A contemporary Overview:

The Conflict among African Immigrants and Black Americans

Gieanna Taylor
Senior Thesis
March 17th, 2009

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 Heritage
“What is Africa to me:
Copper sun or scarlet sea,
Jungle star or jungle track,
Strong bronzed men, or regal black
Women from whose loins I sprang
When the birds of Eden sang?
One three centuries removed
From the scenes his fathers loved,
Spicy grove, cinnamon tree,
What is Africa to me?"
By Countee Cullen

For many American born blacks, African is the ancestral motherland, the

place of their origin. Spiritually and culturally, identification with the continent of

Africa is what the majority of black Americans can always sought to establish.

Culturally, an ever growing number of black Americans are embracing the material

and non material cultures of Africa . "A shared complexion does not equal a shared

culture, nor does it automatically lead to friendships," says Kofi Glover, a native of

Ghana and a political science professor at the University of South Florida. "Whether

we like it or not, Africans and African-Americans have two different and very distinct

cultures"(Adeleke, 2004).

Africans began coming in contact with other Africans in Africa by way of war,

trade, community living and migration. There interactions were far more limited in

Africa than in the Middle Passage. During the 14th century Africans came in close

and intimate contact with other groups of Africans. This contact during such a

traumatic transportation to the Americas aided in the development of a bond that

should not have been broken. "Africans and black Americans have always had a

delicate and intricate relationship that has been influenced by history and

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perceptions" (Adeleke, 2004). However, in the modern society Africans and black

Americans have become divided. This essay will seek to undercover the birth of the

conflict between African immigrants and black Americans. It will also provide a

solution to the conflict and a way to maintain the newly developed bond amongst the

two groups.

At the end of the 14th century Europeans started to take people from Africa

against their will. Initially they were mainly used as servants for the rich. The

Europeans justified the taking of slaves by arguing that they were providing an

opportunity for Africans to become Christians. By the 17th century the removal of

slaves from Africa became a holy cause that had the full support of the Christian

Church. When Spanish and Portuguese sea-captains began to explore the Americas

they took their African servants with them. Some of these Africans proved to be

excellent explorers (Adeleke, 2004). The most important of these was Estevanico,

who led the first European expedition to New Mexico and Arizona. The people living

in the Americas resisted the attempt by the Europeans to take over their land. One of

he most important struggles took place in Cuba in 1512. The Cubans, led by Chief

Hatuey, were eventually defeated by the superior weapons of the Spanish.

It is estimated that over a million people lived in Cuba before the arrival of the

Europeans. Twenty-five years later there were only 2,000 left. Large numbers had

been killed, while others died of starvation, disease, committed suicide or had died

from the consequences of being forced to work long hours in the gold mines. After

the arrival of the Europeans there was a sharp decline in the local population of most

of the islands in the Caribbean Sea (Adeleke, 2004). This created a problem for the

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Europeans as they needed labor to exploit the natural resources of these islands.

Eventually the Europeans came up with a solution: the importation of slaves from

Africa. By 1540, an estimated 10,000 slaves a year were being brought from Africa to

replace the diminishing local populations.

British merchants became involved in the trade and eventually dominated the

market. They built coastal forts in Africa where they kept the captured Africans until

the arrival of the slave-ships. The merchants obtained the slaves from African chiefs

by giving them goods from Europe. At first, these slaves were often the captured

soldiers from tribal wars. However, the demand for slaves becomes so great that

raiding parties were organized to obtain young Africans. Along the west coast of

Africa, from the Cameroons in the south to Senegal in the north, Europeans built

some sixty forts that served as trading posts (Adeleke, 2004). European sailors

seeking riches brought rum, cloth, guns, and other goods to these posts and traded

them for human beings. This human cargo was transported across the Atlantic

Ocean and sold to New World slave owners, who bought slaves to work their crops.

European traders such as Nicolas Owen waited at these forts for slaves; African

traders transported slaves from the interior of Africa. Equiano and others found

themselves sold and traded more than once, often in slave markets. African

merchants, the poor, royalty -- anyone -- could be abducted in the raids and wars

that were undertaken by Africans to secure slaves that

they could trade. The slave trade devastated African

life. Culture and traditions were torn asunder, as

families, especially young men, were abducted. Guns

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were introduced and slave raids and even wars increased. After kidnapping potential

slaves, merchants forced them to walk in slave caravans to the European coastal

forts, sometimes as far as 1,000 miles.

Shackled and under fed, only half the people survived these death marches.

