Why does racism seem to affect the African American community more intensly that immigrant africans?

Question

I could site statistics. Do I need to?

I'd like to here your answers.

I have rephrased this question here:

http://answers.yahoo.com/question/?qid=20060731203142AACxrSb&pa=FYd1D2bwHTHwIb5iFOk6QXwlw1XlygAWGfH1qL1OKAV4JajWVwzMaGwFD22JcdXPQ3sgaiVq_8GHug--&msgr_status=

This should be more accurate. Please answer it instead.

dslcobra: I cannot send you an email, I would love for you to repost, because I intend to delete this question. It is obviously inflammatory.

I decided the answer was too good to delete.

Answer 1

Like the first comment, I believe "African American" does not describe me because I do not hold dual citizenship in Africa and America. I should simply be called "AMERICAN" because that's what I am.
"Black" is just a term used by Whites to seperate me from "whites".

The difference between Black Americans and West Indians/Africans is that Black Americans have no flag of their own.

A Flag is not just the symbol that we wave and hang on our cars or houses. By "Flag", I am talking about a true definate nationality, culture, and ethnicity.

West Indians have their own flags. Africans have their own flags.
White people to usually can trace their heritage to Scandanavia, Ireland, England or Italy for example.

Black Americans have no flag except for the US Flag; and no culture except that they inherited from Whites of the segregated, racist south.
That is why the creation of Rap and Hip Hop as well as afros and clothing styles means so much to Blacks. It gives us the sense of belonging that we do not have.

During slavery, Black Americans were stripped of their languages and their heritage. No Black American slave knew what African country he was from and had a highly unscertain future.

America as you know has been a country of slavery, segregation and racism which is seemingly perpetuated by White Supremacist culture. That is because Whites are the predominant, preeminent structure of American society. Blacks salute the American flag, but they also recognize that that flag stands for a history of racism -which is thus far unabated since Blacks have not and probably will not get a formal apology or reperations from the American Government.

Even the Japanese got an apology and reperation after WW2 for their imprisonment in the concentration camps of America.

For Black Americans, living in America means having to accept White supremacist culture and having no roots to reflect back on.

America has gotten very progressive though since laws have been passed to protect Black Americans from racism over the last 150 years. Unfortunately Racism has become more subtle.
Whites can't walk up to a Black and call him a "n!gger" to his face but, instead, they can deny Blacks jobs, living spaces near White communities and equal economic oppourtunity.
I don't even have to go into the inequalities Blacks face in city schools - you could read Jonathan Kozol's Savage Inequalities and understand that...or just take a look at test scores and the cases of corruption in the Boards of education.

The main reason Black Americans feel they have racism worse than African immigrants and West Indians is because Black Americans have suffered through racism in America wherin THEY have not. Yes Africa had apartheid and yes the West Indies had slavery too. However most historians agree that slavery in America was WORSE than it was in Africa and the West Indies .
The immigrants coming to America now are believed by Blacks to be snobbish, underhanded and distrustful because they seem to take jobs that Black Americans need. Blacks see them as "riding their coattails".
If Blacks hadn't endured what they endured, West Indians and Africans wouldn't even be allowed to immigrate to America.


Furthermore, after working in Mortgages, I realized something very shocking about immigrants.
Once their credit lines are established, they have fical scores well above 700. Blacks however have been in a socio economic hole for ages and can't seem to get out because they suffer from unemployment and even worse - UNDEREMPLOYMENT.
Having immigrants come to America - establish instant credit lines and then buy all the real estate with money from their countries (legal and illegal funds) means that Blacks get pushed even further and further behind.
My entire point is that Black people in America are the product of racism and centuries of slavery desperatly trying to find ways to improve themselves even if those ways are through illegal means. Immigrants from Africa and West Indians have challenges to face to but, they seem to have an easier time getting ahead.


Many mmigrants to America such as Italians, Irish and other various Europeans who had moved to America during the time after slavery was abolished and Blacks started moving North were allowed to get jobs. Irish for example moved into the Police force.
The sad thing is, blacks who moved North were not allowed to get farmhand jobs or other maintenance jobs EVEN THOUGH after having been slaves they were well aware of all the techniques required to do these jobs.
That is one of the main reasons Blacks made almost no progress during those years - something sociologists on post-slavery America agree on.


Furthermore, after living in China and seeing many African foreign students living there, I was suprised by the high intelligence of African people. Many of them speak 4 or more languages. Spanish, English and French (due to the colonizations in Africa) and then they seek to learn even more.
I was astounded by them.


I'd also like to say that Black people in America don't know when to pull the "race card". Many of them are so uneducated about what racism truly is that they call everything from discrimination to bigotry racism. They also don't have enough political power to change their situations.

Answer 2

the African American community IS immigrant Africans, Im black dont call me African American cause Im not from Africa. Im American and thats it I have never been out of the country. Do you call white people born in the US European Americans. I have never heard the term.
To answer your question though, I think people dont generally tend to think of people that are visualy actual Africans like they do people they can tell are Black and born in the US. Why I dont know, and now that i think about it, it puzzles me but who knows?? maybe that should be your next question