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[PixelatedBookake]

Lemme preface this by stating I am a Nigerian guy who was born in America to immigrant parents. Growing up in a majority black community for most of my life, I feel as if I've seen/experienced enough of this to talk about it: "Racism" against Africans in the Black community. I'm not 100% sure if this could even be called racism or prejudice or whatever, but it's an issue none the less.

My intention isn't to generalize or anything. I've just noticed that, growing up that kind of "African booty scratcher" mentality was somewhat prevalent amongst my black peers (I'm 20, so take from that what you will).

Being made fun of and bullied for having an African name, the "click click" noise, making fun of the accent, "Nigerian scamming" I've heard it all. I dunno why, but I feel like this kind of "racism" is somewhat swept under the rug in our community. Even Dear White People, a show I loved, dropped the ball when it came to their one African character.

But why is that? I've never really thought this much in depth into the situation until just now, and how much it low-key gets under my skin.

What do you guys think about this? Anyone is free to leave a comment on the topic, but I am eager to hear from Africans with similar experiences or blacks who have noticed this in the community.

Happy to hear your thoughts.

 

[Yaboosh]

No community is immune from looking down on other groups. Where a difference exists people will look down on it.

 

[LucidMomentum]

No community is immune from looking down on other groups. Where a difference exists people will look down on it.

This.

People like to put others down to make themselves feel better.

 

[HeartlessNobody213]

No community is immune from looking down on other groups. Where a difference exists people will look down on it.

This. It goes both ways, as some Africans tend to look down on Black Americans.

 

[jwk94]

Lemme preface this by stating I am a Nigerian guy who was born in America to immigrant parents.

It's not until you said this that it clicked that my parents are immigrants. Like, it's just not something I ever think about. They're my parents and we're all in America.

Anyway, yeah, I've experienced it too. Got made fun of for being the darkest one around, having parents with an accent (people imitating that accent is beyond annoying), called Starvin Marvin, the whole nine yards. I've gotten it from both blacks and whites, although because I'm in small-town USA, it's mostly white people. As someone else in here said, as long as there's a difference, people will make fun of it.

OP, have you seen "African Time" on YouTube?

This. It goes both ways, as some Africans tend to look down on Black Americans.

Definitely noticed that too. Always makes me shake my head. Then you'll get some of the black people who comment on how nice my whole family is. That always gives me a laugh.

 

[jmood88]

Too many Africans damn near turn into Klan members when they talk about black Americans.

 

[KillGore]

It happens in the latino community too. Even in the white community. It sucks.

 

[yanipheonu]

The Ego is a helluva drug.

 

[NewGame]

Is this like Paying It Forward but with being a racist?

 

[akira28]

i never saw this when I was growing up in the 80s and 90s. I knew there was friction between Africans and Blacks, but I always understood it to be Africans disliking black Americans for being lazy and degenerate and impure slave descendants.

I got made fun of by my lighter skinned black classmates who were making jokes in conjunction with my white classmates in a Church school built on former plantation land. They were just trying to fit in, I understand, but still sicked. The "he's so dark" comments. funny thing is I'm not really that dark not that it matters, but that just goes to show how stupid the shit is.

 

[Madness]

Probably seen more recent racism against African-Americans as an ethnic group by other Black ethnic groups than the other way around recently. Lot of Somalians, Nigerians, Kenyans, Ghanaians, and people from the Carribbean always talk down to or about African-Americans. Also, I mean is it really racist if they're the same race or ignorant stereotyping? You make it seem like the 'black community' is some homogenous thing. Groups always look down at other groups. How many white people in western Europe look down at other white people in Eastern Europe or the US? White New Yorkers versus white Kentuckyians. I have a friend from the West Indies who is black but never considers herself as part of the black community or African diaspora even, carib sure but she always says she'd never date an AA guy from tbe states etc.

