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STUDY SHOWS
U.S. BLACKS TRAILING:
IMMIGRANTS FROM AFRICA, CARIBBEAN FOUND TO FARE BETTER. EMPLOYERS PREFER AFRICAN IMMIGRANTS TO AFRICAN-AMERICANS? AFRICAN IMMIGRANTS: MORE EDUCATION THAN U.S. WHITES Despite being new to the country, black immigrants have significantly higher household incomes and a lower unemployment rate than US-born blacks, according to a new study likely to intensify debate about the nature of racial discrimination in the United States. The study, done at the State University of New York at Albany, finds that the median household income for immigrants from Africa and the West Indies in 2000 was about $7,000 HIGHER than that of African-Americans, whose household income is $33,500 - one of the lowest of any ethnic group in the United States. The study also shows that African-Americans have an UNEMPLOYMENT RATE that is nearly TWICE as high as that of African Immigrants. Opponents of AFFIRMATIVE ACTION programs may see the study as proof that racial bias does not hold back all blacks. But the author of the study, SUNNY-Albany sociologist John Logan, said the income and employment gaps may say more about the high motivation level of immigrants, who tend to work longer hours, pool their resources and save for the future. Some gains of the civil rights era, have been struck down in federal courts on the grounds that they are unnecessary and unfair to whites and other groups. That has led to the dismantling of some race-based college admission policies, to the dismay of organizations such as the NAACP (National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, which argues that blacks still struggle against the vestiges of racism. Logan's research reveals the changing face of black America. In several American cities, including Boston, the black population is more than 35% immigrant because of the immigration wave of the 1990s, which brought large numbers of people from Haiti, Jamaica, NIGERIA, KENYA, and other countries. But as this newer group advances, some argue that an undertow is keeping many poor US born blacks from moving forward. Mary C. Waters, a Harvard Sociologist who wrote the book, "Black Identities: West Indian Immigrant Dreams and American Realities," argued that EMPLOYERS TEND TO FAVOR BLACK IMMIGRANTS OVER AFRICAN-AMERICANS BECAUSE THEY ASSUME AMERICAN BLACKS WILL NOT WORK AS HARD. They have a clear bias against native-born blacks, Waters said. Other scholars, such as sociologist Thomas Sowell of the Hoover Institution at Stanford University, have argued that the gap between the two groups exists because immigrants have "whole constellation of values, attitudes, skills, and contacts that are related to success in the labor market." While the drive to succeed has been well documented, specialists argue that blacks who are at the bottom rung of the American ladder - many stuck in public housing projects and on the welfare rolls - have been stripped of that desire. By contrast, analyst say, immigrants from all ethnic and racial backgrounds tend to have a willingness to leave everything familiar for the hope of a better life in the United States. When you control for education, across the board, immigrants tend to do better than natives," said Philip Kasinitz, a sociologist at the City University of New York graduate center. "That's true of black immigrants and black natives and it's true for white immigrants and white natives" AFRICAN IMMIGRANTS: ONE OF THE MOST EDUCATED IN THE US, BUT FACE JOB DISCRIMINATION But Kasinitz said the continued role of DISCRIMINATION IN JOB OPPORTUNITIES may be revealed in the new study: IMMIGRANTS FROM AFRICA ARE ONE OF THE MOST EDUCATED GROUPS IN AMERICA, WITH AN AVERAGE OF 14.5 YEARS OF EDUCATION, compared with 13.9 years for ASIANS and 13.5 years for WHITES. Nonetheless, the MEDIAN household income for African Immigrants was $40,300, compared with $52,000 for whites and $64,200 for Asians, based on 2000 Census figures. The unemployment rate for whites in 2000 was 3.9% For Asians, it was 4.7%, and 5.1% for Africans. "One interpretation of this study will be to say that racial discrimination can't be as significant as we once thought because here are people of the same race who are doing better than African-Americans," said Kasinitz. "But you can also reverse it and say, 'Given the education level of African immigrants, the question shouldn't be why aren't they doing better than blacks, but why are they not doing as well as WHITES?'" Sociologist say that in the past black immigrants melded into African -American culture because there were so few of them. But now, with huge communities in Brooklyn, N.Y., and Mattapan, they are likely to hold onto their own customs. EDUCATION and INCOMES 2000 US UNEMPLOY. YEARS OF EDUC. MEDIAN Population Rate Household Income BLACK African- American 30,872,851 9.9% 12.5 $33,500 African 537,096 5.1% 14.5 $40,300 West- Indian 1,508534 7.3% 12.8 $40,000 WHITE 190,450,891 3.9% 13.5 $52,000 LATINO 34,264,765 6.9% 10.7 $37,600 ASIAN 10,348,519 4.7% 13.9 $64,200 Source: Lewis Mumford Center , New York State University at Albany. By: Cindy Rodriguez The Boston Globe (Excerpts) Monday, 2/17/03. p. A13 Lanre's Comments: This is a very interesting study, the most astonishing and positive news was the section which showed that African Immigrants in the U.S. tend to have more education on the average than Whites. On the down side this educational advantage among African Immigrants do not translate into better job opportunity like their white counterparts. With regards to our African-American brothers and sisters, the impact of (past) slavery and daily dose of discrimination from birth could have a very detrimental impact on their psyche, which could adversely affect their morale in both education and employment. Unlike African Immigrants who were not impacted by slavery but colonialism. In addition, it's my opinion that the preponderance of single family homes and illicit drug use in the African- American households could have impacted the education of their children. Unfortunately, this positive news for African Immigrants in the U.S. is a drain on Africa's development. The brain drain from the African continent to THE U.S. and Europe must be a hot issue in African politics especially, the on going Presidential Election in NIGERIA. Thanks, Lanre.
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