Essay On Black American Identity

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In many ways, the experiences of the immigrant family are typical of the gradual process of assimilation that has pulled generations of immigrants into their new homes mainstream. But there are important differences in the way immigrants adapt these days, and the influences on them can be double-edged. Gaps in income, education and poverty levels between new immigrants and the native-born are widening, and many of the newcomers are becoming stuck in dead-end jobs with little upward mobility. Therefore, some immigrants don't see themselves as ‘Black’ in America and some are not happy to be called ‘Black, and due to economic circumstances or wars, they are not returning home anytime soon. The children of these immigrants; especially those who …show more content…
There were three types of subjective understanding these youngsters have of being American, 1) a black American identity, 2) an ethnic or hyphenated national origin identity, 3) and an immigrant identity from first-generation. These different identities are related to different perceptions and understandings of race relations and of opportunities in the United States. Those youngsters who identify as ‘black’ Americans tend to see more racial discrimination and limits to opportunities for blacks in the United States. Those who identified as ethnic West Indians tend to see more opportunities and rewards for individual effort and initiative. She suggested that assimilation to America for the second-generation black immigrant is complicated by race and class and their interaction, with upwardly mobile second-generation youngsters maintaining ethnic ties to their parent’s national origins and with poor inner city youngsters assimilating to the black American peer culture that surrounds them

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