I mean, you may be in a black community, but you just witnessed first hand that you are an outsider to that community. And you'll now realize the tribal nature of humanity. It is how there are genocides with the same skin color on the basis of religion or language etc.

 

[Soapbox Killer]

i never saw this when I was growing up in the 80s and 90s. I knew there was friction between Africans and Blacks, but I always understood it to be Africans disliking black Americans for being lazy and degenerate and impure slave descendants.

This was what I remember too. It was always Africans looking down on Blacks.

 

[PixelatedBookake]

This. It goes both ways, as some Africans tend to look down on Black Americans.

Yes I've def noticed this from people like my father and uncles and whatnot. I hate this because it seems to perpetuate the idea that some African immigrants have that black Americans don't work as hard as Africans due to being born in America. Hopefully this idea will die out with my generation.

 

[Byakuya769]

No community is immune from looking down on other groups. Where a difference exists people will look down on it.

Hurt people hurt people.

Also, I know enough African friends who told me their parent told them not to fuck with african-americans in so many words–“black boys lie” stands out as something a few of my female friends let me know they were told growing up. Black people across the globe have been conditioned to hate theirselves. Not surprisng that we’re all too eager to apply that against one another.

 

[Sheentak]

I went to a school in the UK where we would accept kids who can't speak English at a high level. The school also accepted kids from the general population.

Even being from the same country kids who were born here despised the recent arrivals. They would refer to them as 'freshies' or off the boat. This happend to the Asian kids, to the black kids and the Eastern Europeans. It was universal even though they spoke the same language the ones who were brought up here hated them.

It's a strange thing

 

[gutter_trash]

My take on this phenomena is that it is one part resentment towards African immigrants freely deciding to immigrate to the US just like any other immigrant and living the perceived "American Dream".

Americans resent that because their ancestors did not chose to immigrate and bulit up a culture.

IMO, there needs to be empathy on both sides and just get along.

 

[smileyforall220]

Yes I've def noticed this from people like my father and uncles and whatnot. I hate this because it seems to perpetuate the idea that some African immigrants have that black Americans don't work as hard as Africans due to being born in America. Hopefully this idea will die out with my generation.

This is an interesting thing as the stereotypical mindset is that immigrants tend to outperform all mainland ethnicities, with the idea that immigrants have more of a hunger or drive to succeed.

 

[JordanN]

I blame white supremacy.

What better way to divide an oppressed group by having them fight among each other? In my experience, the infighting doesn't amount to anything. It's just toxic mudslinging so one side feels better about themselves.

 

[R10Neymarfan]

Slave mentality. Black people like to take down each other rather than realize that everyone is marginalized.

 

[Brawly Likes to Brawl]

I don't remember catching much shit for being the son of Haitians when I was a kid, but I spent my middle and high school years in Florida so that's probably why.

 

[SoRuffShoNuff]

The cab racket is run by East Africans in Atlanta. I never had a problem with them until I tried to catch a cab and had multiple cabbies, that I called and waited 30 minutes for, pass me by for a white person right up the street. One had the audacity to actually stop in front of me, let me get near the door, and then sped off one he saw a white person.

The only reason me and my boy got home is because a white family saw what happened and hailed a cab, then we hopped in with them at the last minute before the cabby realized what was happening.

Never been treated worse in my life and that's saying something as a black man living in Georgia. Ever since then I've had the side eye towards them.

 

[Gordon Shumway]

No community is immune from looking down on other groups. Where a difference exists people will look down on it.

Yup

Too many Africans damn near turn into Klan members when they talk about black Americans.

Yup

It happens in the latino community too. Even in the white community. It sucks.

Yup

i never saw this when I was growing up in the 80s and 90s. I knew there was friction between Africans and Blacks, but I always understood it to be Africans disliking black Americans for being lazy and degenerate and impure slave descendants.

Yup. I get it from Haitians in my area all the time. Get stares. I great them, and they just give me a look like I just stole something..I'm just walking my dog and being friendly, folks lol..

 

[Wanda/Wander]

It's a generational thing.

