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Because most African immigrants here are educated professionals.
People keep saying that but that simply is not the case with my family. I can only think of one relative who came in to the USA with a college education.
There was a report in the Seattle news last year how Somali and other African refugees were outperforming African Americans in Seattle in English no less. What was stunning is that these kids came from homes where English wasn't spoken at home.
Got a link? People from Trinidad, the rest of the carribean and Africa come here and out preform American blacks. LoL, Trinidad has one of if not the highest standard of living and is one of the weathiest in the western hemisphere. Black Americans might want to get their own house in order before they start casting stones. Some of the best and brightest "african americans" are actually from Trinidad/west indies.
"There is a subgroup of black Americans in this country who continue to achieve at high levels, results that might provide some clues to solving one of our most persistent educational problems. First- and second-generation immigrants from Africa and the Caribbean, though only 13 percent of the nation’s blacks as a whole, represent 41 percent of all those of African descent at 28 selective universities and 23 percent of the black population at all public universities."
I will agree here that our achievements are often not attributed to us as a people but rather grouped with African-Americans and even with Hispanics from the Caribbean (especially with immigrant data). Generally speaking, the U.S. attempts to force all people of African descent into one box, rather than allow us ethnic identification like Asians and Hispanics. Frankly, it would be nice for West Indians to have the opportunity to identify ethnically/culturally first (similar to Hispanics) and then split us "racially" if needs be. That way we could measure our achievement more accurately. However, our numbers are likely too small to make that happen.
The fact remains that African Americans did the VAST MAJORITY of the heavy lifting prior to and during the Civil Rights movement that even made it possible for Afro-Caribbeans and Africans to gain success in America.
People keep saying that but that simply is not the case with my family. I can only think of one relative who came in to the USA with a college education.
There was a report in the Seattle news last year how Somali and other African refugees were outperforming African Americans in Seattle in English no less. What was stunning is that these kids came from homes where English wasn't spoken at home.
Perhaps not, but it has been my experience with African immigrants (here and in other countries) that they are mostly educated professionals. YMMV.
The fact remains that African Americans did the VAST MAJORITY of the heavy lifting prior to and during the Civil Rights movement that even made it possible for Afro-Caribbeans and Africans to gain success in America.
True...and for other non-white immigrants as well. Not that there weren't significant contributions from other groups, but African-Americans were the ones more than anyone else who broke down the barriers and opened the doors.
I'm not so certain I'd describe doing "so well" ... someone who drives a taxi. It's a matter of perspective, I suppose.
Apparently you haven't seen their levels of education. They are among the most educated immigrants with Nigerians leading. It's basically between Nigerians and Indians for the highest levels of education among immigrants.
People keep saying that but that simply is not the case with my family. I can only think of one relative who came in to the USA with a college education.
There was a report in the Seattle news last year how Somali and other African refugees were outperforming African Americans in Seattle in English no less. What was stunning is that these kids came from homes where English wasn't spoken at home.
Oh yeah? Well, here's an FYI for you:
First they arrive as VIPs:
Quote:
They were welcomed by officials from the International Rescue Committee, a New York agency contracted by the government to help refugees adjust to American life. A caseworker who spoke Somali translated while other officials helped the family collect their small bags and drove them to their new home
Quote:
It was a 30-minute journey through a dizzyingly unfamiliar landscape. There were paved roads full of hurtling cars instead of dirt paths traversed by donkeys. There were strip malls and billboards instead of anthills and thorn trees.
In the apartment, the family was introduced to appliances they had never used before: a gleaming sink, a refrigerator and a stove without a working pilot light. (The landlord fixed the stove the next day.) After their flight and lessons, the Yarrows were so exhausted that caseworkers decided to leave explanations about the dishwasher and air conditioner for another day.
Officials at the International Rescue Committee say such progress is common. From the beginning, instructors prepare refugees with English classes, interview skills and job training, along with lessons about how to shop, where to bank and how the local bus system works.
These lessons are crucial. Refugees here receive assistance from the federal government for four months. After that, they are expected to support themselves. Needy families can continue to receive federal refugee assistance for several months and more from the state after that, but that is discouraged.
And now, slowly, the Somali refugees are ending up homeless:
Quote:
Fadumo Isse sat with three other Somali refugee women in the hallway of a homeless shelter in north Minneapolis with her eyes welling up with tears as she told her story of the first six months of her life in the United States
Quote:
Isse arrived in the United States in late April, hoping to live a contented life: an illusion people in third-world and developing countries have about America, she recalled.
After six months in the United States, Isse has yet to live that lifestyle. She lives in a one-bedroom apartment in Mary’s Place — a homeless shelter in north Minneapolis — with her daughter.
She is one of 39 homeless Somali families in the shelter, who, like Isse, have recently come from a refugee camp in Ethiopia. Isse lived there for more than 20 years.
The number of Somali families living in Mary’s Place has drastically increased in the past nine months, said Mary Jo Copeland, founder and director of Sharing & Caring Hands and Mary’s Place.
Six Somali families lived in Mary’s Place about a year ago. Before that, there had not been a homeless Somali family in the shelter, which was opened 16 years ago.
Most of the African immigrants here in Minnesota are from Somalia, and they tend to do dismally compared to other groups.
It is clearly culture that is the driving force of outcomes, and as for the primitive culture of Somalia....well lets just say they barely had a prayer to make it here in America. Their best bet is to abandon that culture and assimilate, in which case they can go far and achieve much.
The fact remains that African Americans did the VAST MAJORITY of the heavy lifting prior to and during the Civil Rights movement that even made it possible for Afro-Caribbeans and Africans to gain success in America.
The fact of the matter is, Americans of recent African, Caribbean and Latin American origin played major roles both before, during and after the Civil Rights Movement.
Marcus Garvey, Stokely Carmichael (aka Kwame Ture), ShirleyChisholm, Arturo Schomburg, Piri Thomas, Malik El Shabazz and many others who I could mention but I think I made my point.
These people and the immigrant groups they came from were not born with silver spoons in their mouth. The places they immigrated from were not the Garden of Eden either.
Neither were they necessarily greeted with understanding from white OR black Americans once they got here.
And yes, that's a fact.
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