Apr 19 2008
African Issues
Earlier this week, I had the opportunity to sit down with Patrick Augustin, the director of the Pan-African Association here in Chicago. We pretty much discussed the various issues facing African immigrants and refugees.
The association mostly helps Africans who are “fresh off the boat.” They help them find jobs, do any citizenship/green card paperwork, provide ESL lessons — anything to make the transition easier and help them in their new life.
Something I found interesting (and something I sort of picked up on while reading the book “What is What”), is how misinformed many of them are when they come to this country (primarily the refugees). They are told they’ll find everything they need here, and life will be easy. But for most of them, it’s not. Even after they have been here for years.
Many of the other issues we talked about are things I think all African immigrants deal with on some level or the other. For example:
- Situations were the kids become the “adult”: For a lot of refugees, the parents don’t speak English. Or at least, not a lot of it. Since the children are in school, they pick it up faster and soon are running the house, so to speak, because they know/understand how things work better than their parents. For a lot of African parents, also, they let their kids “live the American way” and more or less lose control over their status as parents — leading to their children being disrespectful and lacking discipline.
- Getting picked on: I got this as a child, and I was even born here. A lot of Africans have a hard time in school — either for the way they look, dress, speak (or don’t speak). In refugee situations, many of them are still grasping the language. Kids are brutal, and the child of an African immigrant often gets the short end of the stick.
- The high tension between African-Americans (black Americans) and Africans: whatever the reason, it exists. Africans really need advocacy to ease this tension. We may be different culturally, but we all share the same roots.
The director of the Pan African Association also talked about Pan-Africanism, something I’m personally an advocate of. When it comes down to it, Africans need to stick together and not let ethnic tensions or prejudices separate us. He mentioned how often times Africans in need reject their resources simply because no one from their ethnic group is there. There’s a separation and segregation between the various cultures. But to move forward in the Diaspora, Africans have to work together — be partners in their development. And if we think about … if Pan Africanism can aid the African outside of the continent, can’t it aid the African on the continent?
