Harvard has more black students than ever, but are they African-American?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Really? Have you been to new York? Tons of poor Africans that came here as stowaways and wanna work hard. Driving taxis working in old folks homes cleaning bed pans or on the streets selling stuff. All looking for a better life. Africans don't expect that it just be handed to them. They're not lazy.

I have worked at consular sections in our embassies. I maintain that generally the poorest of the poor from any continent do not usually make it to the U.S. The doctor's son from Nigeria may be quite willing to drive a taxi in New York. But thank you for reminding me that Africans don't expect that success just be handed to them. My parents grew up in very poor states, the children of sharecroppers and woodcutters, literally being spat upon by white kids riding by in their school buses. They worked their way through college and and were each the first in their families to earn graduate degrees. DH and I worked our way through college and paid for our wedding, house, and car by ourselves. I have met people who literally did not believe that I am a real African American -- not of direct West Indian or African descent. I've spent plenty of time around immigrant blacks who assume that only they properly prioritize family and education. I guess my family and I should try to learn from them to become less lazy and have a shot at the American dream.

We must be related. I can't tell you how many times someone assumes that my family is West Indian. Because such successful blacks could not possibly be homegrown.

NP. Yes, I'm asked frequently what island I'm from or questioned about my high-achieving children's nationality who are usually assumed to be Ethiopian because they just don't seem AA. WTF

~Signed a proud granddaughter of sharecroppers & descendent of slaves

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Really? Have you been to new York? Tons of poor Africans that came here as stowaways and wanna work hard. Driving taxis working in old folks homes cleaning bed pans or on the streets selling stuff. All looking for a better life. Africans don't expect that it just be handed to them. They're not lazy.

What mode of transportation are they using to cross the Atlantic ocean. They have lazy people everywhere. There are lazy people in Sweden, Italy, Ghana, Senegal, Zimbabwe, USA, Mexico, Peru, Taiwan, Indonesia, Australia, you name it. Your statement shows your ignorance. It would be like someone saying all Africans chop off hands and feet of their brothers. Or, all Africans are starving. Or, any other asinine catch all phrase to describe an entire group of people. And in case you did not know, Africa is a continent and not a country. It is also not a continent that is homogeneous.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yes, you are right. As I outlined above, my parents achieved the American dream through reliance on government handouts and instilled the same laziness in me. I have issued and denied thousands of visas and I still maintain that the poorest of the poor cannot get a visa (excluding the Diversity Visa) with a letter from Cousin Emeka or a ream of bank account statements. I support paths to legalization for the law-abiding and especially their children but that does blind me to the basic truth that immigrants who cannot cross on foot at our borders do not, by and large, proportionally represent their countries. You identify yourself as African and thus know better than most how impossibly far out of reach even a plane ticket would be for a truly impoverished person in a certain context. Why pretend that this opportunity is equally available to people from every economic background when you know that is not the case?

As a Black American please allow me to extend my thanks to those hardworking Africans who indirectly, and so nobly, choose to subsidize those of us who "live off the government" through their black market labor that does not drive down wages, but merely 'right prices' them in our economy. I congratulate them on their certain-to-be-fruitful strategy of identifying with White Americans. We hapless native sons and daughters can indeed learn much from them.

Why do you have such a boulder on your shoulder?

Because I am tired of people comparing apples and oranges and reaching predictably flawed conclusions. Like many African Americans I have African friends whom I respect individually. I am fascinated by the things they have to say and their unique perspectives. When I see that Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie has published a story in the New Yorker I flip to the page where it begins right away. I have sent her books to my sisters, mother, and friends. I dated African men and had mostly good experiences. But I do not accept from them, Whites, or anyone else the premise that I, by mere virtue of my Black Americanness, am necessarily their cultural or social inferior. I am very proud to be an American, a black American. There are great things about our country that draw the creme de la creme. My people, my community, and my family are part of that, no matter how we came here, and that is true of people of every ethnic group in the U.S. I will always resist efforts to finesse that reality away.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yes, you are right. As I outlined above, my parents achieved the American dream through reliance on government handouts and instilled the same laziness in me. I have issued and denied thousands of visas and I still maintain that the poorest of the poor cannot get a visa (excluding the Diversity Visa) with a letter from Cousin Emeka or a ream of bank account statements. I support paths to legalization for the law-abiding and especially their children but that does blind me to the basic truth that immigrants who cannot cross on foot at our borders do not, by and large, proportionally represent their countries. You identify yourself as African and thus know better than most how impossibly far out of reach even a plane ticket would be for a truly impoverished person in a certain context. Why pretend that this opportunity is equally available to people from every economic background when you know that is not the case?

As a Black American please allow me to extend my thanks to those hardworking Africans who indirectly, and so nobly, choose to subsidize those of us who "live off the government" through their black market labor that does not drive down wages, but merely 'right prices' them in our economy. I congratulate them on their certain-to-be-fruitful strategy of identifying with White Americans. We hapless native sons and daughters can indeed learn much from them.

Why do you have such a boulder on your shoulder?

Because I am tired of people comparing apples and oranges and reaching predictably flawed conclusions. Like many African Americans I have African friends whom I respect individually. I am fascinated by the things they have to say and their unique perspectives. When I see that Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie has published a story in the New Yorker I flip to the page where it begins right away. I have sent her books to my sisters, mother, and friends. I dated African men and had mostly good experiences. But I do not accept from them, Whites, or anyone else the premise that I, by mere virtue of my Black Americanness, am necessarily their cultural or social inferior. I am very proud to be an American, a black American. There are great things about our country that draw the creme de la creme. My people, my community, and my family are part of that, no matter how we came here, and that is true of people of every ethnic group in the U.S. I will always resist efforts to finesse that reality away.

