Comparative Immigration

Let's compare experiences shall we?

One of the things I do is visit websites of those persons whom I don't share a general ideology with. Living in a cocoon of your own thoughts or constantly being around people who agree with what you think is intellectually limiting. One of the themes I have seen on some blogs is a constant critique of what is wrong with black people and particularly African-Americans. Not that Black folks and specifically African-Americans cannot be critiqued, but a lot of critiques are leveled without historical context. There's a lot of “if my ancestors could come here and...” and "Why do black people do...." talk, particularly from those of European ancestry as if African-Americans (not including those from the Caribbean or recently from Africa) were or are like any other immigrant group in America. They are not. So for the benefit of those who are unfamiliar, let's take a comparative look at African and European immigration.

I. Early English Immigrants: Immigration by choice.

General mentality-Tired of this King and Pope and whatnot. I think I'll leave this country and go to the new world and make a new life.

Early African Immigrants:

* chilling in the field working*

* Attacked by strangers *

* Put in shackles *

* Stored in a dungeon under conditions that would be considered humane for Jews in Germany. *

* Put on a ship. Shackled up for weeks if not a month and a half*
* IF survived the trip put into a “holding pen”
* Sold to someone *
* Might be “fortunate” to see your wife/husband and/or children sold too.*

Let's stop here for a moment and look at these two experiences.

On the one hand you have a set of people who represented the “highly motivated” of their country. The vanguard if you will. Willing to risk all to go to a new land and start a new life. On the other hand you have a group of people who had no intentions of going anywhere. These persons being captured (by whatever means or reasons) and forced to go somewhere. You can be sure that this began a legacy of resentment among those persons.

II. Other European Immigrants prior to Emancipation:

European Immigrants:

- I think I'll leave this country and go to the new world.

- Oh I can purchase some of these Africans in order to help my American dream come true.

- Oh I can rent out my more skilled Africans to other European immigrants for a profit.

- Oh I think we'll pass laws making it illegal for these Africans to be taught to read, to congregate without our approval. We'll ban the use of their languages and customs. We'll publicly execute a few of them to make sure the others stay in line.

- African “immigrants”

* Property

* Can't own anything without the express permission of European immigrants.

* Can't get basic education. It's illegal.

* No citizenship rights whatsoever.

Africans being about the only group that were not included in the assumption of born citizenship, needed the 14^th Amendment to get what Europeans from anywhere got just by popping out the womb. For the African “immigrant” any child she had inherited the status of “not free”( AKA “property”) to some European immigrant. As a matter of fact the child conceived by a European and an African (who was his property or someone elses property) was also “property” unless said European “immigrant” decided to “free” that individual.

III. After Emancipation:

- European Immigrant: These potatoes are not growing well.... Man the poverty is damn crushing here in Southern Italy. Well I think I'll leave my country and go to the new world and see what I can do.

- Faces discrimination from previous Europeans but have one thing in common: White. So eventually the “No Irish” and “No Italians” , etc signs drop as each group finds out that they may not be WASP but they are most definitely not Africans. Now these now “Americanized” immigrants will pass more laws to keep the African in a lesser status.

- Certain immigrants will make a large presence in certain job markets such as Irish with police and firefighting (wonder why those bagpipes are played during events? Yeah...look no further). Those immigrants, now considered white will erect barriers to the African who had been in the country long before them. They will riot against the African who has here before them. He will pass laws that restrict access to public accommodations to the African who was here before him.

-African “Citizen”- Will be forced by European immigrants to live in certain areas and be forced to move FROM certain areas upon the whims of the European immigrants (and their children). Should they decide that their social and/or economic interests are inconvenienced by a black neighborhood.

In some cases when those European immigrants (or their children) decide they want a piece of prime land that belongs to an African, they will outrightthreaten the owner's life and once he “leaves town” for his own safety, the European immigrant will use the courts to grab the land claiming that the previous owner “abandoned” the property.

-Will be granted public education in sub-par structures without adequate tools.

-Will be excluded from access to higher education (assuming he has been able to obtain a High School education). Will form schools for themselves though those schools will be constantly under the threat of destruction from the surrounding white communities if any of the pupils or locals does anything that the European immigrant community does not “like”.

- Will eventually open businesses but are dependent upon European immigrant banks for capital. European immigrants don't care to lend to Africans. When they do lend to Africans it is at rates that are highly unfavorable.

-While other immigrant groups are freely allowed to celebrate their religions and cultural heritages, the African has been cut off from all cultural connections from his homeland(s). However; if the African is seen as being “too white” then he risks being assaulted or killed for being too “uppity” and not knowing “his place”. On the other hand if he behaves in a manner considered “typical” for the African it is used to re-enforce the natural “low culture” and “low intelligence” of the African. Can't win either way.

- Any invention that the African makes is co-opted by European immigrants who are then able to create large industries base on them (air conditioning, Peanut butter, Train linkages, Traffic lights, etc.). Over many generations the African is systematically denied the ability to capitalize on business ventures that European immigrants are allowed to build upon. Eventually the African is blocked out of so many industries that he can only do “small time” business. European immigrant look at the “non-accomplishments” of the African in America and say “look, he's so stupid he cannot build so and so and do such and such.” The European immigrant does not even recognize that the low position of the African is the direct result of the actions of the European immigrant to limit the activities of the African.

The European immigrant (and his or her children) forgets that a minority of people in any racial or ethnic group creates new things. Creates business, etc. That the rest of the community then benefits from the success of a few people. For example Henry Ford creates Ford. Ford is not a genious. Ford had a great idea and a community of people around him who he could tap. Millions of people became employed and able to do other things because of Henry Ford. But the European fails to understand that if Henry Ford was black, FIRST he would have been denied an education. Secondly he would not have been able to gather the people around him with the expertise he needed because those persons too would have been denied an education. Furthermore Henry Ford would not have been able to finance his idea because if he was black no bank would have given him the money. Lastly it is highly likely that Henry Ford, had he been black would have had a European immigrant take his idea. If Henry Ford was mixed enough to pass for white, he could have retained his invention but would have surrounded himself with European immigrants who would end up being the primary beneficiaries of his invention.


So as a summary we have two basic groups: Those who came of their own free will and those who did not. We have groups of European immigrants who, even after or during facing discrimination themselves would systematically turn on the African immigrant who was there before them.

We have the African "Immigrant" who was systematically stripped of their own cultural symbols and practices. The very symbols and practices that in every culture keeps a community cohesive and gives it's members grounding and purpose.  The same African "immigrant" is physically and mentally abused by the European immigrant for generations at a time while falling further and further behind the rest of the "Americans" in terms of wealth, land ownership, patents on industry founding inventions (air conditioning, traffic light) when they aren't outright denied the benefits of their own inventions (blood transfusions).

The African "immigrant" is allowed to do three things:

Sing, dance, fight.

Then we wonder why African-Americans are overrepresented in entertainment, sports and physically violent crimes mostly against other Africans.

This is but a small summary of the general immigration history of African-Americans. Don't let folks try to talk about African-Americans like they arrived at Ellis Island on some “I'm lookin' for a fresh start” story. That aint' us.