowledge that we as a people were mistreated could actually be an understatement. Surprisingly enough, there are more than a few Black people who actually try to justify our pain and suffering as if it were preordained.

4. Playing The “Shade Game”

It’s true that all families partake in the occasional banter with each other, but when that family accepts those jokes as the gospel truth, then it becomes a house divided. The global Melanoid family is no different. The banter we often engage in is the longstanding “Shade Game”, aka the “dark skin/light skin game”. You might not quite be familiar with the term “coon” yet, but you’ve certainly known another Black person to pick on a lighter-skinned Melanoid Brother because they felt he wasn’t “real enough” or “man enough”. You might’ve also heard other Black folks make jokes about darker-skinned Melanoid Sisters because they feel she’s “not pretty enough”. Either way, the “Shade Game” is pure coonery and extremely detrimental to the advancement of Black Society. On a lighter note, it’s apparent that Malcolm X and Naomi Campbell (thankfully) didn’t receive these “Shade Game” jokesters’ memos!

5. The Black Gender War

This is one aspect of cooning that is arguably the most prevalent. This could be a Melanoid man’s unsubstantiated anger towards Melanoid women as an escape clause for him to date outside his race. On the flip side, this could also involve a Melanoid woman drinking the the Black male despising feminist kool-aid only to be hit with the “Black men ain’t sh–” drunkenness. This is a bottomless pit that we as Melanoid people should avoid falling into, because it eventually gives way to serious systemic perpetual issues such as perpetual cultural dilution and reduced birth rates in Black Society because of the lack of trust respect among Black men and Black women.

6. A False Sense Of Obligation To An Openly White Supremacist System

It’s evident that we have to move and shake in this system of racism/white supremacy on a daily basis, but some members of our Melanoid family have gone above and beyond to kiss the feet of the dominant society by making open declarations of their love for the dominant society. Some have taken their loyalty to a Jihad-like level to preserve the religion of white supremacy.

B. Clark