Anti-Black racism, also called anti-Blackness, colourphobia or negrophobia, is characterised by prejudice, collective hatred, and discrimination or extreme aversion towards people who are racialised as Black people (especially those people from sub-Saharan Africa and its diasporas),[1][2] as well as a loathing of Black culture worldwide. Such sentiment includes, but is not limited to: the attribution of negative characteristics to Black people; the fear, strong dislike or dehumanisation of Black men; and the objectification (including sexual objectification) and dehumanisation of Black women.[3]
First defined by Canadian scholar Dr. Akua Benjamin, the term anti-Black racism (ABR)[4][5] originally described racism towards Black people of African descent, as shaped by slavery and European colonialism.[1][2] However, the term Black can apply more widely to other groups,[6][7][8] including Pacific and non-Atlantic Blacks (or Blaks), such as Indigenous Australians and Melanesians.[9][10] As such, anti-Black racism has since been used to refer to racism against Black people more generally.[9][8][6] The older terms negrophobia and colourphobia[11] were terms created by American abolitionists to describe racism towards people of Black African descent, who were known at the time as Negroes or Coloured.[12][13][14] The term anti-Blackness refers to racism against anyone racialised as Black.[15][16]