African immigrants are the Smartest & Most Educated of all Americans.

Vubundada_Kandaba · (#1 (**permalink**))

[align=center]Black immigrants: an invisible model minority

By Clarence Page
Posted to the web May 8, 2007 [/align]
Clarence Page (SIUC)

[align=left]WASHINGTON - Do African immigrants make the smartest Americans? The question may sound outlandish, but if you were judging by statistics alone, you could find plenty of evidence to back it up.[/align]
[align=left]
In a side-by-side comparison of 2000 census data by sociologist John R. Logan at the Mumford Center, State University of New York at Albany, black immigrants from Africa average the highest educational attainment of any population group in the country, including whites and Asians. For example, 43.8 percent of African immigrants had achieved a college degree, compared to 42.5 of Asian Americans, 28.9 percent for immigrants from Europe, Russia and Canada, and 23.1 percent of the U.S. population as a whole. [/align]

[align=left]That defies the usual stereotypes of Asian Americans as the only "model minority." Yet the traditional American narrative has rendered the high academic achievements of black immigrants from Africa and the Caribbean invisible, as if it were a taboo topic. [/align]
[align=left]
Instead, we should take a closer look. That was my reaction in 2004 after black Harvard law professor Lani Guinier and Henry Louis Gates Jr., chairman of Harvard's African-American studies department, stirred a black Harvard alumni reunion with questions about precisely where the university's new black students were coming from. [/align]
[align=left]
About 8 percent, or 530, of Harvard's undergraduates were black, they said, but somewhere between one-half and two-thirds of black undergraduates were "West Indian and African immigrants or their children, or to a lesser extent, children of biracial couples." [/align]
[align=left]
If we take a closer look, I said at the time, I bet we'll find that Harvard's not alone. With all of the ink and airwaves that have been devoted to immigration these days, black immigrants remain remarkably invisible. Yet their success has long followed the patterns of other high-achieving immigrants. [/align]
[align=left]
As one immigrant Jamaican friend once told me, "I'm too busy working two jobs to worry about the white man's racism." [/align]
[align=left]
Now comes a new study that finds a consistent pattern of Ivy League and other elite colleges and universities boosting their black student populations by enrolling large numbers of immigrants from Africa, the West Indies and Latin America. [/align]
[align=left]
Immigrants, who make up 13 percent of the nation's college-age black population, account for more than a quarter of black students at Ivy League and other elite universities, according to the study of 28 selective colleges and universities. The authors of the study, published recently in the American Journal of Education, included Douglas S. Massey of Princeton University and Camille Z. Charles of the University of Pennsylvania. [/align]
[align=left][/align]
[align=left]The proportion of immigrants was higher at private institutions, 28.8 percent, than at the public ones, where they comprised 23.1 percent of enrollment. [/align]
[align=left]
Are elite schools padding their racial diversity numbers with black immigrants who do not have a history of American slavery in their families? This development immediately calls into question whether affirmative action admission policies are fulfilling their original intent. [/align]
[align=left]
But as Walter Benn Michaels, a professor of English at the University of Illinois at Chicago, writes in his book "The Trouble With Diversity: How We Learned to Love Identity and Ignore Inequality," the original intent of affirmative action morphed back in the 1970s from reparations for slavery into the promotion of a broader virtue: "diversity." Since then, it no longer seems to matter how many of your college's black students had slavery in their families. It only matters that they are black. [/align]
[align=left]
That said, I don't begrudge black immigrants or any other high-achieving immigrants for their impressive achievements. I applaud them. I encourage more native-born American children, particularly my own child, to take similar advantage of this country's hard-won opportunities. [/align]
[align=left]
But I also think we need to revisit the meaning of "diversity." Unlike our current system of feel-good game-playing, we need to focus on the deeper question of how education can be improved and opportunities opened up to those who were left behind by the civil rights revolution. [/align]
[align=left]
We tend to look too often at every aspect of diversity except economic class. Yet, the dream of upward mobility is an essential part of how we Americans like to think of ourselves. [/align]
[align=left]
It's also why a lot more people are trying to get into this country than trying to get out. [/align]
---
Page is a Pulitzer Prize-winning syndicated columnist specializing in urban issues. He is based in Washington, D.C. E-mail: cptime@aol.com (C) 2007 Tribune Media Services, Inc.

impactplayer · (#2 (**permalink**))

The African immigrant wave startedas recently as the 90's.They makeup like .02% of the population. Waaaay too small of sample/group to make a general conclusion them being a model minority. In addition immigrants in general regardless of race tend toexcell at a higher levelthan natives as it is in every country.A better measure is too see how many black americans apply and get rejected in comparison to how many black immigrants apply and get rejected becausea lot of black americans dont apply to Ivies.

girlfromthenc · (#3 (**permalink**))

Well hopefully this data is true, and these African graduates are using their degrees/ new found wealth to better their kinsman and country of orgin..............................clp)

mike pain · (#4 (**permalink**))

"........Are elite schools padding their racial diversity numbers with black immigrants who do not have a history of American slavery in their families?"

