What was once a powerful, meaningful concept now finds itself caught in social media’s crossfire, weaponized against the very people it was meant to uplift. Let’s back up. Black Fatigue was coined by Mary-Frances Winters in her 2020 book, Black Fatigue: How Racism Erodes the Mind, Body, and Spirit. It describes the mental, physical, and emotional exhaustion Black people experience simply by existing in spaces that weren’t built for us.