 

[Hashmal_Bringer_of_Order]

I blame white supremacy.

What better way to divide an oppressed group by having them fight among each other? In my experience, the infighting doesn't amount to anything. It's just toxic mudslinging so one side feels better about themselves.

The moment there are no black people around white people divide over the smallest thing. Be it eastern vs western European here, "Yankee" vs" redneck" in the US, and so on. Tribalism is innate too the human condition, modern societies that reject this are the product of constant effort in nurture and we must always be vigilant against backslide.

 

[Kase]

Happens in the Asian community too. A lot of second generation call new immigrants fobs (fresh off the boat) and there's a general dislike between tbe two groups.

 

[entremet]

It happens in the latino community too. Even in the white community. It sucks.

What about East Asians? Tribalism is a feature not a bug and it’s one of the most vexing aspect of being a modern human.

It kept our ancestors alive, but the side effect is the “other”.

 

[Mullah88]

lol at least you didn't have the accent, I was born and raised in Nigeria but came to the states at the age of 12, naturalized this year. 29 now but back in high school I really didnt think much of it. hell, I joined in with the fun, if someone made the clicking noise, I made it back to them and everyone just laughed. or the running with lions joke i got a lot when i joined the football team. looking back now, I still dont take it as anything but kids being kids...maybe I just have a thick skin and stuff like that just doesn't effect me knowing where I came from. i think Africans born here will be more affected by what you described op unlike ones that know what life is like back home and know what to look forward to. my son is 3 (African american mom) and I'm teaching him my native language igbo. because hes american doesn't mean he should know his roots, also has an igbo name even tho he goes by his middle name to everyone else but family members

lol and Africans do hate on African Americans cause they see them as having all the opportunity in the world but always looking for excuses not to act on them. That also comes from the hardship they face back home and seeing all the opportunities and ways to make a living in the states

 

[Aaronology]

Not to suggest it isn't a problem, but it's one I've never witnessed, OP. On the other hand, Africans having derogatory opinions about black Americans is something I've seen a shit load of.

 

[PixelatedBookake]

The cab racket is run by East Africans in Atlanta. I never had a problem with them until I tried to catch a cab and had multiple cabbies, that I called and waited 30 minutes for, pass me by for a white person right up the street. One had the audacity to actually stop in front of me, let me get near the door, and then sped off one he saw a white person.

The only reason me and my boy got home is because a white family saw what happened and hailed a cab, then we hopped in with them at the last minute before the cabby realized what was happening.

Never been treated worse in my life and that's saying something as a black man living in Georgia. Ever since then I've had the side eye towards them.

That's really fucked up. I hadn't considered how bad this could be from the other side until some of the responses in this thread. And it has already been said earlier, but tribalism def plays a big part in this.

 

[Xe4]

People love to look down at the "others". It's ingrained in our nature, and it has been and will be a hellova challenge removing it from our society. The more different you are the easier it is to discriminate against you, but in the absence of that, people turn on each other for small differences constantly.

 

[black_13]

Every community has racist people in it. Just don't be as sensitive to it. If you get bothered by every little thing then I don't think you can live a happy life unless you're living in some isolated place.

 

[NoRéN]

No community is immune from looking down on other groups. Where a difference exists people will look down on it.

This.

People like to put others down to make themselves feel better.

Well said. Similar stuff in Hispanic communities.

The one area that isn't common is that this discrimination against Africans, can it be due o a sort of resentment from a "you all stood and watched as we were sold into slavery"?

 

[Allonym]

Black people can't catch a break man. I know there are portions of certain populations that are treated poorly by other groups in that population. For instance when I was growing up being mistaken or called Mexican was perceived as some terrible thing by other Latinos, or Koreans/Japanese were seen as the attractive groups of Asians. I don't know why there is so much self hate. What kills me though is the schism I see with blacks. When I was attending college, blacks were perceived as lazy, trouble makers by other Africans. But then again as people said earlier, it goes both ways. Some kids I knew called one of my friends from Liberia an African booty scratcher and the black kids would join in too. Also there was that stupid ass team light skin / team dark skin bullshit that was kinda prevalent around 2012. I don't think we'll ever reach a day where we don't judge one another by each other's skin color.

