Journal of American Ethnic History Fall 2016 Volume 36, Numbe.docx

Journal of American Ethnic History Fall 2016 Volume 36,
Number 1 63
© 2016 by the Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois
Black Immigrants and the Realities of Racism:
Comments and Questions
NANCY FONER
BLACK IMMIGRANTS, AS VIOLET SHOWERS Johnson
reminds
us, are an important part of the history of immigration to the
United States,
and they continue to be an important part today. This is
especially striking
given their growing number—and proportion—in the foreign-
born popula-
tion. By 2013, according to U.S. Census data, the number of
black immi-
grants in the country had climbed to nearly 4 million, more than
a fourfold
increase since 1980; they now represent almost one in ten of all
immigrants
and 9 percent of the nation’s black population. Currently, about
half of black
immigrants in the United States are Caribbean- born, and a little
over a
third are from Africa. Indeed, the rise in the black African- born
population
is noteworthy, more than doubling between 2000 and 2013,
when it had
reached 1.4 million.1

The encounter with the American racial system, as Johnson
makes clear,
is a central component of the black immigrant experience in the
United
States, regardless of where they were born. This is brought out
in Johnson’s
focus on three violent incidents in the last thirty years: the 1988
killing of
Ethiopian student Mulugeta Seraw in Portland, Oregon, and, in
New York
City, the 1999 fatal shooting of West African Amadou Diallo,
and the 1997
beating and sodomy of Haitian immigrant Abner Louima. This
kind of anti-
black violence is mercifully rare, but the incidents underscore,
tragically and
dramatically, some essential features of the role of race for
black immigrants
in the United States.2 Johnson’s discussion points to many key
aspects of the
impact of racism. It also provides the basis for some additional
comments,
and raises questions for further study, on several topics she
considers or
alludes to: negative encounters with the police, differences
between the
black foreign- born and the second generation, relations
between blacks of
immigrant origin and African Americans, and the role of the
particular city
of settlement in influencing how race and racism are
experienced.
Although I would not go so far as to characterize New York
City as
tantamount to a police state, as one of Johnson’s discussions

seems to sug-
gest, there is no question that blacks, native- and foreign- born
alike, often
JAEH 36_1 text.indd 63 8/15/16 2:58 PM
64 Journal of American Ethnic History / Fall 2016
experience racial discrimination and harassment from the
police. In a large-
scale study of young adult members of the second generation in
the New
York City metropolitan area, West Indians reported the most
discrimina-
tion (compared to Dominicans, South Americans, Chinese, and
Russians),
especially in public places on the streets, in stores, and from the
police. In
an essay drawing on data from the study, Mary Waters makes
the point that
anonymous encounters with shopkeepers, security guards, and
particularly
the police in public spaces “are powerful because they are so
purely ‘racial.’
In such confrontations class differences do not count. . . . Nor
do ethnic
differences. . . . A police officer rarely has a basis for knowing
if a young
man on a public street is African American or West Indian,
middle class or
poor. If the police officer discriminates, it is on the basis of
race alone.”3
Experiences with the police have an especially deep impact on

black
young men because no matter how unfairly these young men are
treated, it
is imprudent and even dangerous for them to argue back. Not
only are the
young men left bitter and frustrated, but relations with the
police reinforce
a sense of exclusion from the wider society because the police
are armed
representatives of the state: “Negative treatment by them, in
some way,
represents negative treatment by the larger society.”4 Waters
also notes that
because second- generation West Indians spend so much time in
segregated
neighborhoods, schools, and workplaces, they usually do not
experience
much discrimination from whites in these settings. The better-
off are more
likely to find themselves in integrated settings and thus have
more “oppor-
tunities” to be the victims of this kind of discrimination in these
places.5
This discussion of the second generation brings up another
topic that
Johnson mentions: the different impact of race for the first and
second
generations. At the end of her article, she refers to a 1.5
generation Haitian
American (who came to the United States as a child) who
thought of herself
as Haitian and black whereas her Haitian- born parents and
grandparents
“adamantly identify as Haitian and not black.”6 The issue of
identity has

