What are your thoughts?

[DescartesK]

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First, I have to say its quite impressive to read from smart black people around here. Having immigrated to the united states from Africa, and listening around you'd think this species of black people is extinct.

I have some questions I have been wanting to ask. I may have posted this in one of the other forums, and I read one comment about it on this one....

Do African-Americans resent Africans taking advantage of the URM status to get into Med schools be they IVY or lower tier schools??
For example, I read an article from the New Yorker(not really sure) about Havard Professo, Dr Henry Louis-gate, who should know better, refusing to accept African students at Harvard as members of African American clubs and societies etc.
He says, with point taken, that Africans are merely taking advantage of all the hard work and pain they have had to endure to gain all the benefits such as AA and URM status for graduate programs.

To a certain extent, I agree with that. We definitely dont share that history of institutionalized racism that existed, and still does exist to a certain degree, till the late 60s.

At the same time dont you think that this descrimination occurs to all kinds of black people(african, carribean, S. American etc)? I dont think they care about nations of origins....walking down the street at late night hours, a black man is a black man regardless of nation of origin.
I'd love to hear some opinions.

 

[DescartesK]

No one wants to contribute? Is it a touchy subject?

 

[ADAUC]

i hear what your saying with the whole history behind african americans, but people dont think twice when they stereotype a black person by saying "oh wait he/she is african they're different" so in my opinion there's no reason africans shouldnt fall under the URM.

 

[grdnangel2]

i hear what your saying with the whole history behind african americans, but people dont think twice when they stereotype a black person by saying "oh wait he/she is african they're different" so in my opinion there's no reason africans shouldnt fall under the URM.

I couldn't agree more.

 

[DescartesK]

Yeah that's my point in general. We as black people have to stick together especially in the face of the injustice that we some face on a constant basis. Its a daunting task to overcome 3-4 centuries worth of socioeconomic and political setbacks but its not impossible.

I think trying to pin us against one another is akin to divide and conquer. I always try to socialize with my black peers no matter where I am but, unfortunately, it seems they are very reluctant to reciprocate.
And usually I end up befriending more white folks and hanging out with them more than African Americans. And this is the same thing that occurs when I usually ask my African friends at other universities....

Thats what made me really post this thread. I am really interested to know what is it about Africans that put a block in the path of fraternization.

For comparism, Europeans and whites don't seem to have problems bonding, same with foreign born Asians and Asian American....at least to my knowledge.

 

[AAB5]

I think this topic is very interesting. I like to socialize with anybody and everybody regardless of race. I'm an African American female and I truly love to learn about other cultures. I once told this to another African American female and she was miffed that I am friends with or even date Africans! She said the Africans and the African Americans at her school do not befriend each other. She was just so surprised.

I feel that some Africans categorize African Americans as well. I have a friend, who said to me one day that I was a very conscious African American woman compared to other African Americans. I didn't really know how to take it. I've also heard one African girl criticize another African for dating African Americans. She preferred white men or other Africans.

I've also heard someone say that African Americans are beneath Africans because we do not have our own country.

Those are just some of my experiences.

We do have distinct cultures, but I do not think we should let this hold us back from uniting to increase the numbers of black people in medicine. At the end of the day we are all black people!

 

[DescartesK]

You are right, race shouldn't be a factor when trying to socialize especially if going in the field of medicine. I have made friends from continents, having also been to about 3 of them., I like to think I am a very open minded individual.
My grief really is that, I have always admired the African American culture....I think I should add that its the single most dominant form of culture all around the world in modern times...you can see the impacts, literally everywhere.
Back home, I have been around kids that didn't have electricity or other basic necessities but could recite you some of Notorious BIG's lyrics, quote MLK or Malcolm X.
I, naively, thought that fraternizing with my fellow black brothers over here would be a cake walk. Boy was i wrong!!? I have met some who are absolutely fantastic...very welcoming and supportive. But those are far and between.

For the most part, they tend, atleast some of the ones i encountered, to deride the African culture the most by constantly employing stereotypes about Africa and refusing to educate themselves on it.

I actually had this girl tell me she wouldn't never date this African guy because, "..his features are too strong." Whatever that means!!! Its not like he was walking around with a bone in his nose and doing African dances while shouting hysterically.

I think we are all at fault here. Africans for assuming and embracing the same stereotype that others have about African Americans and viceversa. Each of us refusing to make more efforts towards another in terms of integration and acceptance.

I just hate where this might lead us down the road years or centuries from now....we might end up having two competing groups of individuals of the same race in this country. I mean I think there is a push to limit the number of or totally exclude African Immigrants when considering URMs and this is being advocated by educated African Americans.
Whereas an argument can be made about that, I don't think its the right thing to do.

I think this topic is very interesting. I like to socialize with anybody and everybody regardless of race. I'm an African American female and I truly love to learn about other cultures. I once told this to another African American female and she was miffed that I am friends with or even date Africans! She said the Africans and the African Americans at her school do not befriend each other. She was just so surprised.

