The erasure of the specificity of African-American history and culture in favor of a generalized skin-based “brown” identity is not only toxic for African-American communities themselves, it is part of a more general assault on American history and culture as a whole. African-American speech, music and faith are foundational parts of American culture. Without those innovations there is no Faulkner or Hemingway or Fitzgerald, let alone jazz, blues, rock and roll, or the stunning work of African-American poets and writers themselves. None of these contributions have anything to do with being “brown,” and none of them are transmissible by fiat to recent immigrants from Somalia or Pakistan whose culture and historical experience is entirely different. America is a unique cultural hybrid; it is not and should not be dissolved into generalized global culture slop.