been explored in a number of studies of Afro- Caribbeans,
which reveal
a somewhat different picture. True, for those in the first
generation, an
ethnic or home- country identity is usually their primary group
identifica-
tion, a pattern reinforced by, among other things, continued ties
to their
societies of origin, social networks in the United States, and a
desire to
distinguish themselves from American blacks. Yet, at the same
time, the
immigrant generation may embrace a racial identity “without
contradiction”
and move back and forth between ethnic and racial identities
depending on
the situation.7
JAEH 36_1 text.indd 64 8/15/16 2:58 PM
Foner 65
Of particular interest have been the identities that develop
among the
second generation, who were born and raised in the United
States. Ethno-
graphic research shows that the second generation, with roots in
the Com-
monwealth Caribbean, often see themselves as black and as
West Indian;
whether a racial or ethnic identity is more salient depends on
the context, the
audience, and the circumstances.8 Nearly all of the second-
generation West

Indians whom Milton Vickerman interviewed saw themselves as
“partially
West Indian”—specifically as “West Indian blacks.” They were
more con-
scious of race as a life- shaping issue than their parents were
because they
had grown up in the American, rather than the Caribbean, racial
system.
While they had a strong sense of a shared bond with African
Americans,
they saw their West Indian identity and cultural values as
setting them apart
from generalized negative views of blacks.9
Class, gender, and residential patterns may also make a
difference.
Middle- class second- generation Afro- Caribbeans, according
to one study,
seek to avoid identification with poor and working- class
African Americans
as they struggle to maintain a middle- class identity in the face
of persistent
negative stereotyping of blacks; second- generation Afro-
Caribbean men,
another study argues, feel racial exclusion more strongly than
women do
and thus tend to identify more strongly with African Americans;
and a West
Indian identity is nurtured and reinforced among the second
generation who
grow up and continue to live in neighborhoods with a critical
mass of Afro-
Caribbeans.10 Whether second- generation Africans follow the
same patterns
is an open question since research on them is sparse given that
large- scale

African migration to the United States is relatively new. One
question is
whether they will be less likely than their counterparts with
roots in the
Commonwealth Caribbean to embrace their “home- country”
heritage, and
might even seek to hide it, given that the label “African” comes
with more
negative stereotypes (for example, as “culturally backward” or
”primitive”)
than does the “West Indian” label.11
Identity issues are bound up with the question of relations
between black
immigrants and African Americans. Many ethnographic studies
note the
attempts by black immigrants to distinguish themselves from—
and avoid
the stigma associated with—poor African Americans.12 West
Indians, for
example, often assert an ethnic identity as natives of a
particular Caribbean
island or as West Indians more generally, in order to make a
case that they
are culturally different from black Americans, often saying they
have a
stronger work ethic, are more law- abiding and family- oriented,
and place
more value on education.13 Waters argues that although this
strategy may
JAEH 36_1 text.indd 65 8/15/16 2:58 PM

help individual West Indians, it ends up reinforcing stereotypes
of blacks
as inferior.14
Distancing, however, is only one part of the equation;
identification with
African Americans on the basis of the shared experience of
being black
in America, or a linked racial fate outlook, is the other part.15
Both black
immigrants and African Americans experience similar episodes
of racial
discrimination and perceive important social institutions as
being biased
against blacks. To be sure, as Johnson suggests, Afro-
Caribbean and African
immigrants have carved out strong ethnic communities and
organizations,
and, in places where their numbers are sufficient, they and their
children
have often served as ethnic voting blocs, with politicians
playing the “eth-
nic card” to gain their support. Yet there is also intermingling
with African
Americans in neighborhoods, workplaces, and schools and, as
examples in
Johnson’s article indicate, there is sometimes joint, even if
often fragile,
coalition- building. In New York, as political scientists have
observed, West
Indians vote like African Americans in most instances, and only
when one
of their own is competing with an African American incumbent
do they part
ways.16

