African-Americans and Africans in America

[iyah360]

Peace.

First of all, for all who don't know, I am white. I have no real idea in overstanding the black struggle in white supremacist environments except for theoretical speculation based on reasonings and research of my own.

I would like to ask this question . . . what do the I's know and or feel about the differences in treatment of African-Americans and Africans who have recently come to the West?
Do ones think there is a difference in treatment? If there is, then what is the ramification for the argument that the darker the skin, the more discriminated against one is?

Just wanted to open them up so I and others may learn.

Give thanks.

[HUGGIES]

my sister and i have a code that we use, 'oh you know, you can't be both' it refers to new people in our life. 'why don't i see joe around the house anymore?' 'oh you know, you can't be both' sometimes when people wish to enter our lives our initial reaction is to reject upon first impressions. if i ever put that aside in an attempt to pretend that i'm not shallow, my tolerances are still very low and i'm not sincere when i'm pursuing this friendship. i have no strike threes. you can be irritating upon first meeting but if i give you that chance you can't have poor hygiene when we meet again or be too loud. either/or but 'u can't be both'
it's a very vulnerable place as an introduction to this board but i wanted to show that i'm not exempt. i live in canada and my observations with regards to african americans/african in canada is just that 'you can't be both' mentality. we're already putting up with blacks and for the sake of multiculturalism we tolerate all the varying cultures but aren't you asking a bit much when i give you this interview to seem non discrimanatory yet your accent is so thick that i can't even understand your answers?  
my observations are mostly within the black community. canadians venting frustrations that immigrants make their survival harder. i piece those together with my highschool experience where hip pop was the socially accepted black.

[Tyehimba]

we're already putting up with blacks and for the sake of multiculturalism we tolerate all the varying cultures

This is an important issue that you have touched upon, where the surface aspect of one's culture is seemingly embraced and 'tolerated' just for the sake of multi-culturalism or the need to be politically correct. So no real understanding is sought, and below the surface reaction often lies fear and animosity. It reminds me of Emancipation day, which is the only time you can talk about anything African without being completely ignored by the media or branded a racist.

[Rootsie]

When you go down South in the U.S. it is the same way. People work with blacks, shop with them, stand in line with them, but you know very little has changed since the worst days of barbarity there.
    I had this woman on the train between Atlanta and New Orleans telling me tales of her 'girl' like it's as natural as day for whites to speak this way among one another...

[Noah_The_African]

Hi. I am new to this site and was invited here by someone from another forum. I would also like to say that I have the highest respect for the Rasta’s and their love for our people and struggle.

I believe that the European population does perceive a difference between Native-born Africans vs. African Americans and they should. African Americans are descendants of colonial and American slavery in this land, which helped break the inertial of crating a successful nation. Much of the success of this nation was built off the foundation of the oppression of African Americans ancestors, yet, the people with the deepest generational links in this land, with the exception of Native Americans, have never proportionality enjoyed the fruits of African labor and lives.  Consequently, there is a conscious or sub conscious guilt and fear that manifest in whites in regards to African Americans that does not manifest as profoundly as with the Native African.

There is no way to separate all the problems that African Americans have in this nation, which statistics bear out, without linking it to our past mistreatment. For indeed any sane human realizes that the present is but simply 99.999% the creation of the past, with a slight mutation that makes it unique. Consequently, most whites who are not in the mind set to keep us down are also not in the mindset of helping us up, even though there is a legitimate case that the nation and government that made our oppression legal, should be held responsible and liable for our rehabilitation as a people.

The native African immigrating to America, therefore, gets USED against the African Americans, to discredit African Americans. How? This is done via using the higher level of success and accomplishments of Africans, against the claims that racism is keeping African Americans down. They reason that if African Americans are being kept down do to their race, then why do Native African immigrants do so much better as a group. However, they never mention that most African immigrants are “filtered” into America to such a degree that the elite and best and brightest are the ones allowed to get student visas and immigrate, notwithstanding refugees. So, whites love to place favor upon the Native African in order to discredit the struggle of the African American and many Native African buy into this discrediting because it offers them a status and promotion by being seen as superior to African Americans, even though they are still seen inferior to the white man.

African Americans suffer the psychological, social and economics effects of PAST racism, plus the effects of current racism. Native Africans only suffer the effects of current racism in America and the fact that they are often favored by whites, as a way to show that they are not anti-black, but rather anti-lazy and anti-wanting something for nothing (ie…anti-African American), means that the sting of current racism is diluted.

