Western Michigan University ScholarWorks at WMU Dissertations Graduate College 12-2019 Negotiating American Racial Constructs: First- Generation African Caribbean Immigrants’ Experience with Race Rommel Johnson Western Michigan University, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarworks.wmich.edu/dissertations Part of the Counselor Education Commons Recommended Citation Johnson, Rommel, "Negotiating American Racial Constructs: First- Generation African Caribbean Immigrants’ Experience with Race" (2019). Dissertations. 3541. https://scholarworks.wmich.edu/dissertations/3541 This Dissertation-Open Access is brought to you for free and open access by the Graduate College at ScholarWorks at WMU. It has been accepted for inclusion in Dissertations by an authorized administrator of ScholarWorks at WMU. For more information, please contact [email protected]. NEGOTIATING AMERICAN RACIAL CONSTRUCTS: FIRST- GENERATION AFRICAN CARIBBEAN IMMIGRANTS’ EXPERIENCE WITH RACE by Rommel Johnson A dissertation submitted to the Graduate College in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Counselor Education and Counseling Psychology Western Michigan University December 2019 Doctoral Committee: Phillip Johnson, Ph.D., Chair Carla Adkison-Johnson, Ph.D. Mariam Konate, Ph.D. 2019 Rommel Johnson ACKNOWLEDGMENTS While pursuing my doctoral degree, a journey that has lasted eight years, I have received support and encouragement from a substantial number of individuals. First, I would like to acknowledge the invisible, yet personal, God in whom I believe, who has sustained me through the exuberance, sleepless nights, and sometimes even occasional bitterness that accompanied me in this quest. My belief that He has, indeed, endowed every human being with a sense of dignity, worth, and the inalienable right not to suffer oppression, inspired me to present the narratives of this group of people who often are overlooked. I would like to thank my late mother, Shirley Patricia Languedoc, for always believing in me and encouraging me always to be my best in whatever I do, particularly in academia. You were the first person who taught me to love others unconditionally. Your years of sacrifice, and emotional and financial investment have not been without reward. I am forever in your debt. May you rest in peace, knowing that you have made your mark on this earth through me. To my wife and partner, Fanny A. Johnson, I thank you for being my biggest cheerleader. Thank you also for being a great mother and awesome wife! Thank you for supporting me throughout this adventure. Without your help, devotion, and support, I would not have been able to complete this journey sanely. Dr. Phillip Johnson, chair of my dissertation committee, has been an exceptional mentor. Thank you for your guidance and feedback, which were instrumental during this pensive, challenging, and rewarding experience. I also would like to acknowledge and thank the other members of my dissertation committee, Dr. Carla Adkison-Johnson and Dr. Mariam Konate, ii Acknowledgments—Continued who helped me transform an idea into a completed study. Dr. Adkison-Johnson, thank you for teaching me to clarify my thought process during the preliminary stages of my dissertation. Dr. Konate, thank you for being a reliable source of inspiration through your many smiles, and giving insight into my research topic. Your understanding of the topic from a research and experiential standpoint was instrumental in shaping the study. Thank you, Mary Ebejer, my Academic Writing Coach. When I threw words together, you helped me shape them into concise, intelligible thoughts. Thank you for helping me process and articulate my thoughts in a direct manner appropriate for the academic community, and thank you for your encouragement along the way. In addition, I thank all my colleagues and mentors who gave me valuable academic and emotional support and advice, and upon whom I relied constantly throughout the research and writing process. I am particularly grateful to Dr. Alicia Demontegnac for her assistance in recruitment, peer review support, and friendship. I also would like to thank her mother, Ms. Carmen Brown, for her support in helping me disseminate information about the study through her community members and interview participants. I thank other members and leaders of the various Caribbean clubs and organizations who contributed to this study as well. Finally, I thank all the participants who shared their stories with me willingly so that their experiences and voices would be heard. Thank you for sharing your pain, trials, and resilience. Your narratives will give voice to others who never may have the opportunity to be heard, but may be understood because of what you have