An example of the tangle of cooperation and conflict in black
immigrants’
relations with African Americans comes from a recent study of
Liberians
in New York City in the borough of Staten Island. On the one
hand, both
Liberians and African Americans sought to distance themselves
from each
other—each, interestingly, claiming superiority over the other—
and tensions
arose over competition for jobs and housing. On the other hand,
Liberian
community leaders embraced strategies to work with African
Americans and
used African American organizations to advance their own
group’s causes,
including coming together to elect black American candidates
for office who
spoke for “black interests.” On a more personal level, close
friendships, and
occasionally more intimate and romantic relationships,
developed between
some Liberians and African Americans in the neighborhood.17
Finally, Johnson’s article raises questions about the impact of
the particu-
lar urban context on black immigrants’ racial encounters and
reactions. It is
not surprising that two of the incidents in Johnson’s account
occurred in New
York City, which has long been home to the largest black
immigrant popula-
tion in the United States. (As of 2013, 27 percent of the nation’s
foreign- born
black population lived in the New York- Newark- Jersey City

metropolitan
area, with the Miami- Fort Lauderdale- West Palm Beach
metropolitan area
in second place with 12 percent.18) Already, by the time of the
Diallo and
Louima incidents, New York City had become a majority
minority city with
JAEH 36_1 text.indd 66 8/15/16 2:58 PM
Foner 67
a sizeable black immigrant presence. In 2000, foreign- born
blacks (the
majority Afro- Caribbean) numbered a little over half a million,
or about a
quarter of the city’s non- Hispanic black population; by 2010,
with continued
inflows, about a third of the city’s non- Hispanic blacks were
foreign- born,
many of them then, as in the previous four decades, working in
low- level
service jobs.19 This is a striking contrast to the other city
Johnson considers,
Portland, Oregon. In 1988, when the attack on Mulugeta Seraw
took place,
Portland had a small black population, and only a few hundred
Ethiopians,
most of them students; currently, Portland has the distinction of
being one
of the whitest cities in America.20
Given the realities of race and racism in urban America,
wherever black

immigrants settle in any number, they are likely to encounter
prejudice
and discrimination from some sections of the majority
population, yet how
these (and other) dynamics of the black immigrant experience
unfold varies
from one location to another. Undoubtedly, the number and
proportion of
black immigrants, as well as African Americans, in the
population matter.
A broad range of additional features may also be relevant.
These include
the city’s history as a receiving area for immigrants generally
(and black
immigrants specifically), the particular configuration and
diversity of immi-
grant groups and native minorities, the spatial distribution of
immigrants and
native minorities, and the structure of the labor market and
political system.
Then, too, there are the characteristics of the black immigrant
streams to
different cities—their national origin makeup as well as their
educational,
occupational, gender, and age composition.
As yet, there has been little attempt to systematically analyze
the differ-
ences in the black immigrant experience across cities and to
weigh just how
significant they are compared to the overwhelming importance
of being
black in America. Given the prominence of New York City and
Miami as
areas of settlement, a comparison of these two cities would
seem particularly
relevant. There are some marked contrasts. Black immigrants

have been a
notable presence in New York since the early twentieth century,
whereas in
South Florida, legal segregation made the region unattractive to
large- scale
black immigrant inflows until the Civil Rights Movement and
legislation
(as well as a growing economy) had an impact. Unlike in New
York City,
Miami’s blacks now live in a Latino- dominated city and
county, overtaken
demographically, politically, and economically by the Hispanic
majority,
especially the large Cuban community, who have transformed
the cultural
and linguistic character of the region.21 Haitians, who are a
particularly large
group in the Miami area, appear to be more highly stigmatized
and visible
JAEH 36_1 text.indd 67 8/15/16 2:58 PM
there than they are in New York City, where they do not stand
out as much in
the public eye, perhaps, in part, because of the significant
number of “boat
people” who arrived in Miami in the 1970s and 1980s.22 Also
in contrast
to New York City, where Haitians generally live in the same
neighborhoods
as do English- speaking West Indians, Haitians have their own
distinctive

neighborhood in Miami, Little Haiti, which has been home to
many poorer
Haitians.
Just how, and to what extent, these and other features particular
to each
city make a difference—to black immigrants’ identities, for
example, experi-
ences with racial discrimination, relations with other ethnic
minorities and
African Americans, and political clout and representation in
elected posi-
tions—is a subject that requires systematic comparative study.
Cross- city
comparisons, moreover, need to go beyond New York and
Miami to other
urban areas where the black foreign- born are now a significant
presence,
including Atlanta; Washington, D.C.; and Minneapolis. Both
across cities,
and within each one, we also need research that compares the
experiences
of black immigrants from different countries and regions,
particularly those
from Africa as compared to Afro- Caribbeans, something that is
especially
pressing given the sharp climb in the African immigrant
population in recent
years.
It is a tribute to Johnson’s article that it raises so many issues
and ques-
tions. As black immigrants continue to grow in number, and as
their children
and grandchildren come of age and make their place in
metropolitan areas
around the country, we have much to learn about how they are
faring and,

