African Immigrants Clash With Black Americans

[Rose]

Originally Posted by I Love Nigeria

To Mr. Auspicious I must restate to you that; I am by no means advocating that anyone of our general groups, let others of our groups, rollover and allow others to walk all over them. NO. But we must all learn to be sensitive, be alert, don’t always harried and hurried while ignoring the elephant in the room, so to speak. Never be oblivious of the conditions on the ground, and the history of it all, wherever you live on earth. Take steps to ensure, that you are not perceived as a snub, a rough and gruff person who in ill-attuned the persisting injustices. Again, remember the reasons why a caged bird sings.

And to my sister Rose Instead, I make bold to assert that no Jew comes from Russia, Ukraine, Israel, Argentina and all the other places in between in the world from where Jews come to America, and then, practice as first order of business, disrespect for American Jews! I doubt that there is any Jew, who emigrates from some place to America, and proceed to look down on American Jews! Quite to the contrary, they forge partnerships. No usurper no usurped.

They actively cultivate each other. They form symbiotic relationships which have been mutually beneficial. So much so that American Jews might have facilitated the emigration of a Jew from Russia.

Then they ensure the quick adjustment of status and both economic and political assimilation of the new Jewish immigrant, as such, she accelerate into the increase of American Jew’s economic and political power base. This adds to empower the Jews, it strengthens them against the odds and vagaries of life in America, and they in turn, enable excellent America pro-Israel policy through AIPAC and others. And same can be said for the Irish American, or pretty much most other ethnic group of America’s so-called melting-pot.

Continental Africans and all peoples of African descent sorely need lessons in unity, cohesion and economic/political clout for our common good

I can't express how encouraging it is that you truly "get it". IMO much of the so-called cluelessness is willful and deliberate.

[Obugi]

Lateesha,

Originally Posted by lateesha

My only advise will be that these immigrants encourage their children to get good education and move out of those hell holes where these things run rampant.

Even in the Ivy League, Negroes are fighting over who gets to sit in class with Oyibo students.

Caucasian domination has led simply to everyone for themselves. If its not this it will be women fighting against men, tribe against tribe.

This is out condition, and we better deal honestly with it or we're collectively going nowhere.

! Get Yours !
Obugi.

[Rose]

Kantara Baragi, the imam of the Al Tawba mosque, acknowledges that insularity is part of the problem. “We don’t hang around,” said Mr. Baragi, whose delicate frame nearly disappears inside his long, flowing robes. “We just go to work. We don’t have a relationship with people here. They don’t know us.”

ILN, I always find it interesting that those who loathe AAs and want nothing to do with us find their way into these communities rather than settling elsewhere. I always wonder why they do create colonies like Jews have upstate such as Kiryas Joel etc.

[lateesha]

ILN, I always find it interesting that those who loathe AAs and want nothing to do with us find their way into these communities rather than settling elsewhere. I always wonder why they do create colonies like Jews have upstate such as Kiryas Joel etc.

Rose it's cheaper to live there.They probably live in the projects or some govt assisted housing.
The question is why are they being attacked not why are they living there.If the story were about African Americans lynched or tied to a truck and dragged on the ground in rural texas,you may not give the same responses and ask why those folks are there.
This is the exact same thing.
Should people be attacked because they choose to keep to themselves and prevent their kids from hanging out in parks where they could be killed ?
This crime is being perpetrated by misfits in the AA community,why are you defending criminals?

[I Love Nigeria]

Lateesha wrote the following, among other things....

Our first apartment in this country was in the den of thieves, a 99% AA neighbourhood filled with single mothers (by choice) and hardened criminal looking agents,we didn't know any better and we took the first affordable apartment that gave us a place without any credit history.

Little did we know we had moved into the hub of area boys and girls.
On several ocassions,gun shots exploded in the air as we slept
kakakakadudududu!

It looked like I was in the Biafran war.
As soon as the lease expired,we bolted.
Thank God for his protection

What you described up there is poverty or socio-economic conditions reminiscent of underclass society in (America or Nigeria)

There is a decibel difference between life on Victoria Island/Ikoyi Lagos compared with Bariga/Mushin/Isale Eko and anyone here... who is familiar with life in Lagos will tell you.

Ask whether an African American lawyer/doctor/stock broker etc would fit into the behaviors you described up there.

