Black Identities: West Indian Immigrant Dreams and American Realitites

Thought I would share my book review for a book I just finished reading.

Waters, Mary. 1999. Black Identities: West Indian Immigrant Dreams and American Realities. Harvard University Press.

Alternate Title of the Book:

Voluntary Immigrants Assimilating in a Racially Dominated Society

Research Questions:

How can West Indians keep their cultural identity after migrating to the US? Why do West Indian immigrants feel the need to separate them self from the “black American?” How do other people’s perceptions affect your identity? How does assimilation vary for voluntary immigrants of color, like the West Indians, and that of voluntary immigrants from Europe?

Summary:

The most profound statement in the book is contained on pg. 44 – “An identity is a conception of self, a selection of physical, psychological, emotional or social attributes of particular individuals; it is not an individual as a concrete thing.” Waters shows throughout the book how hard West Indians try to separate themselves from “black Americans,” and hang on to their Caribbean identity, because the perceived being “black American” as a negative (p.8).

The immigrants feel that “because they are immigrants they have a different attitude toward employment, work, and American society than native-born Americans” (p.7). On respondent stated that American’s “figure, OK, I was born here, and because I was born here I supposed to get this” (p.66).

West Indians automatically lose part of their Caribbean identity and culture because they are first visually identified as being black. It’s not until they begin to speak that many Americans realize they are Caribbean. In this way we are shown that immigrants must sometimes utilize both cultures: the culture associated with being an immigrant, and the culture they bring with them to the US.

Criticism:

The author discusses “transnationalism,” beginning on pg. 89 and states, “Some anti-immigration advocates argue that immigrants are not becoming Americans in terms of identity, national loyalty, overall culture, and language. Some conservatives argue that immigrants who cling to racial and ethnic identities foster multiculturalism in the United States and that these competing cultures and loyalties deny the necessity of a core American culture” (p.89-90). Waters explain how many West Indians move frequently between the Caribbean and the US, and at the time this was written many Americans may say that “this is wrong and you’re either going to be an American or not,” but in 2009 isn’t all about living and functioning in a global society? People are moving in and out of countries constantly, and I believe this section of the book is a little dated for current times.

Direct Response to:

Waters uses statistically information to point out that certain West Indian beliefs about African Americans are not statistically true. She challenges their belief that African Americans do not value education by quoting Jennifer Hochschild, African American Studies Professor at Harvard, stating that, “Controlling for sex and socioeconomic status, African Americans are no more likely to drop out of school than whites, are more likely to choose and academic than a vocational curriculum, and are more likely to choose a four-year than a two-year college” (p.67).

Waters does an excellent job in Chapter 5 of pointing out how differently “voluntary” and “involuntary” immigrants interpret and react to racial discrimination. In order to complete this task she uses scholarship work from John Ogbu. He states that “voluntary immigrants,” like the West Indians came to America on their own free-will and can say, “Americans might not value my culture but I am from a place where I am valued,” and that “Discrimination and prejudice are something they plan to overcome” (p.142). Ogbu compares this thought of identity with those of African Americans who have associated their American identity with that of oppression in a dominant white society. To maximize impact of this important point, Waters also uses the work of Christopher Jencks, who compares discrimination between European immigrants and African Americans. He states that both “faced discrimination but with different psychological consequences: For Europeans who came to America because they were dissatisfied with their homeland, assimilation has often been difficult, but it has not for the most part been intrinsically humiliating…In order to become fully assimilated into white America blacks must to some extent identify with people who have humiliated and oppressed them for three hundred years” (p.143).

Suggestions for Further Analysis:

It would be beneficial to the field to analyze the reactions and responses of both black and white Americans to the statement, “because they are immigrants they have a different attitude toward employment, work, and American society than native-born Americans” (p.7).

While reading this material, I jotted down a little “note to self,” stating: Books like this give Americans a ‘reality’ checks on how others within our own country view us. What I find most disheartening is that people that usually read these types of books are the ones who are interested in making a positive change in racial views. We need to find ways to get these books into the masses. What programs are in place, outside of higher education, to educate others of race related topics, issues, interpretations, and thoughts?