"Do African immigrants make the smartest Americans? .."

I hope you had a great start of the holiday season. I have written the following in reaction to a thread of discussion in an online African Diaspora discussion forum. It is re-posted here with some modification.  I refrained from posting what others in the online discussion forum wrote without getting their authorization but the underlying topic was what was stated in the following articles.

http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2007-03-18/news/0703180344_1_black-immigrants-high-achieving-immigrants-biracial-couples

 http://www.theroot.com/articles/culture/2009/06/black_immigrants_overrepresented_in_the_ivy_league.html


In graduate school, I wrote a paper which gave an overview of recent immigration from Africa and its impact on U.S. in general and on Maryland in particular. In the paper I cited a study which also affirmed that Black immigrants from Africa or the Caribbean are the most educated, taking into account that majority of them have completed high school, significant percentage of them have some college education and also some have degrees (Bachelor's, Masters even PhDs).  This was in the 1990s before the H1B visa program was introduced in the U.S. and many Asian (Indian & Chinese mainly) with advanced degrees such as computer programmers, engineers etc. started arriving in the U.S., making that immigrant group the most educated. Before those Asian professionals started arriving in the U.S., the largest group of Asian immigrants were the 'Boat People' who arrived in the 80s from Vietnam Cambodia & Laos region and which were mostly from rural background with little education like Latino immigrants from Central America region.
The studies I cited in the paper also illustrate one disturbing fact

about recent Black (African/Caribbean) immigrant community group. This is the only group that shows negative inter-generational mobility according to these studies. Sociologists often  notice positive inter-generational mobility when they study a certain segment of society through certain time period. What that means in short is if large members of the first generation are for example illiterate or with little education, and the second or subsequent generations are educated even to a level of completing school, that by itself shows a positive trajectory of inter-generational mobility. Unfortunately according to some studies, the second generation or kids born to African/Black immigrants did not attain the education level their first generation parents had, hence the negative trend. By the way, when they say members of the first generation are educated it does not mean that they are employed in the U.S. according to their higher education. The studies highlight the problems such as dropping out before completing high school or not joining colleges preferring instead to take lower paying jobs among majority members of second generation African/black immigrants. They offered some explanations why this phenomena is happening. The existence of distinct or lack thereof such identity (how the young generation see themselves) is one of the explanations given among other reasons.


Yes, as the articles cited above indicate, from all minority students who are admitted to Ivy League colleges, 50 percent or more are kids born to African/Caribbean parents. A 2007 report show that "African students constituted nearly 40 percent of the black students admitted to Ivy League schools."
Also there is some evidence that kids with Black African/Caribbean immigrants perform academically at K12 level as good as the levels achieved by White and Asians students. By the way, I support the collection of such data in schools with those important breakdowns within racial backgrounds. However, as I said earlier, majority of kids born to African/Caribbean immigrant parents do not make it to colleges, some even not completing schools. We just have to look around to members of our extended family to see this ugly trend. How many kids born to Ethiopian parents we know who have joined the low paying work force right after high school or even before finishing high school? I think the negative inter-generational mobility is un-natural and we Ethiopians and the larger African/Caribbean community should make efforts towards reversing this unnatural trend by giving special attention to our kids lives.

The Future is in our hands.

Blogger's Note: This guest blog entry is by former Ambassador Imru Zelleke. Ambassador Imru served as Ethiopia's Ambassador and Minister Plenipotentiary to France and Germany during Emperor Haile Selassie's government.  
THE FUTURE IS IN OUR HANDS [by] Imru Zelleke. December 2013
The high fever that has spread the all over the Diaspora seems to have simmered down to a tolerable level. Most of refugees in Saudi Arabia have been repatriated home and the few left will get back soon. Those still in jeopardy are the ones under care of the UNHCR in Yemen, for whom a permanent residence is to be found. Otherwise Ethiopians refugees are in dire and precarious conditions in Middle East and African countries where they are abused and often killed. The refugees that have returned seem to have fallen from the frying pan into the hot brazier. It is said that upon arrival home whatever processions (money, jewelry, valuable items) they have manage to save are confiscated by the regime, and they are forced to go back to their Kilil of origin; places where they run away from to begin with. The problem has evidently moved from Saudi Arabia back to Ethiopia their home land.

Without indulging into a lengthy and verbose discourse it should be obvious that the core of the problem is at Home in Ethiopia. People living in peace and freedom in their own country do not migrate unless they are subject to extremely unfavorable conditions at home. Ethiopians love their country and are not traditionally migrants, it is only in the last four decades of the post-revolutionary era that such mass migration has been occurring. Moreover, Ethiopia has presently the highest brain drain in the world. This trend will certainly continue as long as the coercive ethnic dictatorship at home is not removed and replaced by an all embracing national democratic system of governance. At the cost of many precious lives and resources, attempts to establish a government based on democracy and freedom have been many throughout the years. Alas, all have failed ignominiously leaving in their wake a people deprived of freedom, basic rights reduced to beggary and mendacity in their own land. We all know the degradation and humiliation that our society is subjected to, yet we don’t seem to react as we should against such perfidy; but for making long winded statements and pursuing a plethora of people and political groups who so far have led us to nowhere. We are ninety million man and women, the ruling gang count maybe a few thousand at the center, are they really invincible? No! their strength is our weakness and incoherent attitude towards our own existence. The ordinary people in Ethiopia have realized a long time ago that their fate is in their hands, they have risen and demonstrated more than once their patriotism and ultimate desire for freedom and justice. It is time to give them a helping hand, free of ulterior motifs. Actually they don’t even need us, all the resources required are available at home.

This said, we in the Diaspora that enjoy unlimited economic and political resources, could accelerate the process and bring about peace and a promising future to our brethren in Ethiopia. We have all the human and materiel means in our hands, let’s abandon all these squabbles and divisions amongst ourselves and make a common front to liberate the country from the scourge that is destroying it. Let’s make a real brotherly effort for an ETHIOPIAN RENAISSANCE. The high spirit of patriotism and indignation that has risen amongst the Diaspora, offers the opportunity to form a broad national political movement that will help install a genuine democracy in Ethiopia. For my part I am willing to assist and help a truly made effort to realize this goal. If we fail our people in this noble endeavor, it we will be a disavowal of our own humanity for which future generations will not forgive us. Respectfully