African Immigrants in the United States: Implications for Affirmative Action Abdi M
Total Page：16
File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb
Sociology Publications Sociology 1-2014 African Immigrants in the United States: Implications for Affirmative Action Abdi M. Kusow Iowa State University, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: http://lib.dr.iastate.edu/soc_las_pubs Part of the African American Studies Commons, and the Race and Ethnicity Commons The ompc lete bibliographic information for this item can be found at http://lib.dr.iastate.edu/ soc_las_pubs/6. For information on how to cite this item, please visit http://lib.dr.iastate.edu/ howtocite.html. This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Sociology at Iowa State University Digital Repository. It has been accepted for inclusion in Sociology Publications by an authorized administrator of Iowa State University Digital Repository. For more information, please contact [email protected]. African Immigrants in the United States: Implications for Affirmative Action Abstract For more than half a century, an extensive literature has consistently reported that first-and second-generation black immigrants are more educated and economically successful than African Americans. This literature has also suggested that black immigrants are benefiting from affirmative action more so than African Americans without having been the direct objects of slavery and historical discrimination. An important shortcoming of this literature, however, is that it presumes an undifferentiated black immigrant success story and obscures important differences across black immigrants from different countries of origin. Using data from the three census years (1980, 1990, and 2000), I examine the extent to which the black immigrant success story is directly relevant to African immigrants from different countries of origin in the United States. The findings of the study reveal that African immigrants are represented in the entire continuum of the American class structure, and therefore, any representation of a uniform experience is not empirically defensible. Empirical and theoretical implications of affirmative action are also discussed. Keywords African and African American Studies, African Immigrant Diversity, Black Immigrant Success, Affirmative Action Disciplines African American Studies | Race and Ethnicity Comments This article is from Sociology Mind, 4 (2014): 74-83. doi:10.4236/sm.2014.41010. Posted with permission. Rights Copyright © 2014 Abdi M. Kusow. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. In accordance of the Creative Commons Attribution License all Copyrights ©2014 are reserved for SCIRP and the owner of the intellectual property Abdi M. Kusow. This article is available at Iowa State University Digital Repository: http://lib.dr.iastate.edu/soc_las_pubs/6 Sociology Mind 2014. Vol.4, No.1, 74-83 Published Online Junuary 2014 in SciRes (http://www.scirp.org/journal/sm) http://dx.doi.org/10.4236/sm.2014.41010 African Immigrants in the United States: Implications for Affirmative Action Abdi M. Kusow Department of Sociology, African and African American Studies Program, Iowa State University, Ames, USA Email: [email protected] Received September 29th, 2013; revised November 23rd, 2013; accepted December 17th, 2013 Copyright © 2014 Abdi M. Kusow. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons At- tribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. In accordance of the Creative Commons Attribution License all Copyrights © 2014 are reserved for SCIRP and the owner of the intellectual property Abdi M. Kusow. All Copyright © 2014 are guarded by law and by SCIRP as a guardian. For more than half a century, an extensive literature has consistently reported that first-and second-gen- eration black immigrants are more educated and economically successful than African Americans. This literature has also suggested that black immigrants are benefiting from affirmative action more so than African Americans without having been the direct objects of slavery and historical discrimination. An important shortcoming of this literature, however, is that it presumes an undifferentiated black immigrant success story and obscures important differences across black immigrants from different countries of ori- gin. Using data from the three census years (1980, 1990, and 2000), I examine the extent to which the black immigrant success story is directly relevant to African immigrants from different countries of origin in the United States. The findings of the study reveal that African immigrants are represented in the entire continuum of the American class structure, and therefore, any representation of a uniform experience is not empirically defensible. Empirical and theoretical implications of affirmative action are also discussed. Keywords: African Immigrant Diversity; Black Immigrant Success; Affirmative Action Introduction by African immigrants (14) is higher than not only African Ame- ricans (12.4) and Afro-Caribbeans (12.6) but also that of whites For more than half a century, an extensive literature has con- (13.5) and Asian Americans (13.9) as well. sistently reported that first- and second-generation black immi- The higher-than-average socioeconomic and educational at- grants are more educated and economically successful than Af- tainment of black immigrants has been extended to the observa- rican Americans (Reid, 1939; Sowell, 1978; Glazer & Moyni- tion that first- and second-generation black immigrants are over- han, 1963; Moynihan, 1965). In his classic publication, The Ne- represented in Ivy League colleges and universities as well. In gro Immigrant: His Background Characteristics and Social Ad- an article, “Top Colleges Take More Blacks, But Which Ones?” justment, 1899-1937, the late Ira Reid made the seminal obser- The New York Times reported a discussion that took place at a vation that “high schools and colleges in New York City have an unusually high foreign-born Negro (sic) representation” gathering of Harvard University’s alumni where two prominent (1937: p. 416), and that nearly one third of New York’s black African American scholars, Henry Louis Gates and Lani Gui- professionals, including physicians and lawyers, are foreign- nier, noted that more than half of the black students at Harvard born. More than three decades later, Thomas Sowell (1978) are of first- and second-generation West Indian and African im- confirmed Reid’s observation and concluded that Caribbean im- migrant families, or children of multi-racial couples (Rimer & migrants outperform African Americans in almost all indicators Arenson, 2004; see also Banerji, 2007; Glenn, 2007; Johnson, of socio-economic achievement (Moynihan, 1965; Glazer & 2005). Moynihan, 1963). Empirically, much of the Ivy League overrepresentation ar- The most recent and widely reported finding regarding the gument is informed by the results of two sociological studies. achievement of black immigrants was provided by Logan and The first, Haynie (2002), on Harvard’s black student population Deane (2003; see also Kent, 2007). In a report titled, “Black Di- and, despite its limited scope, provided an important insight versity in Metropolitan America,” Logan and Deane compared into the ethnic background of black students at Harvard. Based socio-economic attainment levels among African immigrants, on a sample of 170 students, Haynie found those who identified Afro-Caribbeans, and African Americans with a comparative as African or Afro-Caribbean made up nearly one third of the sample of major US ethnic groups. According to Logan and student population. When the multi-racial category was includ- Deane, median household income for Afro-Caribbean immi- ed in the figures, the number jumped to more than two thirds of grants and African immigrants was $43,650, and $42,900, re- the black student population. Comparing the ethnic background spectively, compared with $33,700 for African Americans. of Harvard’s black student population as a proportion of the Moreover, the average number of years of education completed total US black population, she found that while first-, second- 74 OPEN ACCESS A. M. KUSOW and third-generation black immigrants represented only 10 per- garding the African American disadvantage in affirmative ac- cent of the total US black population, they accounted for more tion proceedings due to the overrepresentation of black immi- than 55 percent of Harvard’s black student body. In contrast, grants in Ivy League colleges are provided by Onwuachi-Willig fourth (and plus) generation African Americans who repre- (2007), and Brown and Bell (2008). Kevin Brown and Jeannine sented nearly 90 percent of the total population accounted for Bell defined affirmative action as primarily historical and re- only 45 percent of Harvard’s black student body. sulting from the “struggle undertaken by the black community The second and perhaps most important sociological study to overcome racial oppression in the United States,” and is, on this topic was that of Douglas Massey and his colleagues “therefore, a part of the strategy for the uplift of the black (2006). Using data from the National Longitudinal Survey of community in the United States” (2008: p. 1231, emphasis add- Freshmen (NLSF), they examined the extent to which first- and ed). Consequently, Brown and Bell divided the contemporary