Rita Zelaya

Title: Dissent In Black Communities

How could someone who is “obviously of color” believe that they can deny their color? This question swirled in my mind after reading From An Island You Cannot Name by Martin Espada. Afro-Caribbeans desire to follow the immigrant path, but they feel pressure from whites and blacks to conform to the minority tradition. I set out to discover more about this phenomenon and found that it is not so much about skin color as it is about an ideology. However, this division within the black community is so entrenched that it is perpetuating discrimination amongst them.

So why are the Afro-Caribbeans so opposed to being a part of the African-American community? In Black-Hispanic Debate, West Indians Side With Hispanics, Milton White, a television executive says:

It’s about attitude, I identify with a West Indian identity because it speaks to an ‘immigrant’ mentality, and it’s not about making claims on society or demanding settlements. I don’t walk around as if someone owed me 50 acres and a mule, but that doesn’t mean I’m not subjected to the racism of American life (Nevaer).

His comment implies that he has no problem with being black, however, he does not subscribe to the African-American point of view.

Nevertheless, the discovery that surprised me most in this article was made by Katherine Newman, an anthropologist studying the poor, who said:

[i]n the heavily black Harlem neighborhood of New York, African-Americans were more likely to be rejected when they sought jobs—including from black employers than were Latinos, often immigrants, from outside the neighborhood” (Nevaer). Furthermore, she explains that “[t]his wasn’t a racial divide, but a preference…[e]mployers have a favorable impression of immigrant labor. Even though they themselves are black, they often have a jaundiced view of the urban or African-American labor force (Nevaer).

This really makes you realize how perpetuating negative stereotypes can result in dire consequences.

This dissent within the black community can also be found in the political arena. An article by Orlando Patterson, professor of sociology at Harvard University, The New Black Nativism states that Barack Obama is not receiving much support from the African-American community because  “many black Americans don’t consider him one of their own and may even feel threatened by what he embodies” (Patterson). Furthermore, he explains that the new African-American definition of black comes from a nativist perspective:

To be black American, in this view, one’s ancestors must have been not simply slaves but American slaves. Furthermore, directly mirroring the traditional definition of whiteness as not being black is the growing tendency to define blackness in negative terms—it is to be not white in upbringing, kinship or manner, to be too not at ease in the intimate ways of white Americans (Patterson).

This definition helped me understand why minorities who rise above poverty often face rejection from their communities. We read examples of this in James Baldwin’s No Name In The Street, Anzia Yazierska’s Soap and Water and Bread Givers.    

Another article that discusses these conflicting emotions is African vs. African-American: A Shared Complexion Does Not Guarantee Racial Solidarity, by Tracie Reddick,  in which Kofi Glover, a native of Ghana and political science professor at the University of South Florida says, “[w]hether we like it or not, Africans and African-Americans have two different and very distinct cultures” (Reddick).

Moreover often immigrants do not understand the minority perspective. Cheikh T. Sylla, a native of Senegal and the president of a Tampa architecture firm says:

he’s baffled by blacks’ unwillingness to take advantage of America’s many opportunities and their willingness to blame most problems on race. When most Africans come here, their first priority, by and large, is education. Right here you have a tool that allows you to open doors within American Society. There was no king in my family or any other type of royalty in my lineage. I had to work to earn every single penny I own, and it was brutal. The African-American experience is so profound that at times I don’t think I can appreciate it. I understand it must be recognized as a matter of history, but it cannot be held as a justification to one’s inability to succeed. (Reddick)

Immigrants measure success according to the “American Dream” ideology. A person’s ability to assimilate into the dominant culture and personal achievements define success. Patterson believes that Obama is living the “American Dream” and this is why the black community is rejecting him. He explains that black American’s view Obama as “the son of an immigrant…brought up mainly by middle-class whites whose culture is second nature to him” (Patterson).

Based on Patterson’s assessment of the situation one must agree that “black Americans are in need of the social and cultural capital that comes from living with and in the white majority” (Patterson). This continued resistance toward immersion into the dominant culture can only result in a lack of opportunities and limited personal success.

Another article that touches on these concerns is The New African Americans: African and Caribbean Immigrants Are Changing Black Identity in the United States written by Carla Thompson, freelance writer and author, who mentions:

Each group views the other with a fair amount of suspicion usually based entrenched stereotypes and limited exposure. Immigrants depending on their outlook and experiences, chose to resist or embrace assimilation into the broader African-American category. (Thompson)

The problem seems to lie in the stereotypes that each group holds of the other. This is something that could probably be resolved with more exposure to each other. What is actually unfortunate according to Odell Simmons, a black American artist, is that these stereotypes have actually been perpetuated by U. S. media. He says, “people in St. Thomas and Nigeria think we all behave like what they see on Rap City and MTV” (Thompson). This explains that often people base their opinions on fictional television shows, which perpetuate certain stereotypes. Unfortunately, these images have a lasting effect on the audience which can blur the lines between fiction and non-fiction.  

Simmons who has attended Afro-Caribbean gatherings asserts “that their celebrations aren’t any different than those of Southern blacks” (Thompson). In the end the article states “I Am What I Call Myself” (Thompson). However, people should not allow erroneous stereotypes to affect their views. Coming together may result in a better understanding of each others culture. This in turn can help develop a new black identity in the United States (Thompson).

The government had good intensions when it implemented racial classifications to determine how to better assist underserved communities. Unfortunately, this system is no longer functional and its benefit should be re-assessed. In her book Raising Biracial Children, Kerry Ann Rockquemore, PhD in African American studies and sociology at the University of Illinois, contends that Tiger Wood’s appearance on Oprah in 1997 initiated:

the idea of multiracial identity as a valid choice for mixed-race people burst into the spotlight and caused an intense public debate over the “correct” way for mixed-race people to define themselves racially…[his] self-definition…challenged the dominant norm [of] those with any “black blood”…his self-identification…represents but one of many racial identity choices made by mixed-race people in American society today (Rockquemore).

American society is quite diverse and people should no longer be categorized in boxes. Multi-racial individuals and Afro-Caribbeans should be allowed to celebrate their individuality. We are all human beings! This is America! People should be able to subscribe to which ever social contract they desire, whether that of the immigrant or minority, without repercussions.