My mother and father pray each day that they were not born here. They were never denied basic rights, treated less than human, told that they were inferior, told that they couldn’t do something and they never felt the restrictions of not being able to be themselves in a society or of being restricted from certain aspects of life in their society.

When my parents came to this country, they were proud of who they were, they had an identifiable culture that was seperate from that in the U.S., they did not adhere to restrictions, they were never told that they could not do something and they came to this country with that immigrant idea of freedom, democracy and social mobility. This is something that is alien to African Americans.

Every single member of my family believes that America is a racist country. My family except from my parents have chosen and sought out communities that have large middle class and black populations to live amongst like in Brooklyn, Tampa, parts of Prince George’s county Maryland and Atlanta. They refuse to live in communities like my parents do. They also have a sense of solidarity and support that keeps them whole.They each can share many, many stories of prejudice that they have faced in this country. The reason why they could move above it is because my family in particular has a sense of pride (which many consider to be arrogance) that allows them not to settle for anything!!

This is what my cousin said he tries to teach his friends who are native black American. He said that too many need to adat these attitudes. When you do, nobody will be able to deny you anything. You will not be ashamed of who you are and you will be able to find your rightful place. Malcolm X used to talk alot about this.

We must not make generalizations. There are many West Indians who are not well off in this country.

It has nothing with being successful!!!! being educated or speaking what you will consider as “properly”.

If this is what you people think we are talking about then you are lost!! I am successful and highly educated and I DO NOT consider that to be “acting white”. Many blacks do not. That is actually a profound misconception that many have painted and I just finished my senior thesis on it.

I was happy that this conversation came up because I spent the past year studying it. I visted 25 high schools and middle schools and not once did any of the students or their parents believed that education, intellectualism, success etc was being white. The majority agreed that they would love to achieve certain things but it seems so far out of reach due to their economic circumstances. I wish people can stop saying that. I really do because many have already debunked that.

Where it does exist, I have heard, has been in schools where blacks were the minority. Due to the way that schools are structured, many blacks students are stuck in average and remedial courses. Many are not in the AP or higher level programs therefore those few black kids ( like myself) were sometimes outcasted because they are caught in a class with majority white kids. This is natural.

Nobody said I was “acting white” when I was in AP classes, got into a competitive college, started my own design business while in college etc… I never had a problem with the black students, black community…no one. I did know however that in high school due to the fact that I was in the theatre and arts programs at my high school (which is known to lock out blacks and latinos)this caused many to few me as one who did not like black people because I was in programs with people who were not the most inclusive except for me and like 2 other kids. I was in AP courses and most the students where Jewish. When I was in classes from 8-3 with predominately white students, it seemed that I was somehow down with them or trying to be like them in some respect. I was not because I was getting educated or because I was “smart” (I hate aligning smart with institutional education).

I also wanted to add that I left my design company and went freelance because I did not like the restraints of the work enviornment.

Also, I am quite aware of how native born black Americans think about West Indians. I know that it is a mutual misconception. I try and explain this to my family but they do not get it. We need to build a bridge of understanding.

That is because Black Americans are viewed upon as the ultimate conformists who appear to actively try and distance themselves from the continual struggle of Africans of the diaspora. Otherwise we tend to look down on our Brothers and Sisters from other nations and I absolutely agree with this. We have taken on the identity and atitude of the people/oppressor that we fought so hard against.
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I’d like to address this. Yes and no.

On the one hand, a lot of black Caribbean people do feel as if African-Americans look down on us and resent the attitude of African-Americans – who sometimes tend to behave as if they are the only black people in the whole Western Hemisphere and have the only legitimate and defining ‘black experience’. Small example: When Rihanna won her Grammy, Jay-Z jokingly ‘translated’ her speech. A lot of Bajans were not amused by that. Larger example: African-Americans subscribing to the same broad cliches and stereotypes of Caribbean people as white Americans do. We feel you should know better or at least make the efffort to do so.

On the other hand, a LOT of West Indians, especially after they have lived in the States among African-Americans, tend to look down on them. Perhaps because they feel more defined by their immigrant status rather than their black status, West Indians tend to do differently and make note of it.Black Caribbean people tend to get more education, own their own businesses more, own their own houses more etc than black Americans and then they tend to feel ‘well if we can do all this why can’t you in your own country’? One complaint I hear a lot about African-Americans from Caribbean is that they are ‘lazy’.

I don’t live there so I don’t know if that is the case.

Interestingly enough, this same dynamic plays out in the UK between African-Brits and Caribbean-Brits – with the Africans tending to look down on Caribbean people. I have had a young man from Cameroon tell me I’m ’so not like the typical Caribbean woman- all they want to do is party and have children’.

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No.

They need to believe in themselves and their abilities, acquire the skills to effectively communicate and market their talents, services and/or products, and become entrepreneurial.

If you read my entire post you would know I do understand why some blacks believe that certain behaviors are considered white. It goes back to slavery and what we were taught about ourselves. Also Blacks in America are told negative things about people from the Caribbean also. My grandmother who is a women of leisure, did a missionary work in the West Indies. The things that she was told about West Indians before she went and what she saw went she got there was different. And she went all over the West Indies. It goes both wast. Every since the 20s, 30s, 40s all people of African Descent are told negative things about each other to keep us apart.

