It's bigger than that though
Dap was sandwiched between two worlds. On one side, the uneducated and unemployed black community who despised him for being educated-- they Samuel Jackson made it a point to put him in his place:
"Y'ALL N***AS [with an a] and you gon BE n***as, JUST LIKE US. N***AS!!!"
On the other side, Julian is just as "educated" as Dap, if not moreso, but he rebukes him and tries to put him back in his place too:
"Back to 'Mother A-fri-caaa'-- THAT'S BULLshyt! Without question, we are Black Americans."
Ultimately both sides are scared to break themselves free of the social conditioning slavery and white supremacy placed on our psyche:
- You're a slave I'm a descendant of slaves
- You're a n***er I'm a n***a
- You're American My station in life is confined to America only
Dap represented what it means for us to take agency in defining our OWN heritage, defining our OWN future, and the battles we'll face trying to free our own people.