most relevant to the concerns here, how they are confronting
and dealing
with the realities of race and racism in twenty- first- century
America.
NOTES
1. The three largest source countries for black immigrants are
Jamaica (18 percent),
Haiti (15 percent), and Nigeria (6 percent). These, and the
other, figures provided in the
paragraph are from Monica Anderson, “A Rising Share of the
U.S. Black Population Is
Foreign Born: 9 Percent Are Immigrants; and While Most Are
from the Caribbean, Africans
Drive Recent Growth,” Pew Research Center, April 9, 2015,
http://www.pewsocialtrends
.org/files/2015/04/2015–04–09_black- immigrants_FINAL.pdf.
“Black immigrants” and
“foreign- born blacks” in that report refer to those born outside
the United States, Puerto
Rico, or other U.S. territories, whose race is black or mixed-
race black, regardless of Hispanic
origin, in 2000 and later U.S. Census Bureau surveys. For the
1980 and 1990 Census years,
when respondents could make only one selection in the race
question, “black immigrants”
or “foreign- born blacks” refer to those born outside the United
States, Puerto Rico, or other
U.S. territories, whose race is black, regardless of Hispanic
origin.
JAEH 36_1 text.indd 68 8/15/16 2:58 PM

Foner 69
2. In one of my own publications, I use the Howard Beach 1988
incident in New York
City this way, in which a Trinidadian immigrant was beaten by
a mob of white youth and
chased onto a major highway where he was killed. See Nancy
Foner, “Black West Indian
Americans,” in Immigrant Struggles, Immigrant Gifts, ed. Diane
Portnoy, Barry Portnoy,
and Charlie Riggs (Fairfax, VA: GMU Press, 2012), 177–92.
3. Mary C. Waters, “Nativism, Racism, and Immigration in
New York City,” in New York
and Amsterdam: Immigration and the New Urban Landscape,
ed. Nancy Foner et al. (New
York: NYU Press, 2014), 159. For a fuller account of the results
of the study, see Philip
Kasinitz et al., Inheriting the City: The Children of Immigrants
Come of Age (Cambridge,
MA: Harvard University Press, 2008).
4. Waters, “Nativism, Racism, and Immigration,” 158.
5. Ibid., 161.
6. Violet Showers Johnson, “When Blackness Stings: African
and Afro- Caribbean Immi-
grants, Race, and Racism in Late Twentieth- Century America,”
Journal of American Ethnic
History 36, no. 1 (Fall 2016): 56; quote refers to Barbara
Ceptus, “Growing Up Haitian,
Growing Up Black,” ColorLines 8, no. 3 (Fall 2005).
7. See, for example, Nancy Foner, “The Jamaicans: Race and
Ethnicity among Migrants
in New York City,” in New Immigrants in New York, ed. Nancy
Foner (New York: Columbia
University Press, 1987), 195–218; Nancy Foner, “West Indian
Migration to New York:
An Overview,” in Islands in the City: West Indian Migration to

