Recently I delved into the proposed alliance between far-right Zionists and the alt-right, and highlighted the nascent website The Jewish Alternative, whose members sympathize with the alt-right’s desire for an ethno-state. However, that is not the only example of how extremist racial politics create strange bedfellows. Members of a right-wing black separatist Hotep movement have likewise proposed a partnership with the white supremacist alt-right.

The word “Hotep” is of Egyptian origin, and roughly translates to “be at peace.” As a political movement, Hoteps promote an Afrocentric ideology and have come to be associated with virulent homophobia and misogyny. At The Root, Jouelzy writes that the use of “Hotep” by “Afrocentric black Americans  can be traced back to Ra Un Nefer Amen, founder of the Ausar Auset Society in Brooklyn, N.Y., dedicated to Afrocentric-based spiritual teaching. In 1990 he wrote Metu Neter,a spiritual guide of sorts based on his interpretation of Egyptian Kemetic philosophy.”

At Hotep Nation, the FAQ section sheds some light on the movement’s beliefs, describing itself as a “group of people looking to restore integrity to the term ‘hotep’ as it has been smeared by left-wing black media and the likes.” It claims to be neither Republican nor Democrat, and states that it doesn’t hate women or gays — although it goes on to say that “there is a deliberate agenda to break up the black family and one way to do so is to emasculate the black man.”

It calls feminism a “social construct” that is used to destroy the “nuclear family structure.” It also denounces Black Lives Matter for attempting to “appeal to the moral nature of a people that have shown no signs of having a moral compass,” which they call “assinine” [sic].

And while, at first glance, an alliance between black separatists and white nationalists might seem counterintuitive, Hotep Nation’s Ali Shakur explains their similarities. In his article “What is this Hotep and Alt-Right alliance?” he began by noting that “both sides represent the alpha traits of their respective races.” The Left, he wrote, is “quite feminine in their approach,” and while they “cry, complain, and protest” they “never actually want to do anything for themselves.” Hoteps and the alt-right, in contrast, “want independence.”

On immigration Shakur wrote, “Black unemployment is double the nation average but blacks are fighting for these Mexican and Muslim foreigners, who will come to America and compete with them for jobs. Foreigners will put blacks on soup kitchen lines if they don’t wake up soon.” He embraces racial nationalism and states that “segregation is EXACTLY what’s needed,” referring to racial integration as “infiltration.” This idea would be enthusiastically cheered on by the likes of Richard Spencer and Jared Taylor.

Mimicking the rhetoric of pickup artists, men’s rights activists, and white nationalists, Shakur boasted that both Hoteps and alt-righters are “red-pilled.” They “see past the facade presented to us in the mainstream media” — which, he points out, controls the Left, along with billionaire George Soros.

Denouncing the Left as “nothing but a bunch of cry babies,” Shakur concluded by pointing out that black separatists and white nationalists want less government and the freedom to reject “mix[ing] with another race.” “I’d rather align with a white racist nationalist than a black person that begs white people for awards and handouts from a different kind of racist – the far left Democrat,” he wrote. “A black that begs from whites is still a slave and I want nothing to do with slavery.”

On his YouTube account, Shakur posted a video summarizing his article and adding additional commentary on what it means to be “red pilled.” “For anybody that knows anything about The Matrix and how this world works, you got people who believe in the dumb shit, and people that see past the curtain,” he explained. “For example: 9/11. If you’re one of those people that don’t know 9/11 was an inside job, you’re an idiot. Or you’re just lying to people. You’re lying to yourself. You’re being either naïve, blatantly ignorant, or deceptive.”

He also lauded the alt-right for being willing to “call out the Jews” and “their implication in the destruction of the black community in America,” and promoted the debunked claim that the Jews dominated the transatlantic slave trade. “Go do your Googles [sic] on the Jews’ implications in slavery, in the enslavement of black people,” he implored his viewers.

On Twitter, where he goes by the handle Hotep Jesus, Shakur has proven himself to be somewhat popular among the alt-right, mainly for writing things like “(((They))) got us blaming white people so (((they))) can play the back ground. White people are (((their))) scapegoat.” The triple parentheses are used as an alt-right code that means Jews or Jewish influence.

This is not the first time that black separatist movements have engaged in anti-Semitism or attempted to work with white supremacists, either. In 1961, George Lincoln Rockwell and members of his American Nazi Party famously attended a Nation of Islam rally where the two groups bonded over their mutual belief in racial separation. Even the Nation of Islam’s current leader, Louis Farrakhan, has blamed the slave trade on the Jews and praised Adolf Hitler as “a very great man.”