Although America bills itself as a melting pot for people from around the world, the United States has long had fractious relationships with Black Americans.
African-Americans; descendants of Africans who were brought here forcibly, have contentious relationships with their native country. During the early part of the 21st century, many African-American artists such as Richard Wright and Josephine Baker chose to decamp to Europe where they felt they received better treatment.
And even with an African-American in the White House and blacks showing progress, some African-Americans still choose to live outside the United States. Frank Farmer, a retired college professor based in Canada, said he left the United States in 1968 for political reasons.
"I decided to move back because of my politics and views on race, as well as having many dear and old friends here," Farmer said, who first came to Canada as a conscientious objector protesting the Vietnam War.
Farmer has been back and forth to the United States over the years, but the final straw was the election of President George W. Bush, and a student assaulting him while teaching high school. After he received a financial settlement, he had the resources to move permanently. 
Farmer said the racial diversity in his Canadian community impresses him greatly. “Most of my students are South Asian and Chinese," Farmer said. "Our friends are mostly French Canadians and as a non-native French speaker it was a challenge at first."
He added that living in Canada, as a Black American is a different experience. He calls it being a "minority within a minority," because most of the black people in Canada are from the Caribbean, Africans, and Black Latinos.
Farmer said that although the cost of living is higher in Canada, it is worth living there because of the healthcare. The only thing he misses is Marlboro's, and he has quit smoking.
Like Farmer, Kathleen Dameron moved to Paris, France for cultural reasons. Dameron is CEO of KD Conseil, a company that offers training and coaching to multinational organizations on strategies to improve communication and workplace efficiency. She said the way people in the United States treat young African-American men turned her off, and explained that the turning point came when the police racially profiled one of her family members. 
"My brother Carl was arrested. They knocked on my mother’s door looking for a short dark-skinned boy who had committed a robbery. My brother was a tall, light-skinned boy," Dameron said. "Fortunately, I had come from out of town to take him to see his white school teacher, so he had a solid alibi. Everyone told me how often this happens to young black males, and we were living in Southern California, which is supposed to be so open and so liberal."
Dameron has lived in Paris since 1980, after spending part of college years there. She says that racism is less of a problem in France; however, the French are still battling classism.
"The French are more elitist than racist. If you are a Black (person) with talent, education, and have the will to [succeed], they will include you as a Black American," Dameron said.
Unlike Farmer and Dameron, entrepreneur Shoneka Proctor moved to Chile seeking better business opportunities. A Chilean start up recruited Proctor to design and implement a national program that encouraged social innovation and entrepreneurship.
"I originally came as a consultant and curriculum designer, but recently founded a company/association based in Chile called Para Chile (For Chile in Spanish)," Proctor said. "I am 'developing Chile' through the design, development, and management of large scale social innovation and entrepreneurship training programs. Currently, the Chilean government is working to implement mandatory classes in entrepreneurship, social innovation, creativity, and leadership in all secondary schools in Chile by 2014."
Proctor said her frustration over the lack of access to top-level government officials in Washington 
D.C. motivated her to make the move. "I constantly got in front of high-level people, but I did not feel they were progressive in their thinking, not even under a new government administration. When Chile reached out to me and said they really needed a person with my expertise, I decided to give it a try."
So far, Proctor said she has had great access to top-level Chilean politicians, and her presentations are in great demand, even though they are in English. In addition, she writes a column for an English language newspaper, and consults on national projects and programs.
"I feel that I am here on the ground floor of a historic time in the (Chilean) history," Proctor said. "My goal is to be the individual/organization that makes the largest social and economic impact among Chile's middle, lower, and indigenous populations before they hit their anticipated development goal (by the end of this decade)."
Proctor says living abroad has given her a better understanding of America's place in the global economy.
"Living in a small town and a place where many people have to choose each day between eating and taking the bus to work, it is definitely more obvious to see how the economic situation in the U.S. influences/impacts the rest of the world," Proctor said.