New York, ed. Nancy
Foner (Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, 2001), 1–
22; Reuel R. Rogers, Afro-
Caribbean Immigrants and the Politics of Incorporation:
Ethnicity, Exception, or Exit (New
York: Cambridge University Press, 2006); Mary C. Waters,
Black Identities: West Indian
Immigrant Dreams and American Realities (Cambridge, MA:
Harvard University Press,
1999).
8. Sherri- Ann Butterfield, “‘We’re Just Black:’ The Racial and
Ethnic Identities of Second-
Generation West Indians in New York,” in Becoming New
Yorkers: Ethnographies of the New
Second Generation, ed. Philip Kasinitz, John Mollenkopf, and
Mary C. Waters (New York:
Russell Sage Foundation, 2004), 288–312; see also Alex Stepick
et al., “Shifting Identities
and Intergenerational Conflict: Growing Up Haitian in Miami,”
in Ethnicities: Children
of Immigrants in America, ed. Rubén G. Rumbaut and Alejandro
Portes (Berkeley, CA:
University of California Press, 2001), 229–66.
9. Milton Vickerman, “Tweaking a Monolith: The West Indian
Immigrant Encounter with
‘Blackness,’” in Islands in the City, ed. Foner, 237–56.
10. Butterfield, “We’re Just Black”; Mary C. Waters, “Growing
Up West Indian and
African American: Gender and Class Differences in the Second
Generation,” in Islands in
the City, ed. Foner, 193–215; Nancy Foner, “Black Identities
and the Second Generation:
Afro- Caribbeans in Britain and the United States,” in The Next
Generation: Immigrant Youth
in a Comparative Perspective, ed. Richard Alba and Mary C.
Waters (New York: NYU Press,

2011), 256.
11. See, for example, JoAnn D’Alisera, “Images of a Wounded
Homeland: Sierra Leonean
Children and the New Heart of Darkness,” in Across
Generations: Immigrant Families in
America, ed. Nancy Foner (New York: NYU Press, 2009), 114–
34; and Bernadette Ludwig,
“Liberians: Struggles for Refugee Families,” in One Out of
Three: Immigrant New York in
the Twenty- First Century, ed. Nancy Foner (New York:
Columbia University Press, 2013),
200–22.
JAEH 36_1 text.indd 69 8/15/16 2:58 PM
12. See, for example, Foner, Islands in the City; Milton
Vickerman, Crosscurrents: West
Indian Immigrants and Race (New York: Oxford University
Press, 1999); Waters, Black
Identities; Bernadette Ludwig, “America Is Not the Home We
Dream Of: Race, Gender, and
Refugee Status among Liberians in Staten Island” (PhD thesis,
Graduate Center of the City
University of New York, 2014); Katja M. Guenther, Sadie
Pendaz, and Fortunata Songora
Makene, “The Impact of Intersecting Dimensions of Inequality
and Identity on the Racial
Status of East African Immigrants,” Sociological Forum 26, no.
1 (March 2011): 98–120.
13. Milton Vickerman, “Jamaicans: Balancing Race and
Ethnicity,” in One Out of Three,
ed. Foner, 176–99.

14. Waters, “Growing Up West Indian and African American,”
212.
15. Vickerman, “Jamaicans.”
16. John Mollenkopf, “The Rise of Immigrant Influence in New
York City Politics,” in
New York and Amsterdam, ed. Foner et al., 216; Rogers, Afro-
Caribbean Immigrants; see
also Cristina M. Greer, Black Ethnics: Race, Immigration, and
the Pursuit of the American
Dream (New York: Oxford University Press, 2013).
17. Ludwig, “America Is Not the Home We Dream Of.”
18. Anderson, “A Rising Share.”
19. John Mollenkopf, David Olson, and Timothy Ross,
“Immigrant Political Participa-
tion in New York and Los Angeles,” in Governing American
Cities: Inter- Ethnic Coalitions,
Competition, and Conflict, ed. Michael Jones- Correa (New
York: Russell Sage Foundation,
2001), 32; Nancy Foner, “Introduction: Immigrants in New
York in the New Millennium,”
in One Out of Three, ed. Foner, 1–34.
20. In 2010, 76 percent of Portland’s population was non-
Hispanic white, with blacks
comprising 6 percent. Steve Dotterrer and Uma Krishnan,
“Briefing on Race, Ethnicity,
Mobility, Income, & Poverty in Portland,” Bureau of Planning
and Sustainability, August 9,
2011, https://www.portlandoregon.gov/bps/article/360870.
21. In 1960, blacks greatly outnumbered Hispanics in Miami-
Dade; by 1990, there were
more than twice as many Hispanics as non- Hispanic blacks in
Dade County. Guillermo
Grenier and Max Castro, “Blacks and Cubans in Miami: The
Negative Consequences of
the Cuban Enclave on Ethnic Relations,” in Governing
American Cities, ed. Jones- Correa,