[ROOTSWOMAN]

Greetings,

A good book to read which goes deep into the "African American" and "African from the Continent" issue is KINSHIP by Phillipe Wamba.  A CRUCIAL book!

From the Publisher:

Philippe Wamba's parents were born and raised at opposite ends of the earth. When his African American mother married his Congolese father in 1964, the family they would raise in Boston, Massachusetts, and Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, would become a test case of the pan-African ideal that black people around the world share common interests, common goals, and a common destiny.. "In this deeply felt, bridge-building book, Wamba uses his personal background as a lens through which to view three centuries of shared history between Africans and African Americans.. "Equally at home discussing King Leopold and Martin Luther King, Marcus Garvey and Michael Jackson, Wamba examines the complexity of relationships within the international black community and tackles misperceptions on both sides of the ocean. He locates and argues for the instinctive kinship that exists between Africans and African Americans, which is a powerful force for freedom through-out the world.

ROOTS

[Bantu_Kelani]

Hi. I am new to this site and was invited here by someone from another forum. I would also like to say that I have the highest respect for the Rasta’s and their love for our people and struggle.

I believe that the European population does perceive a difference between Native-born Africans vs. African Americans and they should. African Americans are descendants of colonial and American slavery in this land, which helped break the inertial of crating a successful nation. Much of the success of this nation was built off the foundation of the oppression of African Americans ancestors, yet, the people with the deepest generational links in this land, with the exception of Native Americans, have never proportionality enjoyed the fruits of African labor and lives.  Consequently, there is a conscious or sub conscious guilt and fear that manifest in whites in regards to African Americans that does not manifest as profoundly as with the Native African.

There is no way to separate all the problems that African Americans have in this nation, which statistics bear out, without linking it to our past mistreatment. For indeed any sane human realizes that the present is but simply 99.999% the creation of the past, with a slight mutation that makes it unique. Consequently, most whites who are not in the mind set to keep us down are also not in the mindset of helping us up, even though there is a legitimate case that the nation and government that made our oppression legal, should be held responsible and liable for our rehabilitation as a people.

The native African immigrating to America, therefore, gets USED against the African Americans, to discredit African Americans. How? This is done via using the higher level of success and accomplishments of Africans, against the claims that racism is keeping African Americans down. They reason that if African Americans are being kept down do to their race, then why do Native African immigrants do so much better as a group. However, they never mention that most African immigrants are “filtered” into America to such a degree that the elite and best and brightest are the ones allowed to get student visas and immigrate, notwithstanding refugees. So, whites love to place favor upon the Native African in order to discredit the struggle of the African American and many Native African buy into this discrediting because it offers them a status and promotion by being seen as superior to African Americans, even though they are still seen inferior to the white man.

African Americans suffer the psychological, social and economics effects of PAST racism, plus the effects of current racism. Native Africans only suffer the effects of current racism in America and the fact that they are often favored by whites, as a way to show that they are not anti-black, but rather anti-lazy and anti-wanting something for nothing (ie…anti-African American), means that the sting of current racism is diluted.

I agree with most of the things you have said brother Noah-the African!  

But I will add that not every Black person, especially those in the Diaspora see themselves as descendants of Afrikans. This is due largely to the fact that a lot of PROPAGANDA had been poured on Afrikan in the Diaspora to think of themselves as better human beings than those in the motherland. Somehow we have been talking about the UNIFICATION OF THE BLACK RACE WORLDWIDE, but still one is left with the impression that Black in the Diaspora ( Black Amerikkkans in particular) due this misleading indoctrination through a well calculated thought processing system, look at Afrika not with the deeper sense of AFRIKA. Because all they hear about us are the fighting, poverty, Diseases, HIV/AID etc…. all the so-called professors who collaborate with the SYSTEM refusing to teach Blacks in Diaspora anything good about their Afrikan Heritage in the schools.  However it is the DUTY of all truly concerned and informed Afrikans in Diaspora to reach out those in Afrika...

