----- Original Message ----- From: "Marvin Long, Jr." <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: Monday, December 16, 2002 2:32 PM Subject: Re: African not "black" enough?
> On Mon, 16 Dec 2002, Dan Minette wrote: > > > My "daughter" Nelli and I had a long talk last night about world politics, > > Africa, Europe, the US, land mines, Iraq, etc. Toward the end of it we > > discussed multi-generation African Americans. She said that that she has > > been told repeatedly that she wasn't "black enough" because she takes hard > > classes, goes to model UN, etc., instead of "chilling." She noted that > > first generation African Americans do much better than muli-generation > > African Americans. > > > > I've got a couple of questions about this: > > > > Is this a reasonable sample? > > > > Why? > > (Reggie sorta beat me to it, but I'll post what I was writing anyway.) > > I'm not sure what you mean by "sample," but the phenomena you describe > (accusations of being not-black-enough for failing to conform to certain > social expectations) isn't new. The term "oreo" leaps to mind, sadly. > One doesn't have to be a first-generation African American to get hit with > this term, but such a person would be a prime candidate for not having > assimilated the stereotypical behaviors of the subculture to which she > appears to belong but really doesn't. FWIW, she is not an African-American. She is an African who intends to go back home to live in Zambia. > I wonder how much of the increased success of the first-generation > immigrant should be attributed to a lack of native minority-specific > burdens and/or hangups, and how much should be attributed to the > likelihood that the set of voluntary immigrants probably includes a higher > proportion of people with resources and/or focused purpose than the > native population as a whole. If it financial resources, the answer is probably not. The folks I know of from Africa are not anywhere close to well off. Indeed, Nelli saves money from her summer job to send money home, where the country is devastated by a drought. Even though her father is a professor, they cannot afford meat very often at all. Focused purpose is a better candidate, but Nelli tells me that such purpose is more common in Africa as a whole. IIRC, Gautam also points out that 2nd and 3rd generation Jamacians do better than multi-generation African Americans. It is really interesting how much in common Nelli and I have considering attitudes, ethics, work ethic, etc. The main difference is that she was raised in a much more conservative house than ours. Dan M. _______________________________________________ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