Virtues and vices are universal and so is poverty and haplessness

[lateesha]

Originally Posted by I Love Nigeria

Lateesha wrote the following, among other things....

What you described up there is poverty or socio-economic conditions reminiscent of underclass society in (America or Nigeria)

There is a decibel difference between life on Victoria Island/Ikoyi Lagos compared with Bariga/Mushin/Isale Eko and anyone here... who is familiar with life in Lagos will tell you.

Ask whether an African American lawyer/doctor/stock broker etc would fit into the behaviors you described up there.

Virtues and vices are universal and so is poverty and haplessness

remember that AA make up only about 12% of the population and factor that in.

[lateesha]

btw, the moderators ought to change this topic.
It should rightly say AA's attack African immigrants

[Auspicious]

+

May God forgive you, "ILN".

The contents of that news article stands out in sharp contrast to everything you are saying. Unlike yours, it was balanced and without the kind of ridiculous slant that dominate everything you are saying up there.

In a nut-shell, that article basically spoke of a community problem, pretty much saying how culture-shock is an underlying problem behind the disaffection between the host communities and those immgrants.

Yet, instead of looking for a middle-line between the divide, you swing towards one side and lambasted the other side, simply blaming them for coming on board and walking rough-shod over their hosts' hang-ups.

And, as if that wasn't enough, you cited the example of the Havard incidence as a point to bolster your jaundiced case - as if there aren't AA's out there who sided with the Cop - including the black cop present.

There you are, denigrating those poor immigrants in one fell swoop, calling them names with emphasis on the fact that they are, unlike you, "recent" immigrants - all because you were arrived in America before them?

And when I called you out, you flew the fake kite of being 'quoted out of contexts' - whatever that means. You said "recent immgrants" are "clueless", "undiscerning", "condescending" and "snotty" - amongst other insults.

Meanwhile, you barely touched on the issue of the fact that these immigrants - fellow Africans like you whom you so obviously despise - can hardly walk the streets in their native attire without being mercilessly attacked.

Where is your conscience, Adujie? Where is your sense of compassion? Where is your sense of justice? Where is your sense of honor? Didn't you feel anything for the African who gets beat-up simply for being African?

And when did it become the right of a host to resort to bare-naked aggression (akin to the deadly ones which skin-heads resort to), simply because your "recent immigrant" was some "clueless" and "undescerning" or "snotty"?

Gosh, I am disgusted. I don't blame you, I blame the fact that you happened on the privilege of a Nigerian who found a home in New York, and suddenly sees himself as better than the "recent immigrant" because he has been there longer.

Pele O, Senior Immigrant. Osi ati Iranu. And I spit the Phlegm! *Hisssssss!*

Auspicious.

[I Love Nigeria]

Lateesha

remember that AA make up only about 12% of the population and factor that in.

AND, Sadly, African Americans currently constitutes 15% of the unemployment and social dislocation index... African Americans did not bring that upon themselves!

The structural lopsidedness of America, historically, make the human condition in the African American communities just the way you see it... it is not something they purchased in a store or manufactured for themselves in a factory or laboratory!

Again, I will defer to my Cause and Effect analysis... there is a reason why caged birds sing

[Rose]

Originally Posted by lateesha

Rose it's cheaper to live there.They probably live in the projects or some govt assisted housing.
The question is why are they being attacked not why are they living there.If the story were about African Americans lynched or tied to a truck and dragged on the ground in rural texas,you may not give the same responses and ask why those folks are there.
This is the exact same thing.
Should people be attacked because they choose to keep to themselves and prevent their kids from hanging out in parks where they could be killed ?
This crime is being perpetrated by misfits in the AA community,why are you defending criminals?

I'm not defending criminals and don't know anyone who attacks them, and don't condone this behavior whatsoever! It doesn't bother me that they stick to themselves same as other devout religious groups because there is no yearning for them on my part and I accept/respect certain boundaries. You're right...these acts are committed by misfits. Even if I hated their guts I wouldn't be motived to carry out physical attacks and wouldn't harbor anyone who did. And BTW there are projects in nonblack areas (and cheaper rent too) but perhaps they can't pick and choose where they're placed.

[Rose]

Originally Posted by Auspicious

+

May God forgive you, "ILN".

The contents of that news article stands out in sharp contrast to everything you are saying. Unlike yours, it was balanced and without the kind of ridiculous slant that dominate everything you are saying up there.