 

[Angel_DvA]

Probably seen more recent racism against African-Americans as an ethnic group by other Black ethnic groups than the other way around recently. Lot of Somalians, Nigerians, Kenyans, Ghanaians, and people from the Carribbean always talk down to or about African-Americans. Also, I mean is it really racist if they're the same race or ignorant stereotyping? You make it seem like the 'black community' is some homogenous thing. Groups always look down at other groups. How many white people in western Europe look down at other white people in Eastern Europe or the US? White New Yorkers versus white Kentuckyians. I have a friend from the West Indies who is black but never considers herself as part of the black community or African diaspora even, carib sure but she always says she'd never date an AA guy from tbe states etc.

I mean, you may be in a black community, but you just witnessed first hand that you are an outsider to that community. And you'll now realize the tribal nature of humanity. It is how there are genocides with the same skin color on the basis of religion or language etc.

this

 

[Phu]

It's a generational thing.

There's a lotta stuff I used to chalk up to being generational things but that shit lingers and can always reverse direction.

 

[hydragonwarrior]

It may simply be where you are located - if you live in an area where there's a greater variety of people, there's less stereotypes.

Case in my point - myself. Lived in a small town for a good 10 years of my life with the majority of the population being white and with myself being asian, and eventually exposed to some horrendous stereotypes.

But when I graduated and moved to an actual city for university which had a much higher mix of people (and it helps they're also pretty educated), it was less of an issue.

 

[shadow_shogun]

Too many Africans damn near turn into Klan members when they talk about black Americans.

Yup

This is bullshit and to be honest I'm sick of this sentiment. The coli is filled topics like about how Africans look down on them, and I'm sad to see it make its way to GAF. Saying too many Africans feel this way is not true, have you been to Nigeria or any other country in Africa to come to this conclusion? I'm Nigerian and never in my life have I thought or talked shit about my brethern here in the US and most family and friends feel the same way. Sure there are some asshole that would think this but every race and nationality has their own fair share of asshole doesn't mean it should have to define us all. Sorry for this being confrontational but bro, the Majority of us don't look down on AA.

 

[RockmanBN]

It happens in the latino community too. Even in the white community. It sucks.

Yep. Not a true Latino because my skin is White af and it needs a certain Brown to count. Keep in mind the majority of Latinos only town were Mexican while I am Cuban.

 

[Deuce Deuce]

I remember having my mind blown in college when a classmate of Jamaican decent was doing some "jiggaboo" style imitations of an African guy we had seen perform earlier.

I'm like breh, our numbers are too small here for splitting hairs.

 

[gutter_trash]

It happens in the latino community too. Even in the white community. It sucks.

white community? what's that?

I know the Italian community, the Polish community, the Greek community but never heard of the white community

 

[PixelatedBookake]

Probably seen more recent racism against African-Americans as an ethnic group by other Black ethnic groups than the other way around recently. Lot of Somalians, Nigerians, Kenyans, Ghanaians, and people from the Carribbean always talk down to or about African-Americans. Also, I mean is it really racist if they're the same race or ignorant stereotyping? You make it seem like the 'black community' is some homogenous thing. Groups always look down at other groups. How many white people in western Europe look down at other white people in Eastern Europe or the US? White New Yorkers versus white Kentuckyians. I have a friend from the West Indies who is black but never considers herself as part of the black community or African diaspora even, carib sure but she always says she'd never date an AA guy from tbe states etc.

I mean, you may be in a black community, but you just witnessed first hand that you are an outsider to that community. And you'll now realize the tribal nature of humanity. It is how there are genocides with the same skin color on the basis of religion or language etc.