Those too sick or weary to keep up were often killed or left to die. Those who reached

the coastal forts were put into underground dungeons where they would stay

sometimes for as long as a year until they were boarded on ships. Just as horrifying

as these death marches was the Middle Passage, as it was called the transport of

slaves across the Atlantic. On the first leg of their trip, slave traders delivered goods

from European ports to West African ones (Adeleke, 2004). On the "middle" leg,

ship captains such as John Newton (who later became a foe of slavery), loaded their

then-empty holds with slaves and transported them to the Americas and the

Caribbean. A typical Atlantic crossing took 60-90 days but some lasted up to four

months. Upon arrival, captains sold the slaves and purchased raw materials to be

brought back to Europe on the last leg of the trip. Roughly 54,000 voyages were

made by Europeans to buy and sell slaves.

Africans were often treated like cattle during the crossing. On the slave ships,

people were stuffed between decks in spaces too low for standing. The heat was often

unbearable, and the air nearly unbreathable. Women were often used sexually. Men

were often chained in pairs, shackled wrist to wrist or ankle to ankle. People were

crowded together, usually forced to lie on their backs with their heads between the

legs of others(Adeleke, 2004). This meant they often had to lie in each other's feces,

urine, and, in the case of dysentery, even blood. In such cramped quarters, diseases

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such as smallpox and yellow fever spread like wildfire. The diseased were sometimes

thrown overboard to prevent wholesale epidemics. Because a small crew had to

control so many, cruel measures such as iron muzzles and whippings were used to

control slaves. Close to two million slaves were brought to the

American South from Africa and the West Indies during the

centuries of the Atlantic slave trade. Approximately 20% of the

population of the American South over the years has been

African American, and as late as 1900, 9 out of every 10

African Americans lived in the South. The large numbers of

black people maintained as a labor force in the post-slavery

South were not permitted to threaten the region's character as a white man's

country, however. The region's ruling class dedicated itself to the overriding

principle of white supremacy, and white racism became the driving force of southern

race relations. The culture of racism sanctioned and supported the whole range of

discrimination that has characterized white supremacy in its successive stages

(Adeleke, 2004). During and after the slavery era, the culture of white racism

sanctioned not only official systems of discrimination but a complex code of speech,

behavior, and social practices designed to make white supremacy seem not only

legitimate but natural and inevitable.

In the antebellum South, slavery provided the economic foundation that

supported the dominant planter ruling class. Under slavery the structure of white

supremacy was hierarchical and patriarchal, resting on male privilege and

masculinist honor, entrenched economic power, and raw force. Black people

necessarily developed their sense of identity, family relations, communal values,

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religion, and to an impressive extent their cultural autonomy by exploiting

contradictions and opportunities within a complex fabric of paternalistic give-and-

take. The working relationships and sometimes tacit expectations and obligations

between slave and slave holder made possible a functional, and in some cases highly

profitable, economic system.

Because the labor needs of the rapidly growing colonies were increasing, this

decline in servant migration produced a labor crisis. To meet it, landowners turned

to African slaves, who from the 1680s began to replace indentured servants; in

Virginia, for example, blacks, the great majority of whom were slaves, increased from

about 7 percent of the population in 1680 to more than 40 percent by the mid-18th

century. During the first half of the 17th century, the Netherlands and Portugal had

dominated the African slave trade and the number of Africans available to English

colonists was limited because the three countries competed for slave labor to

produce crops in their American colonies. During the late 17th and 18th centuries, by

contrast, naval superiority gave England a dominant position in the slave trade, and

English traders transported millions of Africans across the Atlantic Ocean.

Since others died before boarding the ships, Africa's loss of population was

even greater. By far the largest importers of slaves were Brazil and the Caribbean

colonies; together, they received more than three-quarters of all Africans brought to

the Americas. About 6 percent of the total (600,000 to 650,000 people) came to

what is now the United States (Fradin, 2006).

The transatlantic slave trade produced one of the largest forced migrations in

history. From the early 16th to the mid-19th centuries, between 10 million and 11

million Africans were taken from their homes, herded onto ships where they were

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sometimes so tightly packed that they could barely move, and sent to a strange new

land. Slavery spread quickly in the American colonies. At first the legal status of

Africans in America was poorly defined, and some, like European indentured

servants, managed to become free after several years of service. From the 1660s,

however, the colonies began enacting laws that defined and regulated slave relations.