143.
22. The Miami metropolitan area has the nation’s largest black
Haitian immigrant com-
munity—more than 211,000 black Haitian immigrants, equal to
36 percent of its population
in the United States (Anderson, “A Rising Share”). For
beginning attempts at comparisons
of Afro- Caribbean populations of New York and Miami, see
Nancy Foner, In a New Land:
A Comparative View of Immigration (New York: NYU Press,
2005); and Philip Kasinitz,
Juan Battle, and Ines Miyares, “Fade to Black? The Children of
West Indian Immigrants in
South Florida,” in Ethnicities, ed. Rumbaut and Portes, 267–
300. A doctoral student at the
CUNY Graduate Center, Vadricka Etienne, is currently
conducting research in New York
and Miami for a comparative study of Haitian ethnicity in the
two areas, including how
members of the second generation are raising their third-
generation children.
JAEH 36_1 text.indd 70 8/15/16 2:58 PM
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Patel 1
Isha Patel
Professor Armes
ENGL 1320
20 February, 2020
Black Immigrants and Racial Discrimination
There are several cases that pop up each year regarding racial
discrimination against the black
immigrants in the United States. There are cases that go
unnoticed because most of the people
choose not to speak about it. In other cases, the society also
would not accept that such activities
take place thus making it a challenge for them to keep up. There
are numerous immigrants
getting into the United States voluntarily including Europeans
and other whites but the racial
slurs are only directed towards the blacks migrating into the
country. There are numerous
concerns in the country that raise the attention towards racial
discrimination especially from the
people visiting the country. The discrimination ranges from
when they are seeking to access the

public services in the country, from the justice department
especially the police department.
Most of the immigrants move to the United States at a shot for a
better life, education, medical
opportunities, job opportunities and escape from war among
other vices in their parent countries.
However, the people are embraced to get into the country they
still fail to live a happy and
comfortable life because the society does not entirely embrace
them. Racism in the United States
does not necessarily focus on the Black immigrants but against
the entire races that make it a
challenge for any individual with a different skin color in the
country and this limits their access
to resources. This thesis is a bit confusing. Earlier in the
introduction you say that “slurs are only
Patel 2
directed towards the blacks migrating into this country,” but
then in your thesis, you say “Racism
in the United States does not necessarily focus on the Black
immigrants”. This first paragraph is
also a bit confusing since you mention only “Black

immigrants.” Are you suggesting African-
American citizens do not experience the same racism as Black
immigrants? I think you’ll want to
clarify the introduction and thesis.
The law enforcement across the country are mostly accused as
being the most racist in
the country and them being with weapons impacts the
immigrants and creates a negative picture
on the community. The police are the security front of the
community thus it is important that
they make sure that they keep up with the demand of the
country (Foner, 64). The law
enforcement officers in the country mainly judge and
discriminate from racial discrimination but
not a specific group (Hmmm, you might want to research this a
bit. I’m pretty sure the
Department of Justice has done studies on racial profiling and
racial bias toward African-
Americans, at least in Ferguson, Missouri and in New York with
the Stop-and-Frisk policy. But
there should also be a lot of other information dealing with this
claim. It is evident that the police
do not have a specific time or information on people to
approach them but the color of their skin

made the difference. The specificity of racism makes the
difference because there is no specific
measure that shows the police selectively choose the black
immigrants (See above comment).
There is no specific information that the police selectively
choose a specific immigrant and opt
to treat them different instead they discriminate the entire race.
There is little difference between
the original black American inhabitants and the immigrants
entering the United States in the
current era. The world is not making progress on the social
front that is not appropriate because
we are all human and this limits the interactions and
relationships that we are creating as people.
Patel 3
The law enforcement being the forefront and the leaders of the
community and are
allowed to carry weapons makes them a very important in
impacting security and confidence in
the people. The confidence that the officers instill in the
community makes it easier to increase
the connection between the people and the races. The other