shared. Rommel Johnson iii NEGOTIATING AMERICAN RACIAL CONSTRUCTS: FIRST-GENERATION AFRICAN CARIBBEAN IMMIGRANTS’ EXPERIENCE WITH RACE Rommel Johnson, Ph.D. Western Michigan University, 2019 The purpose of this study is to describe and understand what race means to first- generation African Caribbean immigrants. Specifically, the study seeks to understand these immigrants’ experience of being Black in America. African Caribbean immigrants migrate to America with a concept of race that is very different from that of the United States. However, upon arriving in America, they encounter the American construct of race that not only diverges significantly from that with which they are familiar, but find that they are being racialized in the American sense. In professional counseling, we have yet to understand the way these immigrants make sense of this experience with race in America and the effect it might have on them. Ten self-identified, first-generation African Caribbean immigrants completed one-on- one, in-depth interviews in which they describe their experiences with race in America. Four major themes in the participants’ statements emerge in the data analysis. These include: “Back Home,” “I try to not let it be what it is,” “I became aware,” and “Racism is real, and you got to deal with it.” The analysis suggests that African Caribbean immigrants emigrate from predominantly Black majority states in the Caribbean with an understanding of, and experience with, race that is very different from that which they encounter in the United States. While they do make distinctions based on shades of skin color, other sociopolitical identities, such as education, family of origin, and wealth, also are important determinants of social status or class. When they arrive in America, they immediately have negative experiences with race that challenge their pre-migratory experiences and beliefs. The analysis also shows that when they first arrive and have these encounters with race, they are unsure of how to make sense of their experiences and often resort to avoidance to cope with them until they experience a moment of epiphany about their experiences with race in America, which they describe as “becoming aware.” This epiphany is a recognition that they are being racialized, that as individuals with black skin in America, they are socialized as a racially oppressed minority group and experience racism and discrimination that is part of the Black experience in America. This awareness is also an acknowledgment that race in America cannot be overcome despite achieving other sociopolitical identities, as in the Caribbean. Once they develop this cognizance of being racialized, they tend to push back against it actively using several strategies. First, they come to accept the reality of race in America, and then begin to address incidents of racism when the occur. They also choose to cling intentionally to their pre- emigratory beliefs and symbols of their culture, such as maintaining their accents and interactions with other people from the Caribbean, which helps them maintain the sense of humanity and dignity they had before they came to America. Keywords: African-Caribbean immigrants, racial awakening, epiphany, racialization, colorism, somebodiness TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGMENTS…………............................................................................................. ii LIST OF TABLES........................................................................................................................vii CHAPTER I. INTRODUCTION ……………………………………………………………......1 Background and Overview ………………………………………………...... 3 Caribbean Geography……...………………………………………………….4 Caribbean Demography……...……………………………………………......6 Race in the Caribbean ………………………………………………………...7 Race in America ………………………………………………………………9 Problem Statement……………………………………………………….…..14 Purpose Statement and Research Question ………………………………… 16 Rationale and Significance of the Study …………………………………… 16 II. LITERATURE REVIEW ……………………………………………………….18 Migration …………………………………………………………………… 18 Global Migration…… ………………………………………………….. 19 American Migration …………………………………………………….20 Caribbean Migration …………………………………………………….21 Assimilation, Racialization, and Migration..…………………………….......22 Race and Assimilation in the Counseling Research Literature….….….…….24 Assimilation and Race in the Social Science Research Literature……....…..28 Voluntary Immigrant Theory ……………………………………………28 Transnational Identity……....……………………………………………29 iv Table of Contents—Continued CHAPTER Myth of Return…………………………………………………………..31 Summary of Existing Research and Gap..…………………………………...32 III. METHODOLOGY …………………………………………………………….. 33 Design ……………………………………………………………………….33