Why are Africans more successful in America than African Americans?

As a Nigerian-- Black African, i know exactly what you are saying. First off i would like to point out the very significant underlying fact here--Africans and African Americans are two very totally different people. Besides the appearance there is practically nothing in common. For the most part the black Africans who are International Students at US colleges must belong to one of these two categories.

1) The first category of the students,which i am a part of,is the ones who are very financially well of by all standards. These are the kids whose parents are IVY educated themselves and therefore know the value of a good education and are willing and able to sponsor their kids' education. Because the colleges there are not as good and go on strikes frequently, our parents send us to their Alma Mater or some other good school. Our parents go to great lengths to ensure their kids are well educated. For example my siblings and i were sent to an exclusive privately run boarding school in England--Concord College--where our parents had to pay thousands of dollars just so that we could get high International Baccalaureate points and be accepted to the best universities around the world. This instills a sense of the importance of education in us and makes us more inclined to further our education beyond the average level.

2) The second set of students are those who are very smart but whose parents are not capable of sponsoring their education,therefore they apply for scholarships mostly given by international oil companies and in some very rare cases the government. These sets of kids cannot afford to slack beacuse they know its chance of life time...and therefore are very motivated in the hope of having a better life and being able to one day support their kids. As long as they have a sponsor they will keep going further with their education.

Most of them end up working for the companies that sponsor them after their education becuase these companies trust them and their ability more than that of other African educated people whose exposure tends to be minimal.

Overall my point is that Africans and African Americans are very very differnt people with very different ideologies. One thing i also obeserved is that African Americans tend to look down on Africans--personally even though i am black, i feel offended when i am referred to as African American because i think it is degrading. Most of us(Africans) in the first category actually come from very aristocratic families or have a royal background as opposed to African Americans whose background is slavery. No offence African Americans, but my fore fathers were the kings and warriors not slaves--my fore fathers sold your fore fathers to the white man mainly because your people were defeated at war-- so for you to look down on us is ridiculous.

My last point is that you can tell an African from an African American by our etiquette and high moral standards. People of other races especially caucasians find it much more pleasant to mingle with Africans and we(Africans) find it easier to mingle with other races than we do A.A's.

I know some people might find the above offensive or bashful but these are the plain facts without sentiments!!!

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Well ra_shawn,apropos of your preceeding comments, i would like to first point out that even though the Europeans call what they did 'colonization' it is more like exploitation.You can verify from various historical and scholarly articles that when Europeans first came to Africa,Africans had their own way of running thinngs.They had an efficient bureaucracy in place--the so called 'colonizers' even took advantage of the existing sysytem through--INDIRECT RULE--research this term if you are not familiar with it. And i do not think that if it were not for AA's that i would not be here because again i am here as a privately sponsored international student and was accepted on merit not based on affirmative action.As for the propaganda on CNN yes it is there but it is also imporatant to keep in mind that there are scammers in Nigeria as well.

Thanks for the compliment about my ignorance.

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zegos64

I did not say majority of Africans in the U.S come from Aristocratic families. I said most of the Africans that are in the US and belong to the first category i mentioned,like myself,come from Aristocratic families.I was not trying to justify slavery--slavery did not start when the Europeans visited Africa.There was domestic slavery and trans saharan slavetrade had been taking place years before the trans atlantic slave trade started. As for the so called 'colonization' look closely it is more like exploitation and finally slavery exists everywhere in different forms and there it is nothing to brag about.

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I would love to here more from both regos64 and ra_shawn because you seem very dynamic.

This question can be debated until the end of time and there will never be an absolute answer to this question. I will begin by saying All Africans I've encountered in this country are arrogant. snobbish, disrespectful, and cliquish.

It appears that most Africans forget or do not want to accept or acknowledge that Americans of African descent did not ask to be sold, given away, enslaved, stripped of their humanity. I know many will say "okay it's over get it together and move on." The fact remains Africans do not understand that without the many sacrifies made by your African counterparts in this country you would not have the opportunities to pursue the educational opportunities afforded you here.

The relationship between whites and blacks in this country is complex to say the least. Americans of African descent encounter roadblocks to our success daily. there could be three races/ethnic groups applying for the same job, the American of African descent having the most experience and education, the American of African descent will be the one rejected. I can speak to this because I worked in recruiting for a major hospital. I was terminated because I spoke out against their hiring practice.