Central to these laws was the provision that black slaves, and the children of slave

women, would serve for life (Fradin, 2006). By the 1770s, slaves constituted about

40 percent of the population of the Southern colonies, with the highest concentration

in South Carolina, where more than half the people were slaves.

Slaves performed numerous tasks, from clearing forests to serving as guides,

trappers, craft workers, nurses, and house servants, but they were most essential as

agricultural laborers(Fradin, 2006). Slaves were most numerous where landowners

sought to grow staple crops for market, such as tobacco in the upper South

(Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina) and rice in the lower South (South Carolina,

Georgia). Slaves also worked on large wheat-producing estates in New York and on

horse-breeding farms in Rhode Island, but climate and soil restricted the

development of commercial agriculture in the Northern colonies, and slavery never

became as economically important as it did in the South (Fradin, 2006). Slaves in

the North were typically held in small numbers, and most served as domestic

servants. Only in New York did they form more than 10 percent of the population,

and in the North as a whole less than 5 percent of the inhabitants were slaves.

The division of slave labor was often based on skin color and physical

appearance. The idea of colorism appears to have developed in the New World.

Lighter skin, was preferred over dark skin. The lighter skin women were sent to work

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in the homes of the slave masters, to be there personal maids and servants. They also

had the advantage of learning to read and write while in the homes of there masters.

This created rifts amongst the darker Africans in fields and those in the house. Also,

lighter skin Africans were chosen to be the field supervisors over the slaves. They

were under the instruction of there white masters but were often forced to whip and

brutalize there fellow Africans to sustain there lively hood on the plantation and keep

from being beaten themselves.

However the house slaves did not go unnoticed. The house slaves were

subjected to being raped by the slave masters as well as there male children and were

brutally beaten by the wives of the slave masters for being there husbands

mistresses. Meanwhile, the field slaves were beaten, raped, there families were

separated and sold to other slave masters, sometimes in other states. This was a very

traumatic time for the African family and more times than not they were destined for

disaster.

Divides also developed out of the barriers created by white slave owners. This

is where "race" becomes dominant over culture. Africans were brought to the

Americas with a strong sense of culture and tradition. The white slave masters

attempted to strip them of there culture and force upon them the dominant culture

that was there own. The children that were born of slave masters and slaves became

a new race in slavery. They were thought to be privileged because they were of mixed

blood however they were actually outcast in both societies. They were dislike by the

slave owners wives and were envied by the field slaves. This created the first strand

of conflict amongst Africans and African Americans (those born of a slave master

and a slave). Although slaves had become disenfranchised, there was a constant

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influx of Africans coming into America. With this came a constant renewal of the

African culture. It also unified slaves and reminded them of there homeland. The

recurring African presence in America created a bond among the slaves, because

they were all kidnapped from there homeland and brought to the Americas to work

the fields until there demise.

The African immigrant's perception of the importance of race and class in the

definition of the minority underclass has been crucial in their definition of their own

racial identity. "The racial status that the immigrants attempt to present to the larger

society is that of foreign born black, a status that the immigrants perceive to be

higher than the status of American black"(Waters, 1994). A growing number of

African Americans are searching for their roots in Africa by visiting the coast of West

Africa to experience its culture. AFRICANS don't feel the same way about everything

just like other people don't; nor do they think alike anymore than whites, Orientals

and others do. But there are some things on which many of them tend to agree or

share perceptions because of their common African background and history. One of

those subjects is their attitude towards African Americans.

There are feelings of distrust, a lack of understanding and a cultural and

economic gap between the two groups (Fradin, 2006). Mary Waters (1994) describes

the relationship between Afro Caribbean blacks and their native born counterparts.

She noted the tension between them in terms o family life, education, and

commitment to work. Black immigrants see black Americans as lazy, disorganized,

obsessed with racial images, and having a laissez faire attitude toward family life and

child raising(Gomez, 2005). Native born American blacks view black immigrants as

arrogant and oblivious to the racial tensions between blacks and whites. "Simon R.

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Bryce-Laporte (1973) and David Lowenthal (1972) have argued, black immigrants, in

general, perceive that in America, mobility, thrift, achievement, and success are a

function of ability, assiduousness and motivation. These qualities made it possible

for other immigrants to achieve mobility"(Author, 2000).

Many African immigrants share in the stereotypical

perceptions of African Americans. They believe that black Americans have yet to

take full advantage of the educational and economic opportunities America offers.