native races (Whom specifically?)
depend on the interactions and the image the officers portray
that then will help influence their
attitude towards the other immigrants because they are in the
authoritative position (Bell,
Marquardt & Berry, 298). For instance, if the officers would
treat the immigrants the same way
that they treat the whites then there would be no need for the
community to fear them and treat
them differently. However, because the officers will approach
the blacks with a negative
premonition even on the speed checks on the roads and demand
them to evacuate their vehicles
while they do not do the same with the whites then they paint
the blacks as dangerous or a threat
thus they have to fear them (This statement contradicts what
was said in the preceding paragraph
– the one on which I commented). In the other incidences where
the African Americans would
walk with hoodies in the society and police officers tackle them
and even place them in their
vehicles and they do not do the same for the whites students in
hoods (Word choice. Avoid slang
in academic papers). The security that the law enforcement

officers provide in the community
makes a difference and impacts the perception of the people and
because they have poor
relationships then it also makes it a challenge for the people to
keep up.
The society is not opening up towards the African Americans
including the immigrants
which are a problem that is emanating from the political climate
and the leadership in the
country. The people are on the fore front of the country and it’s
their place to make sure that the
society is living in peace and unity. It is evident that President
Trump is against immigrants and
this pushes the community to stand against the immigrants
because the leader instills the concept
Patel 4
that the immigrants are entering the country to steal their
opportunities and resources. True. It
would be helpful to illustrate this by bringing in a quote from
Trump which shows this. Most of
the supporters in the country that stood up with the president
and some of his agendas was to

make sure that the Americans reclaim their country. The
message comes out wrong in the eyes of
some of the ethnic white communities because and thus builds
up racism and differentiation in
the society. It is unethical for a leader to have such attitudes
and behavior especially in a country
where all the people are immigrants. The Trump supporters
especially the White Supremacists
started the belief that they cannot live with the same immigrants
in the country and this is after
such campaigns and words started emanating in the open.
People have differences and feel different from the others but
most of them learn to live
with it but when it gets public then it becomes a problem
because some people will start hurting
others. The cases that involve the attacks on the black
immigrants in the country are horrific and
bad and can trigger some xenophobic attacks and this will not
be appropriate especially because
the country has numerous immigrants from across the world
(Saleem, et al. 1339). Still a bit
confused. The paper’s title and thesis want to focus on “Black
immigrants,” but the discussion is
much broader, including all immigrants and African-American

citizens. You’ll want to adjust
your title and thesis. The United States is successful and
wealthy to the current day especially
because it relies on the immigrants that visited the country back
in the day as refugees. The move
made it easier for them to gain some of the giant companies
(Such as?) including the current
president Trump whose roots date back to Europe. The concept
makes the difference because
there is no discrimination against such people but they choose
when to be discriminatory. The
concept is unethical and impractical which is not appropriate for
the community because people
have to interact and depend on each other thus failure of
creating and building such relationships
Patel 5
changes the entire structure of the society. The black
immigrants are in the country not to create
social indifferences but to try and find opportunities to improve
their lives that is something that
the United States can offer.
The Americans moved from all over the world and dismissed the

Native Americans from
their lands which were not appropriate and thus they have the
audacity to dispel other people
from the same lands. The history of the country makes it
important for them to appreciate
immigrants and because it is also important for them to access
the reason that brought the people
into the country including the human rights. The United Nations
through charity organization
recommends that a country should take in a certain capacity of
immigrants into the country. The
Black immigrants get into the country for better opportunities
and they do not interfere with the
social status in the country (Foner, 67). For instance, the blacks
that died in New York, West
Indian are innocent victims of misdirected hatred. The people
were no threat to the society and
this makes it a challenge because it meant that they were not a
problem and instead they were a
form of opportunity in the country. It is unethical for the
society to live in such animalistic habits
that hinder the people to show their humane side and instead
keeps bringing the bad out of the
people.

The society is larger than an individual thus it is important to
make sure that a single
person or the feelings of the few do not tarnish the reputation of
the entire community. The
racists are few in the community and do not speak up for the
feelings of the larger society which
is not appropriate. Most of the Americans relate well with the
immigrants which is good but then
it is limited to a specific society because it should change the
way that the society relates with
them thus making it easier for them (Krieger, 1706). For
instance, the few people in the United
States selective states make it a challenge for the black
immigrants in the new country because it
Patel 6
is not appropriate for a selective group to make decisions
regarding the others. The country has
numerous people from across the world that makes it important
to make sure that they work
together and come up with proper concepts for their community.
The interaction within the
society is not on the basis of the racial differences but the