Now to address the question, Why are Africans more successful in American than Americans of African descent? Building foundations within families that nuture, develop and support children to succeed. I have 24 grandchildren, all except 6 (to young for college) have master degrees and great jobs. You are looking for the worst in us, if you look for the best you will find it…

It's quite apparent that you've never been to Africa. It's also apparent that you've never been anywhere near a ghetto. Your supposed facts don't take into account that there are less Africans in the US than Afro-Americans, or that living in a low economic area has an effect on the education of Black Americans. While the President's federal "Let no child be left behind" sounds like a great thing, Take a good look at the schools that are being updated.

Your "so called statistics" about Africans having the highest amount of PhDs are not only ridiculous, they are quite untrue.

I did some research for an education class two quarters ago. It seems to be that American Blacks, as you stated, have a history of struggle in the United States and that history of struggle is talked about by prior generations. Although, Africans may not have the same advantages that American Blacks do, they have not had the same negativity discussed in the family. I associate with the term black and I have continued my education. I have sat in classes with African students who appear to have a "superior" attitude when sitting next to me in class but even though I am a "B" student, I notice that many have difficulties with writing. I must say however, that other cultures take advantage of our educational system more fully than that majority of legal citizens do. It seems to be that unless you are struggling to succeed, education takes back seat - look at the educational achievements of Nicole Richie and Paris Hilton for example.

To Jayy above.... that was quite an arrogant piece. I am African myself but would not suscribe to that kind of fact.The majority of Africans out here are not from Aristocratic families and they never owned slaves... maybe yours did. Slavery was and is never justified. Unfortunately it is still happening in our very own backyards in Africa. I hope you don't brag about that and colonialism.

While I do admire the efforts Africans put into education, please remember that there are reasons as to why African countries have bottom of the barrel economies. Everyone has Sh*t in their backyards. Divisive statements never uplifted anyone. Come up with solutions to problems.

You have successful and hardworking African-americans but unfortunately those with very misalligned priorities are constantly making airwaves. I would imagine the reason been that a good segment of the African-American community is simply missing lots of positive male role models to put their family units together. Family is what Africans have in abundance.

Well not ALL African Americans are on welfare. Just to clear that up. But I have to agree with your statement when it comes to black people and even most Americans. Immigrants come over here and take advantage of education and entrepreneurship. The generation after the Civil Rights movement have become lazy. The work for equality is done, some of them feel as everything should be given to them just because they are black. There are plenty of black people who do own homes, who do own their own businesses. they worked for what they got.

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Africans come to America to aspire with the ambition that brought them to this country. Many (not all) African Americans here do not value education, or the importance of good work ethic the way they should. African Americans are too focused on their appearance and material items, rather than ways in which they can become successful.

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This is an interesting question and one that I have asked many times. Very often people get stuck on the race aspect of the question and miss the cultural aspect of it. The truth is, the American culture promotes sloppiness. If one cannot do arithmetic, grammar, or even read and write, no one shows much concern. "It's all good" don't you know. Well, unfortunately it is definitely not all good. And, one must have the courage to say so.

It is impossible to make a change if everyone is running around talking about how "great" everything is. This is not a question of pessimism. It is a question of realism. What is the effect of this prevalent attitude of indifference otherwise known as "whatever?" Failure on all levels. This applies to racial groups as well as it applies to cultural ones. People from Africa are not so far gone from reality. That is why they tend to do better. They know that to get good grades, to excel in business, to build a future one needs to apply certain fundamental principles day in and day out. One must get the fork and the bottle out of one's mouth and get serious "dude": getting up on time, going to bed on time, showing up for work on time, not smoking dope, drinking "brewskis" or munching out at the ball game with a baseball cap on backwards is what success requires because success is built on certain fundamental principles that do not change.

People from Africa do not go to the office or the class room to play football, shoot toy guns, or otherwise incite an attitude of disinterest and a lack of seriousness. They go to WORK, and quite often they work hard and excel. That shows the idea of an inferior race for the nonsense it is. In a word, people from Africa like people from Asia and to some extent Europe are more serious about things. That is the long and the short of it. http://gettoughderekevans.blogspot.com/

Jayy is an aristocratic blowhard idiotic intraracist snob. I guess you think you are better because your parents had money. I guess "akatas" like me don't make the grade. Piss off!

My personal opinion? They weren't affected by slavery in the US. They're coming here to start a new life, get an education and try to be good citizens. They're not walking around with a HUGE chip on their shoulder because their great great great grandfather was a slave.

It's possible for sure