In a nut-shell, that article basically spoke of a community problem, pretty much saying how culture-shock is an underlying problem behind the disaffection between the host communities and those immgrants.

Yet, instead of looking for a middle-line between the divide, you swing towards one side and lambasted the other side, simply blaming them for coming on board and walking rough-shod over their hosts' hang-ups.

And, as if that wasn't enough, you cited the example of the Havard incidence as a point to bolster your jaundiced case - as if there aren't AA's out there who sided with the Cop - including the black cop present.

There you are, denigrating those poor immigrants in one fell swoop, calling them names with emphasis on the fact that they are, unlike you, "recent" immigrants - all because you were arrived in America before them?

And when I called you out, you flew the fake kite of being 'quoted out of contexts' - whatever that means. Unlike you, "recent immgrants" are "clueless", "undiscerning", "condescending" and "snotty" - amongst other insults.

Meanwhile, you barely touched on the issue of the fact that these immigrants - fellow Africans like you whom you so obviously despise - can hardly walk the streets in their native attire without being mercilessly attacked.

Where is your conscience, Adujie? Where is your sense of compassion? Where is your sense of justice? Where is your sense of honor? Didn't you feel anything for the African who gets beat-up simply for being African?

And when did it become the right of a host to resort to bare-naked aggression (akin to the deadly ones which skin-heads resort to), simply because your "recent immigrant" was some "clueless" and "undescerning" or "snotty"?

Gosh, I am disgusted. I don't blame you, I blame the fact that you happened on the privilege of a Nigerian who found a home in New York, and suddenly sees himself as better than the "recent immigrant" because he has been there longer.

Pele O, Senior Immigrant. Osi ati Iranu. And I spit the Phlegm! *Hisssssss!*

Auspicious.

As usual you continue to misconstrue everything ILN has stated...even you cannot be that "clueless". One thing I find interesting is how adept you are in deflecting/trivializing any and all incidents of racism when it boils down to white/non-Blacks vs Blacks, but will readily deal with and even amplify instances involving Blacks and continental Africans or Africans vs Africans. I know of very few "reported" incidents (and that's too many plus I'm not privy to every violent encounter) yet you make out above as if this is routine whenever religious Africans wear their traditional garb happen to make contact in passing with Blacks. For the most part we simply ignore eachother from my experience and observations.

[I Love Nigeria]

Why the Poor Stay Poor



http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/08/bo...ew/Ford-t.html

March 8, 2009
Why the Poor Stay Poor
By RICHARD THOMPSON FORD
Skip to next paragraph

MORE THAN JUST RACE

Being Black and Poor in the Inner City

By William Julius Wilson

190 pp. W. W. Norton & Company. $24.95

When the nation’s first black president took the oath of office, surrounded by the grandeur of the National Mall, it was easy to forget that one of the country’s most isolated and impoverished black ghettos was a few short blocks away. The poverty, violence and hopelessness in America’s inner cities have become increasingly dire in the four decades since the height of the civil rights movement. But as Barack Obama’s victory suggests, racial prejudice is less severe today than ever before. Why haven’t the problems of the ghettos improved along with race relations generally?

Conservatives have a ready answer. Racism is not the problem; instead, a pervasive culture of instant gratification, violence and loose morals — think gangsta rap — keeps poor blacks from enjoying the American dream, not white racists. Liberals have a more charitable, but unfortunately more obscure, rejoinder. Poor blacks today suffer from covert racism, unconscious racism, institutional racism, environmental racism and a host of other theoretically abstruse “racisms” that don’t involve cross-burning white supremacists or crude Archie Bunker-style bigots — and may not even involve racial animus or discrimination. Each side has little patience for the claims of the other. Conservatives reject the idea of structural and institutional racism as an intellectual’s way of playing the race card. Liberals attack any emphasis on the dysfunctional culture of the poor as “blaming the victim.”

In “More Than Just Race,” the Harvard sociologist William Julius Wilson recaps his own important research over the past 20 years as well as some of the best urban sociology of his peers to make a convincing case that both institutional and systemic impediments and cultural deficiencies keep poor blacks from escaping poverty and the ghetto.

