Blacks Divided in the States United

      African-Americans, Africans, and Caribbean face large divide in the U.S. even as the country as a whole makes strides to become racially tolerant. According to the journal article "Black versus Black: The Relationships among African, African American, and African Caribbean Persons" in the Journal of Black Studies, ideas about relations between groups of people affected by the slave trade still permeate all the cultures to this day.

      "The fears and misconceptions [that] have been perpetuated continue to carry on the idea that although African people have the same beginnings, they are so different culturally, socially, and intellectually that they should be considered completely separate people," said Jennifer V. Jackson and Mary E. Cothran, writers of the 2003 article.

      Students on the University of Maryland's Campus have well been aware of the disparities between the cultural groups. Earlier this semester, the university's chapter of the NAACP along with the African Student Association hosted a two-day discussion titled "Aren't We All Black? African and African Americans." The discussion, led separately by both organizations, focused on the differences and similarities between the groups that would cause need for the cultures to be individually recognized as well as equally connected.   

      "I think people create that divide by being shallow and not understanding someone else" said Samira Howard, senior Kinesiological Sciences and Pre-Nursing major. "We're all black and people need to understand that."

      The divide is caused by Euro-Centric education being the basis of learning in America, said SolomonCommisiong, the Assistant Director for the Nyumburu Cultural Center and President of the Black Faculty and Staff Association for the University of Maryland.

     "We see a population of people who have largely and completely accepted this Euro-Centric, Euro-American value system," said Commisiong.

     Integration would have worked if all people involved were allowed to include parts of their culture into the greater society and a large part of Black American's pre-integration culture included strong educational values, he said. Education reforms, such as Brown v. Board of Education, and the institution of slavery, failed to allow Black Americans to integrate seamlessly as well as keeping their cultural ties to the African ethnicities from which they derived.

      "Its a ridiculous argument to talk about the difference in culture," stressed Commisiong when asked to compare the groups. "Hell yea it's a difference in culture. If we got on that ship as Africans, unless it was a magic ship, how did all of a sudden we become non-Africans."

      Many Black Americans argued at the NAACP portion of event that covered this issue in October, that since they have no direct ties to any specific countries in Africa, they do not consider themselves African.

      Nisa Williams, senior English and History double major and poetry and language acquisition double minor claims her African heritage while still being a proud nationalist from the country of Dominica. She says she witnesses Africans in America distancing themselves from groups who identify themselves as African American.

      "Africans, when they come here, are being socialized to think that Black Americans are a negative thing," said Williams as she names some of the social stigmas attached to the group.

      Despite knowing what not to stereotype as Black American culture, Williams still finds it hard to identify its main components.

      "Most African Americans confuse nationality with race. Nationality is not race," said Commisiong. He stresses, though, the importance of understanding ones history.

      "What saves me is that I know that I am an African by way of Trinidad," concluded Commisiong. "Knowing who you are will save you."