African immigrants do not realize that black American conditions are due in part to

their colonized status, by centuries of "de jure segregation" and subtle forms of

institutionalized discrimination that has kept blacks from the mainstream economy,

one immigrant from Sierra Leone said "In spite of past discriminatory practices, I

know many native born blacks who have quit trying. Some have consciously decided

not to empower themselves by committing to education. You can not blame the

white man"(Fradin, 2006). This idea creates conflict amongst Africans and African

Americans because African immigrants do not understand the complexity of racial

discrimination, segregation and racism as a whole. They do not share in the African

American experience, because they have not had to endure such injustices inflicted

upon them by white America. "A lot of us do harbor a lot of hostility toward

Africans," says Tampa poet James Tokley. "Many Africans have no idea what our

ancestors endured during slavery". Glover agrees that while some Africans suffered

under colonial rule and apartheid, not all can relate to the degradation of slavery.

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 In a comparative study of black immigrants living in New York City and in

London, Nancy Foner(1985) found that foreign-born blacks tend to stress their

distinctiveness from American born blacks, setting themselves apart by emphasizing

their ethnic pride culture. The black immigrants, Foner states view themselves as

more ambitious, harder workers, less likely to be on welfare, less hostile to whites

and they fell more dignified and self assured in their dealings with the white majority

(Foner, 1985). "A lot of African-Americans were taught that Africa was nothing more

than just a primitive, backward jungle from whence they came," he says. Meanwhile,

Africans have picked up whites' fear of blacks. "Our perception of African-Americans

is that they are a race of people who carry guns and are very, very violent". Africa's

tribal wars oftentimes mirror black on black violence in America. Many black

Americans believe that "when indigenous African people come to America, they

adopt an attitude of superiority about individuals who could very well be their own

blood" (Tokley, 2009).

Godfrey Mwakikagile wrote of his encounters with both Africans and black

Americans while attending college. He described his experience as follows:

I got to know all the African students well and we interacted on regular

basis on- and off-campus. Since they were mostly Nigerians, it was they who invited

me to their homes, as much as I invited them to mine, to socialize and talk about

what was going on back home in our continent. Now and then, the subject of African

Americans crept into the conversation since we were also around them and even

went to school with them. We lived mostly in the inner city, which was

predominantly black, and we interacted with quite a few of them, inviting them to

our homes. The black American students at Aquinas College, most of whom came

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from Detroit, was another group we dealt with, especially on campus. But, almost

invariably, whenever the Nigerians talked about African Americans, they would use

the term akata. I didn't know what they meant by that and I never asked them. It

didn't take me long to figure out that they were referring to American blacks. I did

not detect any hostility towards them, or a condescending tone when they talked

about these cousins of ours in the diaspora (Hamilton, 2007). They were always

friendly and laughing, although I am not sure I interpreted correctly what the

laughter meant most of the time back then. It was not until years later that I found

out what the term akata meant after I read an article in the Detroit Free Press by a

Nigerian reporter, or someone with a Nigerian (Yoruba) name, who explained what

it meant: a brutal wild animal or something like that. It is said to be a Yoruba term.

Shortly thereafter, I again stumbled upon the term on the internet when I was

reading an article posted by an African American who was a member of a Yahoo

discussion group, Mwananchi (meaning countryman or citizen in Kiswahili), which

addresses many issues in a Pan-African context and in a very intelligent if not highly

intellectual manner; and one of whose members is the acerbic and highly

controversial Ghanaian professor of economics, George Ayittey, who teaches at a

university in Washington, D.C. Mwakikagile's story is very similar to the African

immigrants that arrive in America, seeking and education and opportunity. Most of

them believe that black Americans are disconnected from Africa, thus disconnected

from the African population in America.

Economics, plays an important role in the diaspora among Africans and black

Americans. "As a minority group whose presence in the United States has been

shaped by the forces of international migration and not by enslavement, African

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immigrants believe that they do not have to be burdened by the injustices of racism

and discrimination in America. Neither do they feel compelled to fight the results of

racial injustice. But one fact remains clear for both immigrants and American born

blacks: their access to economic opportunities and political power have been

influenced by their perceived low racial status relative to whites"(Arthur, 2000).

However, culturally the two groups are extremely diverse in beliefs and relations

with America. Sometimes the cultural gaps and differences in value orientation

become sites of conflict and tension between the two groups. "To the majority of

African immigrants, the key to social mobility in America is education and human

capital as broadly defined in terms of strong family relationships, foresight, frugality,

and cultural value based on entrepreneurship" (Author, 2000). Race, the

immigrants perceive is crucial for status attainment in a color conscious society, but

it alone does not explain performance. African immigrants are sensitive about their

racial identities but as Waters found, they are not as sensitive to race as are native

born American blacks.

