African heritage, not slavery, shaped the Black condition fundamentally.

Evidence

Robinson, on the other hand, takes the same existential condition but comes to different conclusions: slavery did not define the Black condition because we were Africans first, with world views and philosophical notions about life, death, possession, community, and so forth that are rooted in that African heritage. — Cedric J. Robinson, Black Marxism_ The Making of the Black…, 33

Categorization

• DEFINE: Articulates the core principle distinguishing Robinson’s Black radical tradition thesis from Atlanticist/hybridity readings.