community in the general that then
changes the way that people look at each other. The relationship
in the society should be open
and interactive that makes it easier for them to interact and
come together which will help reduce
the rates of discrimination in the society.
The United States has immigrants from across the world
including the Asians, Arabs
among others that makes it a country of opportunities. The fact
that black immigrants are most
victims in the country makes the difference because they are a
target which is not appropriate
especially because they have to keep up with the community.
The differences indicate that the
darkest skin color in the community make the difference and
thus the most target that then makes
it bad. Most of the students (Why students?) in the country that
are native whites make the most
population and thus cannot stand the black immigrants in the
countries (Earlier you said, “Most
Americans relate well with the immigrants …”). The society is
filled with the negativity against
the immigrants into the country starting with the American
political and government hierarchy

that then makes it a challenge for the insignificant to maneuver
through the hatred and
judgmental society (Park, 83). The concept makes the difference
in the community because
people already have negative perceptions that do not include the
black immigrants taking away
their opportunities. The black immigrants are a threat in the
country according to the natives of
the country and thus the bad blood also builds among the youths
that then see the others as a
threat. The students stay in hatred and negativity with the bad
knowledge that the job
opportunities will belong to the immigrant’s students in their
class that then makes it a challenge.
Patel 7
Conclusion
The assimilation and immigrants in the country appear as a
threat in the country because
they appear to take the peoples jobs since they always have the
status of education and
employment. The people in the United States take the
immigration as potential thereat which is

not appropriate and misdirected because the people are
innocent. The government in place and
some of the leaders has a major contribution towards the racial
discrimination in the country
because they encourage the people to feel like the outsiders in
the country are a threat. The
government through the various leaders should discourage their
citizens from remaining racial
discriminative and since they already welcomed them into their
country it is not necessary to
subject people into further trials. We are all humans and despite
having a black, white or brown
skin complexion we are all people and at the top of the animal
kingdom and thus it is important
to make sure that we bring out the best out of each other instead
of behaving like the same
animals that do not have the people skills which is unethical.
Patel 8
Works Cited
Bell, Myrtle P., Dennis Marquardt, and Daphne P. Berry.
""Diversity," Immigration, and the

New American Multi-Racial
Hierarchy." Journal of Managerial Psychology, vol. 29, no.
3, 2014, pp. 285-303.
Krieger, Nancy, PhD., et al. "Racial Discrimination,
Psychological Distress, and Self-Rated
Health among US-Born and Foreign-Born Black
Americans." American Journal of
Public Health, vol. 101, no. 9, 2011, pp. 1704-13.
Nancy Foner. “Black Immigrants and the Realities of Racism:
Comments and
Questions.” Journal of American Ethnic History, vol. 36, no. 1,
2016, pp. 63–70.
Park, Young.
The Dark Side: Immigrants, Racism, and the American Way.
Bloomington, Ind:
iUniverse Com, 2012. Print.
Saleem, Farzana T., et al. "The Impact of African American
Parents' Racial Discrimination
Experiences and Perceived Neighborhood Cohesion on their
Racial Socialization
Practices." Journal of Youth and Adolescence, vol. 45, no. 7,
2016, pp. 1338-1349.

Patel 9
Hi Isha,
For revision:
1. Address comments throughout the paper.
2. This paper needs a clear focus. As it stands, it tries to tackle
law enforcement and
discrimination, immigration and xenophobia, hate crimes,
Native American displacement, and
job competition. The two paragraphs on law enforcement seem
to contradict each other. This part
of the paper ultimately feels like it’s undermining the paper’s
premise on discrimination. There
are several contradictions throughout which would benefit from
more analysis and clarification.
For revision, I would choose one topic related to discrimination
and explore that. You could, for
example, write an entire paper on law enforcement and
discrimination, or immigration and
xenophobia, but, in a paper of this length, it is not really
possible to address all of these topics.
3. Clarify which information is from your sources. The citations
seem as if they have been
randomly dropped into places. I cannot really tell what each

source is actually adding to the
discussion. The easiest way to fix this is to include a quotation
from each source. Take a look at
the handout on Canvas which deals with citing sources.
Thanks.
120

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