"And you know African's, they don't like black people."

[tone_milazzo]

I heard a stand up comic say that recently, but he didn't elaborate.

My story has a kid from East St Louis and a man from Benin. I hadn't considered that the kid might have some serious prejudices towards Africans and vice versa.

Is there tension between African-Americans who've been here for generations and African immigrants?

Comments

[zellieh]

I don't know about the US, but in the UK I was startled when I realised how much tension there is between immigrants from different African countries. So immigrants from, say Nigeria, might not get on with immigrants from other African countries. Also the different Carribean islands. And don't forget about religion - moslems and christians from the same country might not like each other. And also the original tribes - sometimes which tribe you are from is more important than which country.

[stasha2g]

Sounds like the stand-up comic was riffing on the Africans/Afrikaans thing.

[lotusbiosm]

I've seen more instances of my African-American coworkers picking on (in front of and behind the back of) my coworkers from Africa because they don't speak very clear English. (I live in DC, and so many of them are from Ethiopia/Eritrea) No idea what the Africans think, since they don't tend to say, though one only knows what they say amongst themselves.

[girlinachronism]

It depends on the people, really. I (an African-American) spent some time in South Africa and for the most part, everyone was cool. One particular incident at a barber shop, though, was a little upsetting

[sobota]

Perhaps it's just my own personal experience, but American Black people don't like me (my father is Moroccan). I don't fit in with their definition of what a 'Black person' should act like.

I don't know Black American culture, having grown up in France and England, thus I find it difficult fitting in. However, it upsets me that some Black Americans don't care one whit about their heritage, or don't wish to learn.

[girlinachronism]

"However, it upsets me that some Black Americans don't care one whit about their heritage, or don't wish to learn."

No offense, but where would we start? It's a fairly safe assumption to say that unless the African-American is Gullah, they have no idea where their specific motherlands are. So to say that we don't wish to know about our heritage suggests that we should instead know every single culture on the entire continent, which is entirely unfeasible.

Furthermore, are you discounting African-Americans' history as a whole? We do have a legitimate heritage as the descendants of the first Africans to reach the New World, which, though not as longevous, is just as rich as the backgrounds of those who were not sold by their peers.

I don't mean to be unnecessarily combative, just trying to deepen my understanding of your comments.

[sobota]

That's all true, but they don't seem interested in learning about it if they are confronted with someone who actually is from Africa, like myself. Maybe I'm not understanding it, but people have told me 'You're not Black enough' or 'You don't talk like a Black person' and I don't know what they mean by that. And when I try to explain my heritage, they get angry, as if I'm belitting their own.