S,
I don’t equate success with white people, and your right not all whites are successful. Most of the people on welfare are white. I do believe though some some blacks no matter what socioeconomic background you are in there are blacks who do try to act white because they thinks its better. I don’t think that if you are successful that you are trying to be white, and I do believe a lot of blacks get mislabeled. I also agree that blacks need to become entrepreneur like yourself. There are people who have been in the country as long as blacks making money off of us, and we are working for someone else. If you own your own businesses you don’t have to worry about being anyone but your self.

Not all white people are successful.

So the focus should be on what qualities or attributes are widely recognized as norms among the successful. Can those attributes be categorized as, rhondacoca says, being ‘rooted in whiteness’ or are they ‘universal,’ and valued by many cultures.

As the economies of the world continue to grow and become even more interconnected, and as businesses, large and small, become connected globally through the internet, do race and gender become less important than being American?

What are the qualities and attributes that make Americans successful? And if some of those attributes are ‘rooted in whitness’ or ‘jewishness’ or ‘blackness’ or ‘asian-ness’ or ‘hispanic-ness’ would it not be in one’s economic self-interest to embrace them?

It is good and meaningful for individuals to celebrate and express their culture, race, gender and personal identity, but in the workplace, and in a larger corporate culture, the corporation insists that one conforms to its culture, not the other way around in order to achieve a ‘collective success.’

Personally, this is why I am an entrapreneur. And I believe entrepreneurship is the fastest, most rewarding way to achieve success, to achieve the American dream.

I’m not going to entertain this comment any further, but if you never understood what it feels like to deny yourself and to downplay a part of your identity in this racist, imperialist world; you will never understand what it is to “act white”

–you will never understand how recent immigrants get shafted for state-funding (MA) for bilingual education in the name of English as an official language

–you will never understand white privilege each time you travel

–you will never understand Katrina recovery and who got access to government resources to rebuild

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“If by “acting white” you mean speaking intelligently using the English language and educating and bettering yourself so that you have SOME marketable skill that’s of value to an employer,”

the flipside to this premise is the way we are (non-white) is not a valuable marketing skill, not educated, and we’re just dumbing ourselves by speakin our native tongues, by living in our existing customs

..now that sounds hella racist

Thanx for answering my questions.

DWS,

My fam is Caribbean. They actually came to this country viewing black Americans as inferior and with bad tendencies. I am always shocked that these racist representations manage to reach all over the world…sad.

I also wanted to agree with, TLW. many also see black Americans as trying to look down upon blacks who are from the Caribbean and Africa as backwards because of the represenations of blacks in the Caribbean and Africa put out my certain ideologies here in the U.S.

It is very complicated but I know for a fact that to call someone a “black American” in my family was a “dirty word”.

So growing up this has always been a matter less of “acting white” than trying to “fit in” when my friends and schoolmates were all white.

All the same, I also consciously rejected the militant Asian-American identity people in college. I’d like to see myself not just as my phenotype, nor just the genetic and cultural heritage of my parents, but also embrace the other aspects — “white,” Jewish, Long Island, etc — that also compose my identity. I’d like to be able to be AND and not just be stuck between two places.

This is what I’ve valued about Barack Obama’s approach to race and what I heard in his “race speech” — an effort to make the conversation about the “and” rather than the “or.” After all, my kids, if we have any, will be “bi-racial” and facing the same questions he did. I’d like to think that they can value all of what make them special, which isn’t just the accident of birth but the circumstances of their surroundings.

Interesting perspective. Given the fact I saw whites treated much better led me to believe the perception was based on the reputation maliciously spread about us worldwide or prior experiences.

Further, since I know I went out of my way to be respectful of individuals and their cultures and I did not “look down upon our Brothers and Sisters” I can only conclude it had less to do with me as an individual as it had to do with what they chose to believe.

That is because Black Americans are viewed upon as the ultimate conformists who appear to actively try and distance themselves from the continual struggle of Africans of the diaspora. Otherwise we tend to look down on our Brothers and Sisters from other nations and I absolutely agree with this. We have taken on the identity and atitude of the people/oppressor that we fought so hard against.

Let us assume that values like commitment to excellence and dedication are givens.

Some African Americans are well suited for some corporate environments. It’s a perfect match. There is no need to wear a mask or to assimilate. If you love or prefer hierarchical organizations, conformity, routine, are competitive, don’t mind putting your career plan in the hands of your management and leadership team, comfortable with group think, and if productivity is more important than creativity to you, then you don’t need to assimilate. You are the ideal employee. There are black people who thrive in large corporate environment.

The issue arises when your values are totally different than those listed above but you still want the cushy title, money and status that comes with the corporate job. That’s when you have to assimilate or fake it to fit in. I don’t know how many times I wanted to run out of meetings screaming when co-workers were playing games of oneupmanship, or repeatthesentimentitis.

There came a point in my life (recently, like last year) when I realized that I wasn’t going anywhere in corporate america. I would never be as good as some of the other employees. It wasn’t because I wasn’t capable. I was expending so much mental energy assimilating or playing the game, that I couldn’t do my job to the best of my abilities.

I was the HR cliche: A Bad Fit.

I left recently. I know what a company has to be for me to excel and energy left over for me to pursue other interests.

I hear you.

rikyrah,

Not that I consider myself militant at this point in my life, but I have traveled outside the US to Africa and the Caribbean and I did not feel I was viewed so much as an American but as a black American and it was not particularly positive. I will say it was eye opening though.

I know where it comes from. Some blacks don’t. I just hate its that way. I have been called “acting white”, but if anyone who really knows me knows the opposite. I know we will get hit up for this, but Black Republication annoy me also. I think I know why they are also ways on t.v. but I wont say.