The journey from "American Indian" to "African American" is a deliberate and systematic reclassification rooted in colonial erasure, legal deception, and social manipulation. At the core of this identity theft is the truth that many of the so-called "Black" or "African American" people today are actually the copper-toned indigenous people native to the Americas—true American Indians. These are not descendants of slaves brought solely from Africa but rather the original inhabitants of this land, whose lineage predates Columbus and European colonization.
Through calculated reclassification, these Native Americans were stripped of their birthright, their land, and their identity. The tragedy of this historical theft continues today, as many have unknowingly abandoned their American nationality and ancestral roots to associate themselves with a foreign continent—Africa—an identity that was never theirs to begin with.