Black Nihilism, Existentialism, and Political Struggle

This paper explores Calvin Warren's conception of black nihilism as a potentially legitimate response to the prevalence of antiblack violence. I discuss the notion of antiblackness in an American context and the applicability of black nihilism to this context. I address the basis of the existentialist dismissal of nihilism in general and demonstrate black nihilism's rejection of the existentialist foundation. Specifically, I analyze Warren's usage of Heidegger's metaphysics as the foundation for his conception of antiblack violence and its result, the inevitability of black suffering. I consider Devonya Havis's response to antiblack violence as a challenge to this inevitability and propose Havis's Black Vernacular Phenomena and Performative Utterance as a form of meaning-creation that addresses the metaphysical foundations of Warren's black nihilism. I argue that Havis's Black Vernacular Philosophy is a stepping stone towards destabilizing the antiblack foundations of metaphysics while also following in Warren's skepticism of the rhetoric surrounding action, progress, and liberation.