In my head I meant "black community" to mean MY black community, but I ended up sounding like I generalized THE black community, which was unintentional. Also, when I wrote this up, I was totally unaware of the prejudice that Black Americans face on the regular by Africans, Caribbeans and Haitians too. I have (for the most part) been in friend groups where the majority of people are Black Americans, hence the unfamiliarity with the racism coming from the other side. I would also like to believe that sentiment among Black immigrants will end with my generations, as we are born in America don't carry that slight against Black Americans.

There is a feeling of displacement that comes with that, y'know? Growing up in elementary school and middle school, I faced more of that from the Black Americans in my area. Nowadays its not an issue probably because people grow up and start to realize we all the same and shit, but that kind of stuff sticks with you, especially through your formative years.

 

[jrush64]

lol at least you didn't have the accent, I was born and raised in Nigeria but came to the states at the age of 12, naturalized this year. 29 now but back in high school I really didnt think much of it. hell, I joined in with the fun, if someone made the clicking noise, I made it back to them and everyone just laughed. or the running with lions joke i got a lot when i joined the football team. looking back now, I still dont take it as anything but kids being kids...maybe I just have a thick skin and stuff like that just doesn't effect me knowing where I came from. i think Africans born here will be more affected by what you described op unlike ones that know what life is like back home and know what to look forward to. my son is 3 (African american mom) and I'm teaching him my native language igbo. because hes american doesn't mean he should know his roots, also has an igbo name even tho he goes by his middle name to everyone else but family members

lol and Africans do hate on African Americans cause they see them as having all the opportunity in the world but always looking for excuses not to act on them. That also comes from the hardship they face back home and seeing all the opportunities and ways to make a living in the states

I agree with this.

 

[entremet]

white community? what's that?

I know the Italian community, the Polish community, the Greek community but never heard of the white community

No need to define the majority. Same reason why stuff like white history month and white nationalism is bananas.

 

[outsida]

Ignorance and results of the effects of the divide and conquer system of oppression here in the land of the free.

 

[Black-Wind]

This seems like a strange topic ...

Like.
1- It's not a "black" thing. Random white Americans make fun of Brits and push things like the "Coward France" stuff. Pretty sure whites have a history of giving gingers a hard time. Calling a reg Today German a "fucking Nazi" seems right up the white American list of insults regardless of how much possible German they may or may not have in their family. Same thing with Asians and Latins (First time hearing "Fucking Mexicans/ beaners, butchering our language" was in college. Asians seem to hate other groups of Asians more than anyone. Heard a Japanese American cam girl randomly say "Fuck Koreans, pieces of shit".)

2- Just cause you share the same made up human social construct called "race" doesn't mean you have to LIKE each other or be in agreement or show solidarity. If there's a difference, people will likely point it out.

3- This seems more like nationalism to me than anything.

 

[HeartlessNobody213]

This is bullshit and to be honest I'm sick of this sentiment. The coli is filled topics like about how Africans look down on them, and I'm sad to see it make its way to GAF. Saying too many Africans feel this way is not true, have you been to Nigeria or any other country in Africa to come to this conclusion? I'm Nigerian and never in my life have I thought or talked shit about my brethern here in the US and most family and friends feel the same way. Sure there are some asshole that would think this but every race and nationality has their own fair share of asshole doesn't mean it should have to define us all. Sorry for this being confrontational but bro, the Majority of us don't look down on AA.

I've never been to Africa myself but from what people who have been told me, it's all good in Africa and the people show love.

However, I've heard plenty of stories of African immigrants looking down on African Americans, even had the children of African Immigrants tell me how their parents dislike African Americans and how we don't work hard enough and wouldn't want their children to date/marry an African American.

 

[Ratrat]

I thought it was usually the other way around.

 

[NyMartin90]

Nativism.

 

[v1oz]

Why do they call them Akalas?

 

[Marky Mark]

Is this like Eddie Murphy's bush bitch routine
?