African Immigrants: Three Keys To Win The Support Of Black America

America’s Black population is in the midst of a major demographic shift.

Over 12% have been born outside the U.S.  This is a 475% increase since 1980, when Black immigrants initially began arriving in large numbers.

By 2060, it’s projected about 33% of the U.S. Black population will be foreign-born individuals.

However, the integration between Black Immigrants living in the U.S. and U.S. born Black Americans has not been the smoothest of sailings.

A Divided House: The African Immigrant Experience In Black America

Recently, Rita Omokha, a Nigerian born freelance writer in New York, shed light on this issue.

In an article entitled, “Do You Speak African? Being A Black Immigrant In Black America”, she recalled how, growing up in the South Bronx, Black Americans would tease her about her accent, her name, her hair, and how she dressed.

She explained how hurt and angry she would feel when she told to go back to her hut in Africa.

She noted Black American classmates made her feel that she did not belong here more than White, Asian, and Hispanic kids in her schools.

As I’ve learned from various clients from Ghana, Kenya, Ethopia, Somalia, and Nigeria, this division is not uncommon and often continues into the their adult lives.

Generally speaking, the disharmony between the two communities are traceable to a few primary factors.

The Effects Of Slavery On Black Americans

According to Dr. Joy Degruy Leary, the Black American experience has been heavily influenced by Post Traumatic Slave Syndrome (PTSS).

As descendants of enslaved ancestors, Black Americans have inherited the trauma felt and passed through several generations.

This trauma, Leary explains, affects the self-esteem of many Black Americans, who have unconsciously internalized the negative impacts, to varying degrees, as self-made.

First and second generation African immigrants lack this collective trauma.

The Impact Of Socioeconomic Inequality

Many African immigrants have entered the U.S. via programs where they had they had to meet certain education levels or qualifying work profiles.

Professional and academic achievement is their immigrant lifeboat.

As a result, African Immigrants have more college education and higher rates of degree attainment than any other immigrant group in the United States – and greater rates than Black Americans.

Nonetheless, according to the Pew Research Center, they earn lower wages compared to other similarly-trained immigrants or native workers, and in recent years had the highest unemployment rates of any foreign-born groups in the U.S.

Despite the commonality of such issues, ethnic-based discrimination and absence of economic equity for African immigrants have not been hot topics for Black Americans.

The Consequences Of Colonization
On African Immigrants

Omokha agrees African immigrants will never feel the burden of American slavery like Black Americans.

She acknowledges her identity is not tied to the trauma of Black Americans who claim their ancestry through the history of American slavery – lynching, castration, forced servitude, Jim Crow, and the Klu Klux Klan to their present-day struggle against subjugation.

But she points out immigrants from African nations are not unfamiliar with the impact of deep-seated prejudice, discrimination, and institutional biases.

And conversely, she adds, most Black Americans do not understand how the history of Africa has impacted the life choices of Black immigrants.

Coming from 54 different countries, she explains, many have proud histories of kings and queens – yet histories where they were psychologically beat down as well as exploited by colonization, class divisions and tribalism.

Those who have been pushed to academically and professionally strive in order to gain entry to the U.S. and other industrialized nations are likewise victims of a psychological imprisonment imposed by their past.

Recognizing And Overcoming Common Sources Of Subjugation 

Can these sources of division be overcome?

I believe they can – and they must.

Omokha fears the ancestral distinctions between Black Americans and African Immigrants may always keep them divided in a country that already diminishes both.

But acknowledging such differences need not be divisive.

Rather, building a mutual understanding of their diverse roots, and how they are related to the same forces of racial discrimination, is the key to overcoming their discord.

Cultural isolation for both communities benefits neither.

As a result, minimizing, if not eliminating this divide for the well-being of both Black Immigrants and Black Americans is mission crucial.

By Carlos Batara

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