When Blessing Chimwanda used to walk across the campus of St. Johns University, some saw an African-American, others saw an African. He is both.
Chimwanda is part of a growing number of African and Afro-Caribbean U.S. immigrants, a group that now stands at more than one million. With different cultural backgrounds, and no ancestral links to America’s slave history, this new group of African-Americans brings a new perspective to the nation’s perception of what it means to be black in America.
The relationship between recent African-American immigrants and the descendants of American slaves is a complex one. Misconceptions and stereotypes contribute to strained relations in some cases. For Chimwanda, one of the earliest ethnic tensions he experienced with other blacks had to do with him dating a white woman.
“My girlfriend in Zimbabwe was white, and when I came here my girlfriend was white,” he recalls. “And a lot of people didn’t like that I was dating a white girl.” When he says “a lot of people,” Chimwanda is referring exclusively to African-American students.
“It came up more often than not,” Chimwanda says. “For example, when we went to parties where a lot of black people were invited, somebody would say, ‘So you’re bringing your white girlfriend are you?’ Others would say, ‘Do all Africans like dating whites, or is it just you?’”
Beverly Gill, born on the Caribbean Island nation of Trinidad, immigrated to the U.S. 20 years ago with her mother, says she sees a large cultural difference between her and her teenage sons.
“I am not American, but my kids are,” says Gill, who was a teenager when she came to the U.S., and she remembers being surprised at how loud she thought American teens were.
“We were taught to address adults as Mister or Miss or Mrs.,” says Gill. She says that kids here complain about homework, but in Trinidad, kids are told to “just do it.”
“I see my sons, who are 14 and 16, as much more American,” she says. “They always want American food, and ask for spaghetti and meatballs.”
For most of American history, being black was largely defined as not being white. Whatever their backgrounds, blacks in the U.S. have been bound together by the common yokes of segregation and discrimination. However, the Civil Rights victories, and the growing diversity of cultures in the U.S., challenges that old definition. Between 1990 and 2000, the U.S. immigrant population increased by 57 percent, according to 2000 Census figures.
In previous decades, Caribbean immigrants settled in traditional immigrant-rich enclaves in New York, Washington D.C., and Florida, spawning social leaders like Marcus Garvey, and noted entertainers such as Harry Belafonte and Sidney Poitier. In recent decades, they spread in growing numbers to cities from Detroit and Minneapolis, to Atlanta, with the western states experiencing the fastest growing African-American population, according to Census Bureau population estimates.
While the descendants of U.S. slaves, and newer Afro-immigrants, share a common history of slavery, they are not always treated the same by other Americans.
“People pay more attention when I speak, and I get more questions,” says Chimwanda. “I definitely think I am treated differently than someone who is African-American, sometimes for the better, sometimes for the worse. I sometimes feel that Caucasians are more open to me than most African-Americans.”
Perhaps the foundation for the biggest difference between cultures comes from the recent immigrants’ struggle that causes them to view their new homeland in a way those born on its soil cannot.
“I think that most of those born here haven’t traveled and seen things differently.” Gill says. “America has a lot to offer, and although they have to work for it, a lot of the kids have greater opportunities open to them, but many of these kids don’t appreciate all of America’s advantages.”
Chimwanda hopes to raise his children with an understanding of both the African-American and Afro-immigrant experience. “I want my kids to experience my African upbringing, as well as life here, and other cultures,” he says.