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[quote=BajanYankee;31672008]From the book, "Islands in the City: West Indian Migration to New York."
In my estimation, the vast majority of blacks in America whose parents or grandparents were West Indian (or Cape Verdean or West African or, to a lesser extent, Afro Latinos) identify mostly or fully with the African American community.
I've seen this too and have come to the conclusion that AA blacks hate Islander Blacks or actual blacks who have emigrated to American because they actually are educated and successful.
AA blacks, for the most part, have the "slave" and ghetto mentality and anyone black who does not live with that is an Uncle Tom.
This was funny!
I am an "AA black" I guess, I call myself a "black American" but still I am "descendant of slaves" lol!
I don't have a "slave and ghetto" mentality and living here in Atlanta, I have worked with and befriended and been to college with (at an HBCU BTW) a lot of Africans from various countries, Carribbeans from various countries, and southern, northern, and western "blacks" from America who are also "descendants of slaves."
The experience that made the most impression for me was attending an HBCU here in Atlanta as we had a lot of black international students, some even from England, Germany, and France and other parts of Europe who had never experienced a total immersion in "blackness" as many called it.
We never had any infighting amongst the various groups. I can say as a black American that I never did and still don't look down on any other black person, I feel, like the majority of my classmates and current black American associates, that we share a common history as a part of the African Diaspora.
The only issue that would crop up in college was some of my friends from the Carribbean mostly were homesick and would complain about "America" in general and also about "American blacks." They would get upset because I'd tell them to "go back home" if they were unhappy but they said it would be a disgrace for them to go back home so I told them they should make due and quit complaining and take advantage of the time and opportunities they had in America. Also if "American blacks" were so bad, why did they want to come to an HBCU that was over 95% American black? They never had good answers for this. Maybe they weren't easily able to get into a more mainstream college is what I assumed.
In regards to the OP, I don't think those two women were fighting because they didn't like ethnicities of the other. I think they don't like each other period.
It actually reminds me of a friend of mine from Cameroon who hated all our Nigerian co-workers. They would pick on him and joke with him a lot and he admitted to me that "they" were basically jerks like all Nigerians. That all Nigerians were jerks and crooks and no one should ever trust them. I was like because this was the first time that I had heard an African speak like that about another African. In college we had mostly Nigerians and Ghanaians and they seemed to get along and I never heard them speak ill of each other. But at work, we had a lot of different African groups (Zambians, Namibians, and even a couple from South Africa who were students) and they all had a dislike for Nigerians lol. We also had Ghanaians at work but they kept to themselves mostly and rarely complained.
So I don't think the ethnicity complaints with the nurses are indicative of some sort of battle between the blacks. I think that all people are capable of not liking another and of subsequently stereotyping and prejudging people based on ethnicity. White people do it too in regards to the stereotypes of Irish and Italians and the Polish. I have even heard people from the islands speak about other islanders negatively, especially in reference to Jamaicans who are portrayed as violent and ill tempered. Us American blacks speak ill of each other depending upon where we hail from. I myself will admit that I have spoken ill of "southern blacks" mostly in regards to them walking out in the street when I am driving and my light is green. In my neighborhood they will be at the corner, have the "walk" sign, but will stand there and wait for my light to change and then walk in front of my car expecting me to stop for them. It is a pet peeve of mine with "southern blacks." There are others I have as well in regards to "southern blacks" who I work with. I am from the Midwest and many of my southern black friends have issues with me because "I think I know it all" (which I do think lol especially at work). But we all get along and even people who I have almost hit, I will speak to on the street and tell them to walk across the street when the signal is telling them to walk.
WTF? How do you figure that Caribbean blacks are somehow immune from the generational effects of slavery? Do you think slavery was somehow different over there?
It was more that the aftermath was different. In the English-speaking Caribbean, post-slavery, Blacks were always the majority (or at least in the case of Trinidad and Guyana) a plurality. Not a minority. There was no Klan, no Jim Crow, no lynchings, no vicious racism codified into the legal system. In the Caribbean there were no large numbers of poor whites (or other whites for that matter) competing economically for the scraps left after the Civil War. There was no concerted effort to destroy the cultures of Africans in the Caribbean. In the Caribbean there was a professional class of blacks and a class of civil servants; you did not have that in America, especially in the South.
You can't compare the aftermath of slavery in America to that in the Caribbean.
My mom isn't the child of a West Indian immigrant (an immigrant to America anyway). What would she know about this?
Are your eyes open, btw? What's your background?
I'm a Black (capital B) American. I'm not saying theres hate, or at least any significant amount of it, but there have been friction between the 3 groups (Black Americans, Caribbean Americans, African Americans) at times. as there is intra-friction between most broadly associated groups including Latin and white.
Last edited by CaseyB; 10-04-2013 at 11:40 AM..
Reason: discuss the topic, not other members
I'm a Black (capital B) American. I'm not saying theres hate, or at least any significant amount of it, but there have been friction between the 3 groups (Black Americans, Caribbean Americans, African Americans) at times.
There's also been friction among Italians, Irish Catholics, Jews and Protestants at times. How much of that do you think is still left over?
Tension between West Indians and African Americans was probably at its height in the early 20th Century when both groups began to arrive in the Northeast in large numbers. The West Indians who migrated to the country during that time eventually assimilated into African American culture. Then you had a large wave of immigrants arriving in the late 60s/early 70s. Those West Indians also assimilated into African American culture. And their children (e.g., Tatyana Ali, Nia Long, Biggie Smalls, etc.) are viewed the same as African Americans.
Most people would think of the civil rights activist Stokely Carmichael as being African American, but he was born in Trinidad. And Louis Farrakhan is the child of West Indian immigrants and we all know that he may be considered one of the most hated "African Americans" of all time (right up there with O.J., Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson).
Talking about "hatred" between West Indians and AAs in 2013 is like talking about hatred between light skinned and dark skinned blacks in 2013. Completely outdated and played.
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because this was the first time that I had heard an African speak like that about another African. In college we had mostly Nigerians and Ghanaians and they seemed to get along and I never heard them speak ill of each other. But at work, we had a lot of different African groups (Zambians, Namibians, and even a couple from South Africa who were students) and they all had a dislike for Nigerians lol. We also had Ghanaians at work but they kept to themselves mostly and rarely complained. 
especially at work). But we all get along and even people who I have almost hit, I will speak to on the street and tell them to walk across the street when the signal is telling them to walk.