So I assume you have no probblem with the premise of this post - that many of the students at top-level educational institutions, while black, are not AA?

[Anonymous]

I actually dislike the phrase because of its inherent ambiguity. I think of myself as a Black American. And I would have no problem with someone from Dominica or Senegal using that description. My African ancestry is obvious but my cultural context is American.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Really? Have you been to new York? Tons of poor Africans that came here as stowaways and wanna work hard. Driving taxis working in old folks homes cleaning bed pans or on the streets selling stuff. All looking for a better life. Africans don't expect that it just be handed to them. They're not lazy.

I have worked at consular sections in our embassies. I maintain that generally the poorest of the poor from any continent do not usually make it to the U.S. The doctor's son from Nigeria may be quite willing to drive a taxi in New York. But thank you for reminding me that Africans don't expect that success just be handed to them. My parents grew up in very poor states, the children of sharecroppers and woodcutters, literally being spat upon by white kids riding by in their school buses. They worked their way through college and and were each the first in their families to earn graduate degrees. DH and I worked our way through college and paid for our wedding, house, and car by ourselves. I have met people who literally did not believe that I am a real African American -- not of direct West Indian or African descent. I've spent plenty of time around immigrant blacks who assume that only they properly prioritize family and education. I guess my family and I should try to learn from them to become less lazy and have a shot at the American dream.

We must be related. I can't tell you how many times someone assumes that my family is West Indian. Because such successful blacks could not possibly be homegrown.

^lol..that made me smile, I'm West Indian from Trini. Interesting discussion u have going on here...

[Anonymous]

I've seen people on planes from Africa who can't speak a lick of English and they've been able to "afford" the ticket. Don't be so naive. Middle and upper class Africans are working top flight jobs in the US. Lower class africans are the ones who drive taxis. Fact.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I've seen people on planes from Africa who can't speak a lick of English and they've been able to "afford" the ticket. Don't be so naive. Middle and upper class Africans are working top flight jobs in the US. Lower class africans are the ones who drive taxis. Fact.

Your definitions of middle, upper, and lower class are all relative. A plane ticket does not guarantee entry. You need a visa if you don't come from a Visa Waiver country. And I maintain that the poorest of the poor are not usually able to get one because they cannot overcome the presumption of intending immigration as required. I love how people who have not worked in this area are ready to lecture me on the law.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I've seen people on planes from Africa who can't speak a lick of English and they've been able to "afford" the ticket. Don't be so naive. Middle and upper class Africans are working top flight jobs in the US. Lower class africans are the ones who drive taxis. Fact.

REally, while being paid 34.7% less than a white man?

To go back to the OP's beef, what's your problem, they qualify, they can get the spots at all the Ivies they want. You can whine all you want that they do not deserve the spots, because they are Africans.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I've seen people on planes from Africa who can't speak a lick of English and they've been able to "afford" the ticket. Don't be so naive. Middle and upper class Africans are working top flight jobs in the US. Lower class africans are the ones who drive taxis. Fact.

REally, while being paid 34.7% less than a white man?

To go back to the OP's beef, what's your problem, they qualify, they can get the spots at all the Ivies they want. You can whine all you want that they do not deserve the spots, because they are Africans.

http://applauseafrica.com/education/146-africans-top-ivy-league-colleges-leader-harvard-columbia-brown-yale-cornell-and-princeton-

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I've seen people on planes from Africa who can't speak a lick of English and they've been able to "afford" the ticket. Don't be so naive. Middle and upper class Africans are working top flight jobs in the US. Lower class africans are the ones who drive taxis. Fact.

Your definitions of middle, upper, and lower class are all relative. A plane ticket does not guarantee entry. You need a visa if you don't come from a Visa Waiver country. And I maintain that the poorest of the poor are not usually able to get one because they cannot overcome the presumption of intending immigration as required. I love how people who have not worked in this area are ready to lecture me on the law.

Ok let's agree on that. It's not the totally destitute that make it here. However can we also agree that the sons and daughters of the professional class in Africa (middle and up) don't move to the US to drive taxis and sell fake hats in Time Square. They come here to go to college and become doctors, work on Wall Street or grab their degree and go back home.

[Anonymous]

Pp, is that not. What u.s. students who study elsewhere are doing?

[Anonymous]

Please familiarize yourself with the concept of the African brain drain. Many international students do not, in fact, return to the countries of origin.

http://www.slate.com/blogs/the_reckoning/2012/06/01/are_we_stealing_africa_s_doctors_africa_s_health_pt_iii_.html

Are We Stealing Africa's Doctors?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I've seen people on planes from Africa who can't speak a lick of English and they've been able to "afford" the ticket. Don't be so naive. Middle and upper class Africans are working top flight jobs in the US. Lower class africans are the ones who drive taxis. Fact.

REally, while being paid 34.7% less than a white man?

To go back to the OP's beef, what's your problem, they qualify, they can get the spots at all the Ivies they want. You can whine all you want that they do not deserve the spots, because they are Africans.

http://applauseafrica.com/education/146-africans-top-ivy-league-colleges-leader-harvard-columbia-brown-yale-cornell-and-princeton-

Ah those Africans... how dare they?

[Anonymous]

So perhaps we should have socio-economic affirmative action rather than affirmative action based on race?