The systemic impediments include both the legacy of racism and dramatic economic changes that have fallen with disproportionate severity on poor blacks. State-enforced racial discrimination created the ghetto: in the early 20th century local governments separated the races into segregated neighborhoods by force of law, and later, whites used private agreements and violent intimidation to keep blacks out of white neighborhoods. Worst, and most surprising of all, the federal government played a major role in encouraging the racism of private actors and state governments. Until the 1960s, federal housing agencies engaged in racial red*lining, refusing to guarantee mortgages in inner-city neighborhoods; private lenders quickly followed suit.

Meanwhile, economic and demographic changes that had nothing to do with race aggravated the problems of the ghetto. Encouraged by recently built highways and inexpensive real estate, middle-class residents and industry left the inner city to relocate to roomier and less costly digs in the suburbs during the ’60s and ’70s. Those jobs that remained available to urban blacks further dwindled as companies replaced well-paid and unionized American workers with automation and cheaper overseas labor. The new economy produced most of its jobs at the two poles of the wage scale: high-paying jobs for the well educated and acculturated (lawyers, bankers, management consultants) and low-paying jobs for those with little education or skills (fast food, telemarketing, janitorial services).

And, as Wilson argued in an earlier book, “The Declining Significance of Race,”the success of the civil rights movement inadvertently made things worse for the most disadvantaged. After federal law prohibited housing discrimination, successful blacks began to leave the inner city for many of the same reasons whites did: in search of better schools, less crime, lower taxes and a leafier landscape. This left the least well off behind in ghettos that were both more socially isolated and more economically depressed than ever.

Today many ghetto residents have almost no contact with mainstream American society or the normal job market. As a result, they have developed distinctive and often dysfunctional social norms. The work ethic, investment in the future and deferred gratification make no sense in an environment in which legitimate employment at a living wage is impossible to find and crime is an everyday hazard (and temptation). Men, unable to support their families, abandon them; women become resigned to single motherhood; children suffer from broken homes and from the bad examples set by both peers and adults. And this dysfunctional behavior reinforces negative racial stereotypes, making it all the harder for poor blacks to find decent jobs.

Wilson criticizes the liberals and black power activists who attacked as racist Daniel Patrick Moynihan’s prescient report “The Negro Family: The Case for National Action” (1965). According to Wilson, the vitriolic condemnation of the Moynihan Report effectively closed off a serious academic focus on the culture of poverty for decades, robbing policy makers of a complete and nuanced account of the causes of ghetto poverty. But he argues that the legacy of racism and *changes in the economy matter more than the dysfunctional culture of the ghetto. And he rejects the argument that the black poor are responsible for their predicament, insisting that an aggressive public policy response is necessary to break the cycle of poverty.

“More Than Just Race” is somewhat ponderous and academic in style; too often the book details an important and fascinating question only to end inconclusively, with a call for “further research.” But this is more than made up for by its considerable substantive virtues: it is straightforward, accessible and sensible, free of the ideological cant and posturing that often mar even serious academic studies of racial issues.

At heart, Wilson is a Great Society liberal, so it’s easy to understand why conservatives might resist his analysis. But his suggestion that racism is less to blame for black poverty than are race-neutral changes in the labor market and his attempt to rehabilitate the study of the culture of poverty have made him a controversial figure in liberal academic and civil rights circles. As Wilson notes, some on the left reject any cultural explanation of black poverty — even one as sympathetic as that in the Moynihan Report or Wilson’s own — as blaming the victim. And the accusation of racism turns heads and grabs headlines, whereas Wilson’s complex and multifaceted investigation requires a book-length exposition.

Moreover, racism, unlike a complicated web of economic, demographic and cultural forces, triggers a legal response: instead of persuading recalcitrant legislators and voters to support policy reform, liberals can simply insist that the black poor, as victims of race discrimination, have a right to redress that courts must enforce, regardless of popular opposition. But the law’s arm is not long enough to reach bigotry that occurred in the past, nor can it get a grip on the economic and demographic changes that have hollowed out America’s inner cities. The urban poor need remedies that judges cannot order: public and private investment to create jobs that pay a living wage, training to help them learn new skills and understand the job market, and most of all a chance to move into racially and economically integrated neighborhoods where there are better opportunities and healthier cultural norms. Wilson’s levelheaded, thorough and unemotional analysis should help such badly needed policies prevail in the court of public opinion.