Then you said, “Whites in Amerikkka often favor Native Afrikans”... What make say such a thing? There should no doubt in our minds that NO WHITE MAN HAS THE BEST INTERESTS OF ANY BLACK MAN AND WOMAN AT HEART!! I can answer this with experience that Native African have a myriad of problems of their own here in Amerikkka and go through Hell as well. Imagine all these Native Afrikans for the most asylum seekers being underdogs for the longest time possible, not being allowed to exercise any form of basic human rights, abused, silenced etc….. And then look at the our continent and see how all of the garbage the Masters send us: the killing, shooting, gangster tripping, poverty, viruses the overblown sexual acts that's happening there and many other derogaratory unneeded stupidity they promote. So I feel the masses of Native African people in the west and on the continent are equally victims of “psychological, social and economics effects of PAST racism, plus the effects of current racism” like our brothers and sisthers the African Amerikkkans. As wide and big as the media is here in Amerikkka, there is not any positive a showing of what is happening on the continent; not anything of value from Amerikkka is exported to Afrika either   ...

We could all spend a lot of time talking about Black Amerikkkans/ Black in the Dispora vs. Native Afrikans, the truth is our UNITY will never happen if Afrikans in the Diaspora having reached the end of their journey to freedom don’t take it as a duty to reconcile with their Motherland instead of learning, accepting and attaching themselves with the culture and ideals of the very same people who oppressed them for centuries!! We blacks should follow the example of other ethnicities co-existing in the US like the Asians who still preserve their culture to an extent, visit and participate in the economic development of their native countries... it could bring peace and reconciliation to the Black Race worldwide!


Bantu-Kelani.

[nyamabla]

greetings rastafari

this truly is a deep problem. when noah said"The native African immigrating to America, therefore, gets USED against the African Americans, to discredit African Americans. How? This is done via using the higher level of success and accomplishments of Africans, against the claims that racism is keeping African Americans down. They reason that if African Americans are being kept down do to their race, then why do Native African immigrants do so much better as a group. "

i see this daily play out in black neighborhoods. and if ones live in an inner city u 2 see it. everystore gas station and so forth is owned by pakistanis,chinese,korean,vietnamese,brethren and sistren from somewhere inna africa. this causes the black folk in the neighborhood to look at all them the same over time and because not many of the stores are owned by black americans black americans start to develop some anger towards dem. if you dont believe i, go to a store owned by an african brethren around 330 during a school day and check the interaction between the kids and the store keepers. so where most blacks in the neighborhood only personal experience with an african from africa is usually from visiting the store. depending on the attitude of that shopkeeper sometimes black americans base the whole of africa on one bad experience with an african they meet.

tv adds to this because the media never really shows africans in africa just living. there are some very so called "intelligent" people that will tell you that africa is nothing more than what they saw in black hawk down. i hear it everyday. i see black folk daily at work talking to white folks about other black folk and all i can say is jah help these people know and love their brothers and sisters. our beginning is not america. this hurts i big big daily. but can i expect the same saved christian brother that during conversation about african american women say b###h 20 times in referring to her turn around and say i love africa when him dont love his mother,wife,sister or daughter.

rastafari is the only way iman see for black salvation.

give thanks for this reasoning.

bless

[dat_big_youngin]

A African is a African. Somebody help the big youngin out. When did we become African Americans...I recently got into a debate with a man who told me that I was a African American. I asked him the meaning of this, he said that you are American but your descendants are from Africa. So if my descendants are from Africa and a person moves here now from Africa, what is the difference? Did his descendants not also come from Africa. So because my descendants(Africans)were brought here before this man(African with African descendants)decided to visit and make this home the only difference I see is TIME. Because in years wont his grandchildren then say that they are American with African Descent. Then them too are no longer African.

[CoxyGad]

Greeting everyone,

I understand that our desendants are oraginally from Africa but the name is simply just to describe where we were placed in the world.  I for example would be called an afro-guyanese who now lives in new york.

African-Americans like many other people of african desent has lost their roots.  There belief and lifestyles have been altered during the years, to assimulate the the majority's (whites) customs and beliefs.  A prime example of this is that so many people of African decent process (straiten) there hair.  We have been living in a society of people that has long bouncy stright hair that tells us that if your hair does not look like that you are not beautiful.  Just the same here in harlem there has been a "natural" explousion and exeryone is so cultural.  Wearing locks, natural dos, and african print clothing.  Yet some of the Africans from Africa are not wearing their traditional prints or their hair natural.  Also not all Africans who live in Africa can afford to buy the expensive african prints.  So does that make the poor Africans in Africa wanna a be Americans.  What we wear and where we're from does not describe what we are.

Lastly many of us like myself has forefathers that were white, native american, hispanic and asian, how can we or any other person just describe us as black, white, American or African.  I a nut shell we are all Gods children.

One love