In his book Critique of Black Reason, Cameroonian historian and philosopher Achille Mbembe attempts to redefine basic concepts and methods related to critical analysis of the postcolonial approach. In addition to presenting a critical analysis of the essential role played by the categories of black and blackness in the formation of the modern world, Mbembe claims that in our day and age blackness as a category should not be understood only in its former sense, as the opposite of whiteness – an understanding realized through the conquest, subjugation, exploitation and continuous enslavement of the non-white world in general, and Africa in particular – but also as a condition of subaltern humanity subjected to neo-capitalist forces. In this context, the article has two goals. The first is to map out the intricacies of Mbembe’s ideas and in particular those presented in the Critique of Black Reason. The second is to explore what local discourse on Ethiopian Jews in Israel looks like in relation to race and blackness, given the theoretical framework that Mbembe offers in his book. The article additionally explores whether Mbembe’s proposed critical project enables us to address the still-existing tension in contemporary discussions of and among Ethiopian Jews regarding ideas of ​​blackness and race.