Posted Tuesday, May 06, 2008 2:15 AM
The "Other" Black Americans
izraelj
The Boston Globe reports that in the age of increasing immigration, more and more immigrants are choosing not to identify as black Americans. This made me wonder how we, as black Americans, identify them.
Growing up in the Midwest, I didn’t encounter many variants of blackness: brown people were black, light-skinned people were white (-ish) and the few immigrants (Jamaicans, mainly) were just shadows who talked funny and kept to themselves. My friend Dawn was Jamaican, and her parent didn’t like her playing with the kids on the block: they wanted to isolate themselves, it seemed. When I did see Dawn, I always asked her where she was from, but she was too embarrassed to tell me. I sensed some conflict: as an “other,” I think she didn’t know if she was something more than black, or something less.
As I get older, I’m realizing that blackness is not as simple as I once thought. Black Americaness means something different in the rest of the world, and we have to start deliberately learning about how we fit into the politics of color outside of our borders. Black Americans are largely unsophisticated in matters of foreign politics and reluctant to see the world past our stoop, choosing instead to see the new strangers as just “Others.” We read too much Vibe Magazine and not enough U.S. News & World Report by a sight. We stand on the cusp of the New Blackness, I think, largely unaware of how our community is changing and what that means for the future.
Malcolm X was trying to raise awareness about the breath of the African Diaspora before he was killed. What can we do every day to close the gap and educate ourselves about the “other” Black Americans?
Joined: 10 Aug 2006 {Posts: 119 } Location: Somewhere...
Posted: Sun 03 Aug 2008 09:42 Post subject:
Interesting article and comments.
However, why should anyone expect immigrants of African descent and their children to identify as Black Americans? We are not. We are people with our own histories and cultures. So it's not necessarily that the "black American community" is changing. There are just other communities that are African or have people of African descent who are settling in the U.S. in much greater numbers than ever before - West Indians, Latinos, and of course Africans. We just need to educate ourselves about each other and learn to respect each other.
Let's say the category name was changed to "negroid." I'd bet they'd try to wiggle their way out of that one too.
What do you mean by "wiggle"? Group identity is everyone's right of choice. The point was that the African-American ethnic community has its own traditions, customs, folklore, music, accent, etc. The mere fact that immigrants from Africa (or immigrants from other lands who have mostly African ancestry) may superficially look like African Americans to you, does not take away their right to choose ethnic self-identity. Some may choose to adopt A-A ethnicity. Some may choose not to, retaining the ethnicity of their source culture instead. And some may choose to disdain the whole notion of focusing on group identity, prefering instead to focus on individuals. I would not call any of these choices "wiggling".
After years of researching racialism in all its forms, I have reached one definite conclusion. Some people consider ethnic identity very important, both their own and that of others. Much of their thinking and passion focus on the ethnic identity of themselves and of others. Other people do not consider ethnic self-identity to be very important. They tend to focus instead on individual traits like character, integrity, and so forth.
My one conclusion? In all honesty, the latter are more fun to hang out with.
Joined: 26 May 2007 {Posts: 425 } Location: San Antonio, Texas
Posted: Sun 03 Aug 2008 23:48 Post subject:
fwsweet wrote:
Group identity is everyone's right of choice. The point was that the African-American ethnic community has its own traditions, customs, folklore, music, accent, etc. The mere fact that immigrants from Africa (or immigrants from other lands who have mostly African ancestry) may superficially look like African Americans to you, does not take away their right to choose ethnic self-identity.
But then, here's what you have to ask your self - is the separate identity intrinsically appealing, or is it the desire to not be associated with African Americans?
Somehow, I think that if there was just a "Mostly Subsaharan African Ancestry, not African American" category, this would shut some people up quick, as long as they're not checking the same box as African Americans.
Afterall, I don't see European immigrants fighting for a separate category - they appear to be perfectly content with sharing the same category as white Americans.
Joined: 10 Aug 2006 {Posts: 119 } Location: Somewhere...
Posted: Mon 04 Aug 2008 01:25 Post subject:
Richard Miller wrote:
dahlin wrote:
However, why should anyone expect immigrants of African descent and their children to identify as Black Americans?
Let's say the category name was changed to "negroid." I'd bet they'd try to wiggle their way out of that one too.
Nothing to "wiggle" out of. Not everyone is highly obsessed with race/racial labels. It's not about that. Who in the world calls themselves negroid? *smh*
Joined: 10 Aug 2006 {Posts: 119 } Location: Somewhere...
Posted: Mon 04 Aug 2008 01:31 Post subject:
Richard Miller wrote:
fwsweet wrote:
Group identity is everyone's right of choice. The point was that the African-American ethnic community has its own traditions, customs, folklore, music, accent, etc. The mere fact that immigrants from Africa (or immigrants from other lands who have mostly African ancestry) may superficially look like African Americans to you, does not take away their right to choose ethnic self-identity.
But then, here's what you have to ask your self - is the separate identity intrinsically appealing, or is it the desire to not be associated with African Americans?
Somehow, I think that if there was just a "Mostly Subsaharan African Ancestry, not African American" category, this would shut some people up quick, as long as they're not checking the same box as African Americans.
Afterall, I don't see European immigrants fighting for a separate category - they appear to be perfectly content with sharing the same category as white Americans.
Maybe that's because most people actually understand that so-called "whites" do come from other countries and have many have cultures. And even so, there are some Europeans who come here and do not want to be referred to as "white."
But anyway, it's recognized that Asians come from a myriad of nations. People of African descent are all African in origin, not Black American - and hail from a myriad of nations.
Joined: 19 Jun 2005 {Posts: 49 } Location: Los Angeles, CA
Posted: Fri 08 Aug 2008 03:29 Post subject:
My initial guess is that many non-U.S. born people having and of noticeable sub-Saharan black ancestry choose not to identify as black Americans perhaps because of the negative and heavily socialzed stereotypes associated with the black American profile and experience. For example: the prominent "Negroid look" (whatever that means - like we don't know), poor diction, Ebonics; economic, social and cultural ignorance; recurring self-destructive behavior, gang-banging, The Katrina Syndrome, default depiction as non-intellectual, the N-word tag, and much more. Thus, some might say that they avoid affiliating themselves with black America because of what black America has done to itself, as opposed to what others have done to it.
America is an immigrant country and many Americans I come across Identify them self as an American and with the mother land. For example, Italian American, Irish American, German American and many more.
Posted: Sun 10 Aug 2008 16:03 Post subject: "Black" Immigrants
I recently watched an episode of "Project Runway" on the Bravo channel. One of the designers is a Liberian immigrant. She spoke about what America means to her. She escaped a savage civil war in her native country, and her description of America as a land of opportunity and rule of law was no different from what we have come to expect from European and Asian immigrants.
The native Negro/black/African American view, of course, is that the U.S. is just the land of oppression and racism.
Most Caribbean people of African descent are proud of their blackness. But why should they call themselves "Black Americans" when they are not? They have ties to the country of their origin. It doesn't change the fact that they have African blood. It doesn't mean they're ashamed to be black.
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