Wilson says the legacy of racism and changes in the economy matter more than the culture of the ghetto.

Richard Thompson Ford is a professor of law at Stanford University. His book “The Race Card: How Bluffing About Bias Makes Race Relations Worse” is being published in paperback this month.

[Auspicious]

Originally Posted by Rose

As usual you continue to misconstrue everything ILN has stated...even you cannot be that "clueless". One thing I find interesting is how adept you are in deflecting/trivializing any and all incidents of racism when it boils down to white/non-Blacks vs Blacks, but will readily deal with and even amplify instances involving Blacks and continental Africans or Africans vs Africans. I know of very few "reported" incidents (and that's too many plus I'm not privy to every violent encounter) yet you make out above as if this is routine whenever religious Africans wear their traditional garb happen to make contact in passing with Blacks. For the most part we simply ignore eachother from my experience and observations.

..And Lead Me Not Into Temptation,

But Deliver Me From Evil

For thine is the kingdom,

and the power,

and the glory,

for ever and ever.

Amen.

[Rose]

Yet, instead of looking for a middle-line between the divide, you swing towards one side and lambasted the other side, simply blaming them for coming on board and walking rough-shod over their hosts' hang-ups.

Auspy, just because you minimize the same treatment when it comes to non-African expats walking rough-shod of Africans in their homeland doesn't mean others will ever find this practice acceptable to them. You would never consider this a good idea for Africans to go out of their way to pit themselves against caucasians in any country on this planet.

There's only one thing I sincerely appreciate you for is the profound insight you continually provide into the mentality that aided abetted and transatlantic slave trade. I know all Africans weren't involved in this heinous practice as "da bishop" has set this record straight. But the sheer gullibility and remorselessness you have exhibited time and time again is absolutely breathtaking and exposes the depths of your pure and unadulterated ethnicism which is curiously “never” directed towards those of non-African descent.

Now here’s what I believe is at the crux of the matter…when you examine the actions of continental Africans, West Indians and AAs there is only one group of the three that does not advocate, nurse/nurture dreams of mass exodus due to untenable circumstances back home. No matter how bleak and arduous our sojourn in this country has been we remain committed for the long haul in making this country live up to it’s ideals and have “no” intentions of promoting a substantial transfer of our population to foreign shores particularly at the risk of life and limbs. In my mind this “fact” creates a groundswell of seething resentment towards AAs from some diasporans.

I wouldn’t put it quite this way but you get the idea:

http://www.chatafrikarticles.com/art...ANS/Page1.html

What is the point? The point is that those who commit evil, as Joseph’s brothers did by selling him, as Africans did by selling African Americans, somehow, are forced to rejoin those they sold. Suffering in their land of origin forces them to go live with those they cold heartedly sold into slavery.

For our present purposes, the rejected stone (African Americans) has become the pillar of the temple (helpers of those who, by selling them, rejected them, Africans). Those we sold into slavery are today rescuing us from our inability to do the right thing, govern ourselves well. (And many of us do not see the irony! Apparently, we are too shameless and too amoral to see the irony of our coming to live in the place we sold our brothers and sisters to. This is amazing daftness.)

It is the struggles of African Americans for acceptance by racist white America that changed the culture of America and made it possible for Nigerian professionals to now come to America and work in some sort of professional capacity. Before the 1960s civil rights struggles, Africans in America largely worked as janitors, security guards, porters and other menial jobs.

[I Love Nigeria]

Rose You must ignore Auspicious and his ilks ...

Auspicious does not speak for me or anyone, for that matter!

[FSU]

I am new to America, barely 6 months out here. Personally, I do all I can, in the first instance, to stay away from Nigerians, away from Africans, and away from black people in general, until I am sure they are NOT Nigerians; then slowly I begin to mingle. This is based on the experiences I garnered about many Nigerians in different countries (not Nigeria) that I have lived in, which in almost all cases, left a sour taste. I only mingle with Nigerians that I have known for a long time. However, once I am able to know that a particular black person is not Nigerian, I have no problem mingling from the start; they are more reliable, especially the non-Nigerian Africans. Truly truly, many (not all, of course) Nigerians suck.

[Rose]

Originally Posted by I Love Nigeria

Rose You must ignore Auspicious and his ilks ...

Auspicious does not speak for me or anyone, for that matter!

