About

Black Fatigue is a controversial slang term used to describe the feeling of being tired of living around what some perceive as "uncivilized" Black people and being encouraged to care about issues in the Black community. The term has been used online since as early as 2015 on sites like 4chan and was further popularized online in 2025 on sites like X / Twitter and TikTok, with various people, including some Black people, supporting the idea and others calling it out for being racist.

In defense of the term, some people claim the slang is not racist, but a call for modern Black people to better themselves. Alternatively, in years prior, "Black fatigue" has been used to describe the feeling of fatigue that Black people feel from the experience of dealing with day-to-day acts of aggression based on their race.

Origin

It is unclear who coined the term "Black fatigue." Some of the earliest known uses of the term date back to 2015 on 4chan's /pol/ board.

For example, on March 13th, 2015, an anonymous 4chan^[1] user wrote, " The Democrats will run a younger white man, to counter the half black fatigue," referring to then-President Barack Obama.

On May 14th, 2015, an anonymous 4chan^[2] user posted, "Is America experiencing Black Fatigue yet? You would think that parading around these black 'heroes' of their cause who always end up being terrible people would wear viewers out eventually."

On September 25th, 2022, the term was added to Urban Dictionary,^[3] defined as, "Describes deep mental exhaustion from being forced to care about black people and their actions 24/7," garnering over 1,200 thumbs-ups in three years.

Alternative Definition

The term "Black fatigue" was also used in the early 2020s to describe the fatigue that some Black people feel from being the consistent subjects of racism and microaggressions. The slang was popularized through Mary-Frances Winters' 2020 book Black Fatigue: How Racism Erodes the Mind, Body, and Spirit,^[4] inspiring numerous editorials and pieces on the idea of Black fatigue over the following years.^[5]

Spread

The term became increasingly popularized online throughout the 2020s as a way of suggesting that people are tired of living around Black people due to their perceived actions and behaviors.

On May 8th, 2025, X^[6] user @TheOnlyDSC reposted a now-deleted TikTok video by @oso_calfornia, a Black man, in which he claims that he has been experiencing Black fatigue, saying, "I've been had Black fatigue. The ghetto ratchet bullshit, all the random acts of violence […] Black fatigue is some real shit […] Especially with the Karmelo Anthony thing, that was some degenerate punk bullshit. I have Black Fatigue too, and so do the rest of the Black people. It should be called nigga fatigue." The post gained over 18,000 likes and 2,400 reposts in two weeks.

On May 9th, X^[7] user @1776General_ posted a video captioned, "Black fatigue. Agree?" in which a man criticizes Black people and the way he perceives them to behave, garnering over 90,000 likes and 20,000 reposts in roughly two weeks.

On May 10th, 2025, TikToker^[8] @king_millennial_ent posted a video supporting the idea of Black Fatigue, saying that neither white nor Black people want to live around "ratchet Black people," garnering over 4.5 million views in just under two weeks.

On May 12th, TikToker^[9] @hoecheeminh posted a video criticizing the idea of Black fatigue as racist, captioned, "new form of racism called 'black fatigue' just dropped" and writing in the description, "and this 'never mix' shi, we going backwards y'all," referencing the Never Mix Your White Snow with Dirt video, garnering over 462,000 views in just over a week.

On May 20th, 2025, TikToker^[10] @mrbaelyshow posted a Wojak animation criticizing the idea of Black fatigue and the people who defend it, claiming white people have found a way to be the victim while also victimizing Black people, garnering over 112,000 views in a day.

Various Examples

Search Interest

External References