Black Americans perceive Africans as taking advantage of the system. The

result of their migration are enjoying rising household incomes and economic

opportunities stemming from there educational accomplishments, their strong

commitment to self empowerment and a stable family unit, in which both parents

are in the household and working. Black Americans seem to be envious of African

advancement and are stuck at the bottom of the totem pole(Hamilton, 2007). The

collective experience of the African immigrants in their relationships with native

born blacks is that the immigrants perceive that they are not responsible for the

social, economic and cultural problems of the urban underclass in America.

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 The media has also played a role in contemporary conflicts among Africans

and black Americans. "Stereotypical media representations of the peoples and

cultures of Africa have not helped advance the cause of African and Africans in the

united states. While the immigrants might have a sense of powerlessness,

marginalization and alienation from mainstream American society, they are clear

about their economic participation in America, even those who are unskilled and

subject to fluctuations in the labor market as well as exploitation by unscrupulous

employers and who seek to accomplish very modest economic goals" (Author, 2000).

Stereotypical portrayals of black Americans in the media have also shaped the

perception of Africans perception in regards to black Americans. Not only do they

create a false black identity, which is exported throughout the world. Entman and

Rojecki illustrate how the television news focus on black poverty and crime is grossly

out of proportion with the reality of black life, how use of black 'experts' is limited to

'black-themed' issues, and how 'black politics' are often distorted in the news. In

short, they conclude that although there are more images of African-Americans on

television now than ever, these images are often harmful to the prospect of unity

between the races. A brief summary of some of their findings are listed below: A

mug shot of a Black defendant is 4 times more likely to appear in a local television

news report than of a White defendant(Hamilton, 2007). The accused is 2 times

more likely to be shown physically restrained in a local television news report than

when the accused is White. The name of the accused is 2 times more likely to be

shown on screen in a local TV news report the defendant is Black, rather than White

"Telegenic" figures aren't always the most representative leaders though they are

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presented as if they were. Some statistics from 1994: 40% of Black adults stated that

Jesse Jackson represents Black people "very well" .

The media sowed discord during the affirmative action debate of the 1990s

despite the considerable common ground between Blacks and Whites. Reporters

often predicted affirmative action would be one of the key issues in the 1996 election

because of the "rage" among Whites. A mere 1% percent of survey respondents

named affirmative action as their top priority in voting against a presidential

candidate 61% percent of White men ("angry" or not) favored affirmative action

programs as is or with reforms 76% percent of White women favored affirmative

action programs as is or with reforms. Somehow only 12.5% percent of White

"persons on the street" were shown to support affirmative action in a sample of

network news, while the percentage shown to oppose was 87.5%

While Black actors are now more visible in films, it is an open question as to

how well they are being represented. Compare, for example, how Blacks and Whites

are portrayed in the top movies of 1996. Black female movie characters shown using

vulgar profanity: 89%, White female movie characters shown using vulgar profanity:

17% , Black female movie characters shown being physically violent: 56% ,White

female movie characters shown being physically violent: 11% Black female movie

characters shown being restrained: 55% ,White female movie characters shown

being restrained: 6% . All of the above mentioned issues have aided in the conflict

among Africans and black Americans in the United States. Meanwhile, Africans are

viewed as an impoverished group of people in desperate need of government

assistance(Wright, 2004).

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 Much attention has been given to the prevalence of AIDS in Africa. 3,000

Africans die each day of AIDS and an additional 11,000 are infected. Less than one

percent are actually treated. However, even with the widespread prevalence of AIDS

(where infection rates can approach 30% among the sexually active population), and

fatal infections such as the Ebola virus, other diseases are far more problematic. In

fact, the situation with AIDS is improving in some nations as infection rates drop,

and deaths from Ebola are rare(Wright, 2004). On the other hand, diseases once

common but now almost unknown in most of the industrialized world, like malaria,

tuberculosis, tapeworm and dysentery often claim far more victims, particularly

among the young. Polio has made a comeback recently due to misinformation spread

by anti-American Islamic groups in Nigeria. Diseases native to Africa, such as

sleeping sickness, also resist attempts at elimination too. Clean potable water is rare

in most of Africa (even those parts outside the sub-Saharan region) despite the fact

that the continent is crossed by several major rivers and contains some of the largest

freshwater lakes in the world (Wright, 2004). However, many of the major

population centers are coastal, and few major cities have adequate sewage treatment

systems. Although boiling water is a possibility, fuel for boiling is scarce as well. The

problem is worst in Africa's rapidly growing cities, such as Cairo, Lagos and

Kinshasa.