It's clear what is but he needs to know there's nothing acceptable in exporting his brand of ethnicism even if he does regards it his birthright. I can't imagine relocating to another country and going to war against the natives as a means of currying favor with a particular segment of the population. Seems there would be a better way of ingratiating oneself IMO.

[Rose]

Originally Posted by FSU

I am new to America, barely 6 months out here. Personally, I do all I can, in the first instance, to stay away from Nigerians, away from Africans, and away from black people in general, until I am sure they are NOT Nigerians; then slowly I begin to mingle. This is based on the experiences I garnered about many Nigerians in different countries (not Nigeria) that I have lived in, which in almost all cases, left a sour taste. I only mingle with Nigerians that I have known for a long time. However, once I am able to know that a particular black person is not Nigerian, I have no problem mingling from the start; they are more reliable, especially the non-Nigerian Africans. Truly truly, many (not all, of course) Nigerians suck.

In all honesty, I would much rather be ignored than to be on guard for automatic conflict. Our negative experiences run the gamut so the focus is not solely on those of African descent. Not saying it has to be this drastic, but stick around...you'll get your wakeup call in some form or other. This victim here is continental African and it made no difference.

January 8, 2009
Three Are Charged in Attacks on Election Night
By CHRISTINE HAUSER and COLIN MOYNIHAN

Like countless other Americans that night, a group of young Staten Island men gathered on Nov. 4 to watch election results, and then took to the streets when it became clear that the country had elected its first black president.

But, the authorities say, they were not out to celebrate. Armed with a police-style baton and a metal pipe, they attacked a black teenager, pushed another black man, harassed a Hispanic man and, in a finishing flourish, ran over a white man who they thought was black, leaving him in a coma, the authorities said.

A federal indictment unsealed on Wednesday charged the men, Ralph Nicoletti, 18; Michael Contreras, 18; and Brian Carranza, 21, with conspiracy to interfere with voting rights in their efforts to “injure, oppress, threaten and intimidate” black people on Staten Island on election night.

The men were arrested on Tuesday night and arraigned in Federal District Court in Brooklyn on Wednesday. All three pleaded not guilty.

Mr. Nicoletti remains in jail. Mr. Carranza was released after his mother agreed to put up a house as security for a $200,000 bond. He will be confined to his home and must wear an electronic bracelet. Mr. Contreras’s case was postponed until Thursday; he was kept in jail. If convicted, each of the men faces a maximum of 10 years in prison, the United States attorney’s office said in a statement.

Prosecutors requested that Mr. Nicoletti, in particular, be held in jail, saying he was a member of a violent group called the Rosebank Krew, named after the group’s Staten Island neighborhood. A search of Mr. Nicoletti’s dresser drawers by F.B.I. agents turned up weapons and a note that said the “Boss” had 10 brothers behind him and that he could kill a person’s family, prosecutors said in a court memo. They said they believed that the note had come from Mr. Nicoletti’s brother, Anthony.

The memo said that Ralph Nicoletti had engaged in criminal activity since he was 14. He faces state charges of committing a hate-crime assault in connection with the first attack on the night of Nov. 4. While out on bail, the authorities said, he punched one of his co-defendants, Mr. Contreras, believing he had been cooperating with the authorities.

According to prosecutors, the men gathered at a “makeshift outdoor clubhouse” to watch the election results on the Internet. Shortly after learning that Mr. Obama had won, they and a fourth man “decided to find African-Americans to assault in retaliation for an African-American man becoming president,” the prosecution papers said.

The papers do not name the fourth man, but another teenager, Bryan Garaventa, was charged with Mr. Nicoletti in the first attack, on Alie Kamara, a 17-year-old black resident of Staten Island.

Prosecutors said that Mr. Nicoletti drove the group to the Park Hill neighborhood, which has a large black population, and that the four men got out of the car to assault Mr. Kamara, using a metal pipe and a collapsible police baton. Mr. Kamara said that his attackers shouted “Obama!”

The group then carried out a series of other assaults, the statement said: They pushed a black man in Port Richmond to the ground; accosted a Latino man and demanded to know for whom he had voted; and yelled profanities about Mr. Obama as they drove past black people at a hair salon.

They then spotted a man, Ronald Forte, in a hooded sweatshirt, on Blackford Avenue. Believing that the man was black, the group decided that one of them would hit him with the baton, prosecutors said. Instead, Mr. Nicoletti “decided to hit him with the car,” and Mr. Forte, 38, was thrown onto the hood and into the windshield, shattering it.