I feel that some Africans categorize African Americans as well. I have a friend, who said to me one day that I was a very conscious African American woman compared to other African Americans. I didn't really know how to take it. I've also heard one African girl criticize another African for dating African Americans. She preferred white men or other Africans.

I've also heard someone say that African Americans are beneath Africans because we do not have our own country.

Those are just some of my experiences.

We do have distinct cultures, but I do not think we should let this hold us back from uniting to increase the numbers of black people in medicine. At the end of the day we are all black people!

 

[PlatinumPenny]

First, I want to say that I was quite turned off by the OP comments about how s/he was impressed to read comments from smart Black people….but I will put that under this “miscommunication” category and move on….


Ive always felt like African-Americans were welcoming to Africans but that most Africans were kind of exclusive or stand-off ish against African-Americans. I’ve also heard that most Africans tend to have a sense of superiority simply because they still have strong bonds to their homeland, culture and language whereas most African-Americans don't. Im not saying this is true but it has been my experiences.



Regarding rather Africans should be included in URM status. I believe they should. However, I feel that including them kind of mask the already low numbers of African-Americans , especially males.

 

[AbbyNormal]

No one wants to contribute? Is it a touchy subject?

Nobody cares but you. Sorry.

 

[HM3]

I'm not sure how accurate that claim at Harvard is but; I'm going to go ahead and say that thinking like that trivializes race and that person is a scumbag. Simply go to gapminder.org and look at Gapminder world, that says enough about skin color alone. 👍

 

[msamp]

If an institution did not accept Africans and place them in the URM category, there would be poor representation of people of color in these institutions if it were left to African Americans to fill those spots. Many of them are not getting into professional school because they are not applying in as large a number as their African counter parts. Just a bit of an anecdote, I went to UNC School of Medicine's graduation this past May, of the ~40 "black" students who were graduating none of them were African American, they were either African or Caribbean. I read an article a few months (ill try to find the link to it) stating that historically black colleges are seeing a decline in African American applicants and are instead seeing a dramatic rise in African and Caribbean applicants who are more competitive on paper than their African American applicants. Also, if one was to go to a non historically black college campus 73% of the "blacks" there would not be African American but would be African or Caribbean and that percentage is higher as you look at more competitive schools especially the Ivies. I have heard many comments that Africans and Caribbean people are coming here and using resources that are for African Americans- my view is.... if you don't use it you lose it. If African Americans are not using the resources that are there for them, then they shouldn't complain when Africans or Caribbeans are offered those same resources.

 

[Flash Goddess]

First, I have to say its quite impressive to read from smart black people around here. Having immigrated to the united states from Africa, and listening around you'd think this species of black people is extinct.

I have some questions I have been wanting to ask. I may have posted this in one of the other forums, and I read one comment about it on this one....

Do African-Americans resent Africans taking advantage of the URM status to get into Med schools be they IVY or lower tier schools??
For example, I read an article from the New Yorker(not really sure) about Havard Professo, Dr Henry Louis-gate, who should know better, refusing to accept African students at Harvard as members of African American clubs and societies etc.
He says, with point taken, that Africans are merely taking advantage of all the hard work and pain they have had to endure to gain all the benefits such as AA and URM status for graduate programs.

To a certain extent, I agree with that. We definitely dont share that history of institutionalized racism that existed, and still does exist to a certain degree, till the late 60s.

At the same time dont you think that this descrimination occurs to all kinds of black people(african, carribean, S. American etc)? I dont think they care about nations of origins....walking down the street at late night hours, a black man is a black man regardless of nation of origin.
I'd love to hear some opinions.

I would like to take this opportunity to state that most African-Americans feel a kinship with people of African descent from all over the world and have always been welcoming of everyone. African and African Caribbean people are the brothers and sisters of African-Americans, and although their current cultures are different they all have a shared history. I don't have any problem with Africans or African-Caribbean people having URM status because the whole purpose of awarding that status is to increase the number of minority doctors. Everyone should remember that URM status is not just awarded to African-Americans, it is also awarded to other minorities that are underrepresented in medicine. I personally feel that African and African Carribean people would fall under this heading.

 

[Lollygag]

I would like to take this opportunity to state that most African-Americans feel a kinship with people of African descent from all over the world and have always been welcoming of everyone. African and African Caribbean people are the brothers and sisters of African-Americans, and although their current cultures are different they all have a shared history. I don't have any problem with Africans or African-Caribbean people having URM status because the whole purpose of awarding that status is to increase the number of minority doctors. Everyone should remember that URM status is not just awarded to African-Americans, it is also awarded to other minorities that are underrepresented in medicine. I personally feel that African and African Carribean people would fall under this heading.

I agree with this. But I also find this thread really crazy because at my school I don't really hang out with the "Africans" or the "African-Americans" or the "Whites" I just have my random group of friends in which most of them happen to be black but black from all different kinds of nations not just one.

I consider myself a very diverse person open to other cultures and such and I love discussions like this but I've honestly never heard of this before with a separation between Africans and African Americans I thought they were very much inter joined. Clearly I need to get out more lol

Interesting thread though!