Colonialism concentrated on joining the coast with internal territories. As

such, nearly none of Africa's roads and railways connect with each other in any

meaningful way (Gomez, 2005). Joining Africa's extensive railway network has

recently become a priority for African nations outside of southwest Africa, which has

an integrated network. Transportation between neighboring coastal settlements is

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nearly always by sea, no matter what the topography of the land in between them.

Even basic services like telecommunications are often treated the same way. For

example, phone calls between Ghana and neighboring Côte d'Ivoire once had to be

routed through England and France(Gomez, 2005). Although Africa had numerous

pre-European overland trade routes, few are suitable for modern transport such as

trucks or railways, especially when they cross old European colonial

borders(Hamilton, 2007). While all of the facts above are true, they are the only

images that are portrayed in the media of Africans. Social, cultural, and economic

factors account for a lack of social integration among Africans and black Americans.

African immigrants tend to restrict their social networks to other African

immigrants. They create and maintain strong alliances with Africans, excluding

black Americans from there bond. The question then becomes, what to do to bridge

the gap between Africans and black Americans in the United States?

While African Americans have legitimate reasons to blame some Africans for

their negative attitude towards them, they themselves should also admit that there

are many African Americans who also have a negative attitude towards Africa for a

number of reasons, including being brainwashed by the white man to hate their

motherland by always portraying Africa in a negative light on television, in books

and newspapers and magazines; and their own lack of interest in Africa regardless of

what the white man says(Gomez, 2005). It is a two-way traffic. One is no more guilty

than the other. And it is up to both to bridge the gap. Many Africans and African

Americans are doing that. But we still have a long way to go, as has been clearly

demonstrated by the stereotypes both sides continue to have about each other,

although neither is better than the other.

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 One of the worst stereotypes is that Africans hate African Americans;

conversely, you hear some Africans saying black Americans look down upon them

and make fun of them for being backward and uncivilized. There is some validity in

all this but, mainly it is a clash of perceptions, and dangerously misleading. As

Kwame Essien, a Ghanaian student and president of the African Students Union at

the University of North Carolina-Greensboro, stated in his article "Dispelling Myths

about Africans and African Americans" in the school newspaper, The Carolinian,

March 18, 2002: "I had a great awakening about racial stereotypes when the

members of the African Students Union did a presentation during the Shades of

Color Conference. The Multi-Cultural Affairs Office deserves applause for the great

program. Some of the issues raised by some of the African-American participants

were 1. There's the notion that Africans HATE African-Americans. 2. Africans who

were born and raised in Africa say that they are the only 'TRUE AFRICANS.' Such

stereotypes shows that black students do not know a lot about each other. I am not

speaking for all Africans. Before I address these problems let's say a little about

slavery and how it has affected the relationship between blacks in the diaspora. It is

obvious that Africans contributed to slavery, but what most people fail to see is the

bigger picture. Slavery was not only intended to exploit free labor from Africans; but

it was set up to destroy the black race.

As Dr. Martin Luther King said: "We have to live together as brothers and

sisters or perish together as fools". What is sometimes so disturbing about some of

these negative remarks by Africans when they talk about African Americans is that

they come from different parts of the continent, delivering the same message of

indifference towards American blacks. And because they are not orchestrated or

19
coordinated, they give the impression that hostility or indifference towards black

Americans is a pervasive phenomenon among Africans on the African continent and

in the United States as well as in other parts of the world where Africans live. That is

simply not true. Yet, conflicting signals now and then coming from some Africans

only reinforce the notion or the perception that Africans in general don't want to

have anything to do or have nothing to do with black Americans. And it is not just

because they are Americans that they don't want them; it is not because these

African Americans were born and raised on American soil, although that may be one

of the reasons, such as jealousy(Gomez, 2005). These African descendants in the

diaspora are even denied their African heritage by some Africans who call them

"white".

In order to build a coalition among black Americans and Africans, they must

redefine what it means to be African in America and see the similarities instead of

the differences that have been created by white America. A dialogue among the two

groups needs to be opened up and the elephant in the room needs to be addressed. A

common ground needs to be developed in which both groups are able to discuss

there concerns and issues with one another. More specifically African immigrants

and black Americans need to ignore white America's views and input and embrace

one another's various cultures and values. They would see that they have more in

common in regards to oppression and lack of opportunity in there homelands.

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