On Black Identities

A bit more anthropologically-focused than other books on immigration to the United States, Mary Waters draws some really interesting conclusions—or, at least, my takeaways from her conclusion. The first is that, given the level of education and upward socioeconomic mobility that West Indian immigrants to the United States experience, it’s a wonder that they aren’t widely considered a “model minority.” West Indian immigrants are remarkably hardworking and are viewed very positively in personal relationships.

Second, the positive views towards West Indian immigrants don’t necessarily translated towards positive views in a professional sense. West Indian immigrants are seen by most of the American population as being black first, with any other identities coming second. However, most West Indian immigrants come from majority-black societies and, as a result, American racial structures are jarring and are constantly apparent. They are sensitive to the racial structures that exist in America and often try to break the racial ceiling. Because of this determination, they are often viewed as being more “militant” than other black Americans. To ensure socioeconomic mobility, they actually try to distance themselves from native-born black Americans.

Third, while immigrant communities from Europe tend to be upwardly mobile as generations pass, Waters finds that West Indians actually experience “downward” assimilation. Because they are framed as being black first, socioeconomic mobility does not translate into residential mobility. At the same time, their children are seen as being “black, native-born American.” Under American racial hierarchies, native born black-Americans are “lower” on the rung than West Indian immigrants.

Although this is ostensibly a book on West Indian immigration to the United States, it’s also an indictment of how thoroughly fucked up American racial structures actually are. They de facto hyper-apartheid nature of American segregation makes long-term upwards socio-economic mobility impossible for West Indian immigrants and, more tellingly, black Americans in general.

I started reading the book and thought it would be deeply ethnographic about a specific community, but there are systemic implications here, and the only solution for resolving this would be to fundamentally transform American race relations at their most fundamental level. I hope we can do that, but I won’t hold my breath because conservative reaction against social reform will not give an inch. That said, the massive, multi-racial make-up of Millennials and Gen Z during the Black Lives Matter protests suggest that, perhaps, things are changing.