................????????!!!!!!!!

or perhaps the universities simply didn't askthe blacks this question at admission

Does your family have a history of American slavery ?....

the same, seemingly, latent unease aboutAfricans ( not having " a history of American slavery in their families " )seems to be there within some AA blacks-who-have-a-history-of-slavery-wihtin-their-families...or have i misinterpreted this statement ? oh but I forgot to mention that said,she doesn't begrudge blacks (who do not have a history of American slavery in their families).

Sowould Page prefer some type of unofficial, semi-enforced, hierarchy admission policy forthe American black community?not that she"begrudges" ahem "black immigrants who do not have a history of American slavery in their families"

it would be interesting to hear her opinion on Collin Powell and dare I say it ....Barrack Obama ?! ....not that she

"begrudges"

"black immigrants who do not have a history of American slavery in their families".

girlfromthenc · (#5 (**permalink**))

mike pain wrote:

Quote:

"........Are elite schools padding their racial diversity numbers with black immigrants who do not have a history of American slavery in their families?"

................????????!!!!!!!!

or perhaps the universities simply didn't askthe blacks this question at admission

Does your family have a history of American slavery ?....

the same, seemingly, latent unease aboutAfricans ( not having " a history of American slavery in their families " )seems to be there within some blacks-who-have-a-history-of-slavery-wihtin their-families...or have i misinterpreted this statement ? oh but I forgot to mention that said,she doesn't begrudge blacks (who do not have a history of American slavery in their families).

Sowould Page prefer some type of unofficial, semi-enforced, hierarchy admission policy forthe American black community?not that she"begrudges" ahem "black immigrants who do not have a history of American slavery in their families"

it would be interesting to hear her opinion on Collin Powell and dare I say it ....Barrack Obama ?! ....not that she

"begrudges"

"black immigrants who do not have a history of American slavery in their families".

Quote:

[line]

No, there won't be any "do you have slaves in the family" questions on college applications. (rolling eyes). The only RACE related question they will probably ask you would be if you were "White or Caucasian" , "Black or African-American", Asian-American, etc

I honestly see nothing wrong, if Black immigrants want to come to this country and make something of themselves (univerisity eduacation included). However, I do think its FRAUDULENT for them to attempt to apply and accept scholarship and other awards specifically set aside Afro-American people. I personally don't buy this theory someone else was trying to throw at me on another thread about them "Black people all having the same experience" crap. African and Carribean people come from almost COMPLETELY MONORACIAL black societies. They do not see race nor have they faced the same kind of social racism AA people have faced throughout their history (nor should they be "rewarded" for simply sharing the same race as AA people). African and Carribean immigrants who migrate are also more middle class families than the poor disadvanted ones, so that also should throw the "helping the disadvantaged" theory out of the window.

And by the way, I have said a million times both Colin Powell and Obama are not "African-Americans". Colin Powell is Jamician-American and Obama is Kenyan-American. What the hell is wrong with that? People act like AA people are the only Black people outside of Africa!I'm 100% convincedthatmost Black people only do this because they are ashamed about where their parents come from. You can see evidence of this when you hear Rastafarians claiming to be from Ethiopia (instead of West Africa), and people not even 3 generations removed in England claiming to be "Black british", and even the children of African immigrants that come to America not even 1 generation removed from their parents country alreadyclaiming that they don't "fit in in Africa"(yet they fit in at home with their parents)......

mike pain · (#6 (**permalink**))

Quote:

[line]

Quote:

i do think its FRAUDULENT for them to attempt to apply and accept scholarship and other awards specifically set aside Afro-American people...

Quote:

I thought the award was set aside for 'blacks' who are disadvantaged in a racist, white society, where skin colour more often than not defines your future outcome, I didn't realise that those blacks not havingAA slave ancestryreceive on average less racism.

[/quote]

Quote:

. I personally don't buy this theory someone else was trying to throw at me on another thread about them "Black people all having the same experience" crap. African and Carribean people come from almost COMPLETELY MONORACIAL black societies. They do not see race nor have they faced the same kind of social racism AA people have faced throughout their history (nor should they be "rewarded" for simply sharing the same race as AA people). African and Carribean immigrants who migrate are also more middle class families than the poor disadvanted ones.

