The term “American Descendants of Slavery” (ADOS) was created in 2016 to describe and distinctly separate Black Americans/African Americans from Black immigrant communities (Africans, Afro-Caribbeans, Afro-Latinos, etc). The movement claims to advocate for reparations on behalf of Black Americans.
However, this movement’s leadership is linked to right-wing media and white supremacists that have a history of attempting to cause divisions in the Black community. ADOS leaders say they’ll use the moniker “ADOS” as part of their legal justice claim for reparations. But instead, it is likely to be used to create policies that would further marginalize and oppress Black communities. The ADOS movement is particularly seeking to impact the 2020 presidential election, the 2020 census, and beyond.
ADOS appears to be a highly sophisticated propaganda campaign using the combination of African American…
After learning that Ariana Curtis was hired as the curator of Latinx studies at the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture, ADOS group members began questioning her heritage and lineage, implying that she should not be allowed to curate at NMAAHC because she is half Panamanian. Again ADOS shows its true xenophobic nature and anti-Blackness towards other people of African descent.
On Thanksgiving Day, ADOS group members attacked Representative Sheila Jackson Lee because she was handing out turkeys to people in her community. They began attacking her with xenophobic name calling and taunting.
From Daily Kos: Anti-immigrant activists are reportedly trying to get liberal radio host Mark Thompson fired
Veteran progressive Sirius XM radio host Mark Thompson has been off the air for more than a week. The move came soon after a physical, videotaped altercation that took place in Newark, when an activist approached him after a community event and called him an “Uncle Tom” and a “sell out coon.” Activists with ties to the far right quickly seized on the video and are reportedly using the incident in an attempt to get Thompson fired from his Sirius XM radio show. The dispute stems from a larger campaign by black advocates to target a number of black progressives, including Joy Reid, Ta-Nehisi Coates, Roland Martin, Malcolm Nance, and the Rev. William Barber, among other Trump critics.
“If Thompson is purged on such a thin basis, it will encourage further mischief,” warned columnist Richard Rosendall in the Washington Blade. Thompson has hosted the show Make It Plain for 18 years, and his was among the first talk shows hosted by XM Satellite Radio when it debuted in 2001.
From Medium: Mark Thompson is Missing from the Airwaves and Why That Matters
Thompson’s conspicuous hiatus from the airwaves came amid his support for reparations — he is a member of the National African American Reparations Commission (NAARC) — and his criticism of the #ADOS(American Descendants of Slaves) hashtag movement — which claims to support reparations for Black people has ties to a white nationalist, anti-immigrant, pro-Trump hate group, the Federation of American Immigration Reform (FAIR). Mark also opposed a now defunct program on SiriusXM hosted by white supremacist and former Trump White House advisor Steve Bannon. During an appearance on MSNBC, Thompson had expressed his criticism of #ADOS -which attacks progressives to the benefit of Republicans, and which white supremacists are using to sow division in the Black community — resulting in #ADOS attacks on him on social media and attempts to have him fired from his show. Things came to a head when Mark had a confrontation with an apparent agent provocateur who took issue with his opposition to #ADOS, and verbally harassed and provoked him at a recent event hosted by Newark Mayor Ras Baraka.
From DiversityInc: Why is SiriusXM Considering Firing Mark Thompson?
The strategy for ADOS to get reparations seemed to be attacking famous (mostly) black people for two reasons; first, for not being black and American enough according to a standard set by ADOS and secondly, for being anti Donald Trump. Yvette Carnell’s partner in the founding fo ADOS is a former Los Angeles county district attorney named Antonio Moore who spends his free time making YouTube videos that critique filmmaker Jordan Peele for hiring Africans that haven’t been born in America as the leads for his movies. ADOS folks online constantly tweet about taking down Ta-Nehisi Coates, Kamala Harris, Cory Booker, Bernie Sanders, Roland Martin, Angela Rye, and every other prominent public critic of Donald Trump. They say that they only go after Democrats because Democrats have taken the black vote for granted. While that statement can be proven true, ADOS fails to realize that the results of only going after Democrats is handing a free pass to the GOP. When you raise that question, far too many ADOS folks begin to defend Trump and double down on their attacks of all Trumps opposition. This is a recipe for failure in my view.
When I began peeling back the layers of ADOS to try and understand why they seemed so focused on attacking immigrants and all anti Trump black people, even clearly pro reparations anti Trump black people, what I found was startling.
After distancing himself from the ADOS movement, rapper Talib Kweli has been attacked online by a swarm of ADOS twitter accounts. Some of the accounts have threatened physical violence against him and began targeting his family. He spoke about the attack during a recent interview on Vlad TV.
Talib Kweli on Being Attacked by ADOS Even Though He’s Pro-Reparations
Talib Kweli on ADOS Accusing Him of Being a Haitian Immigrant, Not True
Talib Kweli on ADOS Co-Founder Wearing MAGA Hat, ADOS’ Anti-Immigrant Stance
Actress Yvette Nicole Brown has been very vocal and outspoken about the problematic rhetoric of the ADOS movement. As a result, she has been the target of several ADOS swarms, where hundreds of Twitter accounts harass and attack her online. Recently, an ADOS group member altered a photo of Yvette Nicole Brown’s advocacy work with the American Alzheimer’s Association.
For several days, ADOS group members launched an online attack on activist Bree Newsome Bass. After announcing that she would not like to be referred to as, “ADOS” a flood of Twitter accounts using the hashtag ADOS swarmed her account. The ADOS movement accounts resorted to name calling, pulling up family photos, and a co-founder of the group, Yvette Carnell, made a 2 hour video taunting Bass (including photos of Bass’ wedding) for refusing to join their movement.
ADOS Twitter attack examples – screenshots:
Watch video clips from the two hour video:
What is this foolishness I'm reading? You climbed up a pole to take down a confederate civil war flag. #ADOS is a defined lineage. You either are, or you're not. #BlueChecks (-_-)
Carnell responds: How does a person who took down that flag then turn around and say I'm not ADOS? pic.twitter.com/j91GHolvz6
Following the passing of Maryland Representative Elijah Cummings, ADOS group members began mocking his death. ADOS group members claimed that Cummings cared more about “illegal immigrants” than the Black community, despite his tireless advocacy for the Black community. Tweeting from accounts using the #ADOS, ADOS Group members celebrated his death, called him racist epithets, and made disparaging remarks about his family and legacy.
Some believe that Twitter accounts using the ADOS hashtag are a mixture of bots and trolls. However, the ADOS group has continued to insist that they are not bots.
ADOS group members and founders attack co-founder of Black Lives Matter, Alicia Garza after she discussed reparations in a NY Times op-ed titled, “Dear Candidates: Here is What Black People Want” and after becoming the an editor at Marie Claire.
ADOS Watch 