His mother, Eileen Forte, told the court, “Every day for the last two months I’ve watched my son in a coma.” The defendants, she said, planned “to leave him in the gutter to die.”

As she spoke, relatives of the defendants got up and quickly left the courtroom. None would speak with reporters.

Outside court, Jeneba Lapedo, Ali Kamara’s mother, said: “I told the judge my son didn’t deserve what happened to him. They beat him up and he was screaming and he had to jump over a fence for his life. After that he was bleeding and he called me.

“He called me and said, ‘Mama please don’t let me die.’ And that’s the only child I have.”

Ms. Lapedo was accompanied by Aliya Latif, civil rights director for the Council on American-Islamic Relations in New York.

“We are deeply disturbed,” Ms. Latif said, “by these instances not only because of the bias motive but because of the possible negative impact on equal participation in the political process. As such we trust this case will be prosecuted to the full extent of the law.”

[I Love Nigeria]

FSU and some other Nigerians have these siege mentality and stereotypical generalizations about Nigerians... if you are crossing the desert and everyone is desperate... some might steal food... which is anti social behavior, but arguably borne of desperation.

All persons should take some sorts universal precautions when dealing with people with whom one is not familiar... virtues and vices are universal
(not peculiar to Nigerians)

My painting of immigrants with broad-brush was and is to make the point that we should be attuned to our surroundings and have profound grasps of our surroundings (lopsided) societal socio-economic structures and know why it is so... just so, we are not perceived as dumb and deaf, to the sufferings and experiences of others... I do not take flight from all Nigerians, all continental Africans and all persons of African descent! NO!!!

Here is a test for some of us.... a few questions perhaps?

1. Do you do volunteer work
2. Are you an active political participant
3. Do you observe community holidays
4. Are you a snub... self absorbed
5. Are you self-conscious of your middle class imported conceit
6. Are you a good neighbor to anyone

[DeepThought]

@Rose,

It is unfortunate that a lot of Africans are willfully miseducated about the AA condition, but conversely, the ignorance a lot of AAs show about African matters and the slave trade, as evidenced in those quotes (which reflect the standard belief of AAs , not withstanding that it was written by a non AA) are quite unfortunate and perhaps a little willful too.

However, I tend to understand and overlook ignorance on the part of the AAs much more than I do ignorance on the African side, based upon the opportunities the African now has of riding himself of the ignorance in which he is immersed in, and also based on the trumatic experiences of the AA and the poor filters through which the African story has been and is still being passed on to the AAs.

When you say quote and believe unqualified statements such as "as Africans did by selling African Americans" you quote people who have a very a superficial understanding of this situation. But again, its not as if there aren't some truths therein , so its hard to totally blame you or the people you quote. The thing is, most times, we want to have an "either/or" situation, that is, either something is true or not. The problem is that sometimes, something is not totally true and also not totally untrue.

You will always read in your popular versions of history books about how Africans participated in the Slave "trade" (this was never a trade - how can kidnappings and abductions be trade?) but you probably won't find any mention of African rulers who were deposed and sent into exile for opposing the Slave trade or any mention of ordinary day to day Africans who were opposition to the Slave "trade". And of course, do you think a person whose family member was kidnapped and who him/herself lives under fear of abduction would NOT be opposed to such a "trade"?

Does that make sense to you? So why would majority of Africans ever be in support of any such "trade"?

Let me ask you a question: Are you aware that some African Americans actually had , owned and kept fellow Blacks as slaves? Do you know this?. Did you know that there were Black Slave owners in the United States?

Compare the percentage of Africans on the African continent who participated in the Slave trade to the percentage of African Americans who owned fellow Blacks as slaves and on that basis, would it be correct for me to make an unqualified statement that "Africans Americans were buying and selling African Americans?"

There are always dangers in understatements and overstatements. While as an African, I cannot absolve Africans of some culpability in the Slave "trade", it would be quite foolish of me to place all the blame for this on Africans (Just as I cannot do the same with the White race)

In spite of the emotions and trauma that this may have and may still cause you (which I cannot even pretend to fully understand), perhaps it will be possible for you to one day understand the trauma and pain these things cause and continue to cause many Africans too.