Quote:

The whole point of scholarships are to provide disadvantaged and promising young adults opportunities hitherto

Inaccessible .regardless of what past ancestries may have been, at present all blacks are being discriminated against because of their colour. A racist doesn't care about ancestry; he only cares aboutwhat you are now.Again all blacks within Americas boundaries share a collective experience of being discriminated against, now, do think a white supremist runs towards a black man stops a foot away holding his fist up and yells "terribly sorry to disturb you, butare you descended fromslaves?[/quote][/quote]

Quote:

And by the way, I have said a million times both Colin Powell and Obama are not "African-Americans". Colin Powell is Jamician-American and Obama is Kenyan-American. What the hell is wrong with that? People act like AA people are the only Black people outside of Africa!I'm 100% convincedthatmost Black people only do this because they are ashamed about where their parents come from. You can see evidence of this when you hear Rastafarians claiming to be from Ethiopia (instead of West Africa), and people not even 3 generations removed in England claiming to be "Black british", and even the children of African immigrants that come to America not even 1 generation removed from their parents country alreadyclaiming that they don't "fit in in Africa"(yet they fit in at home with their parents)......

Quote:

I don't quite understand the point, if indeed you are making a general point or a general comment, but, collin powel has said that if his parents went right instead of left( meaning going to america instaed of england) he might not have become a general.

Quote:

mike pain · (#7 (**permalink**))

impactplayer wrote:

Quote:

The African immigrant wave startedas recently as the 90's.They makeup like .02%

It would be interesting to know the source from the statistic and when it was taken, the world wide movement of immigrants from continent to continent has increased dramatically recently.

girlfromthenc · (#8 (**permalink**))

Mike pain,

Most Americans, Black and White think Mexican people are the scum on the earth that do nothing but clean up for White folks. So because of this they get discriminated against as well! Do you think if you came to America you should get to apply for a MEXICAN-AMERICAN scholarship because you might get discriminated against and so do Mexcians?????

I think not! So youcan't use that lame excuse with me!

I don't know why self hating black people are always claiming they feel such a connection with every damn body who has an ounce of color to them. I wonder would you running around claim to be "Indian" or "Mexican" or something else if you ever came to America and saw one of THEM with your same skin color. You should know what you are already.........

impactplayer · (#9 (**permalink**))

[align=left]mike pain wrote:

Quote:

impactplayer wrote:

Quote:

The African immigrant wave startedas recently as the 90's.They makeup like .02%

It would be interesting to know the source from the statistic and when it was taken, the world wide movement of immigrants from continent to continent has increased dramatically recently.

You mean you cant take 3 seconds on a search engine to find this info yourself?

[/align]
[align=left]http://mumford1.dyndns.org/cen2000/B...iversity03.htm
[/align]

[align=left]
Just to let you know how miniscule the African population is.In my state our small metros are bigger than the entire US population of African immigrants. Dont get me wrong, they are bright but still very small and hardly noticed in society.

[/align]

Gmahogany. · (#10 (**permalink**))

I'm not suprised at all by this information. Have always known it to be true, because I grew up around many African immigrant families as well as Asian ones, in the DC area. Immigrants in general tend to outperform the general population of the host country. What should cause people's antenna to go up, is why the white media/governement spends so much time IGNORING the fact that African immigrants tend to outperform or perform on par with Asian immigrants and investing in/perpetrating the Asian model minority myth. I'll tell you why? Because it doesn't fit in with their African/Black folks inferiority mythology/lie/. They know that if it is proven that Black folks from outside of America(who don't have thepsychological damage of living under THIS****ed up system for 4 centuries)can perform as well or better than the so called model minority Asians, then that means Africans/African descended people are not inherently inferior(which has been the operating premise of white supremacy all along). The only thing that makes African Americans different from African immigrants is....our....experience....under THIS....racist/oppressive/discriminatory sytsem. Which would mean that MUCH of our: underperforming/pathologies/failures/generational poverty would have to laid at the door step of a SYSTEM that was set up and imposed to produce those very outcomes. White folks and SOME Negroes, would like to ignore that little fact, so they created and maintained the Asian model minority MYTH. The only Asian American who has CONSISTENTLY debunked that myth for YEARS, is Frank Wu, who currently teaches at Wayne STate in MIchigan, but was professor/dean at historically Black, Howard University for many years.

Secondly, comparing people who: packed their shit/risked life and limb/left everyone and everything they've ever known(by definition a small/concentrated/motivated/resolute/a-typical,group,even for their OWN country)to come to a new country and make a better life, to the native born GENERAL population of a country, is not only bad science(any middle school science student could peep that), it's also asinine and disingenous.

People who get up and move half way across the world, don't tend to do so with the intention of sitting around with their thumb up their ass. I'm sure that if we visited any of the countries that produce, admittedly:smart/motivated/achieving immigrants, we would find the requisite number of:idiots/ne'rdowells/**** ups/lazy/shiftless people among the GENERAL population of said country. I'd also be willing to bet that most Americans that go abroad to live would tend to be of a generally higher economic/educational/motivational/achievement level than the AVERAGE member of the native population in the country they have moved to. Can't prove it, just a strong hunch....