American media: The number of African American immigrants in the United States is on the rise, but they have become "invisible immigrants" in immigration policy discussions

On June 6th, China Daily reported that the number of African American immigrants in various parts of the United States is increasing significantly, with 20% of African Americans either being immigrants or descendants of immigrants. But they rarely become the center of national discussions around immigration policy in the United States, hence they are referred to as "invisible immigrants". Even in small interactions, many black immigrants discuss ways in which their culture, identity, and history are sometimes overlooked - even worse.

Screenshot of NPR report

Hadley Park, located in North Nashville, Tennessee, was once a plantation. Surrounding it is Tennessee State University, a century old predominantly African American university; You can also see the land where crops were once planted. "This space is a representative of Nashville African Americans in many ways," said Lisa Williams, a public historian at Tennessee State University. Around this city, there are magnificent old buildings that used to be houses on plantations, overlooking fields where African Americans graze cattle, grind grains, and plant tobacco. "Nowadays, people don't like to always point this out," Williams said. When you visit some former plantations, the existence of slaves is "almost erased, and they are no longer defined as' slaves', calling them servants."

Williams described this dynamic as a form of collective amnesia. He understands that some people may not be willing to recall the most painful part of Nashville's history. But skipping that period of history is unhealthy, he said, "because the past gave you a certain identity. It connects you to a group or event, allowing you to understand your current situation, or how you got into trouble, and why you got into trouble."

Since then, generations of African American immigrants have settled in Nashville and other parts of Tennessee. From Somalia to Rwanda, from Sudan to Ethiopia, from Nigeria to Haiti, people have taken root in Nashville. 12% of the population in this city is composed of immigrants, a large portion of whom moved to this city after 2000. But just like previous generations of African Americans in Tennessee, they sometimes have to struggle to make their existence recognized.

The mural of the Tennessee Immigration and Refugee Rights Alliance reads "Welcome Home," meaning that Tennessee is home to people of all backgrounds.

Leila Ahmed is a political organizer who has just graduated from university and grew up in Nashville. Her family has immigrated from Somalia. She said she likes to ask people about their understanding of Somali culture, but when she hears people's answers, she feels frustrated time and time again. Pirates, they usually say. "Perhaps there is also hunger, war, terrorism."

Malange Sapata lives in Knoxville, eastern Tennessee. Recently, she had a conversation with someone who asked where she came from, and her answer shocked him. "He said, 'Are there black people in Honduras?' I was surprised. I thought it was everywhere there, but some people really don't know. Interactions like this made Sapata more eager to talk about her identity - to let people understand Garifuna culture and a wider range of African American cultures.".

Niyok Viziegwa Atumani is a high school student living in Memphis, Tennessee. He was born in Rwanda and came to the United States at a young age. When he told other children that he was African, he was bullied as a result. "So I really don't know what my cultural identity is," he said. In order to strive to integrate into society, he had to minimize his own part - so much so that he lost a part of himself: "I know I'm African, but I want to do more."

Claude Gattbuck also comes from Rwanda and came to Nashville 30 years ago. Like others, he has also had many experiences of his identity being rejected, ignored, or underestimated. For many years, African Americans have been discussing issues such as police violence and racial profiling. All the things I've experienced were traumatic. Americans didn't believe it until phone cameras appeared, and then Americans acted like, 'Oh, this is terrible. This is just the beginning.' But the only thing that started was filming it“

Historian Williams also expressed the same viewpoint. He said that African Americans have been openly discussing the violence they have experienced in the hands of the police and the US government. He said that violence "is not accidental, it is a characteristic of our society. It's like denying that it happened is also a 'characteristic'." Williams said that African American communities "have been residents since the establishment of cities. But we often feel like the least popular residents. Sometimes, we are some of the most despised residents." And, he said, "In many ways, we are still invisible."

The website of Borderless magazine in the United States mentioned in a recent report that regardless of how African American immigrants feel about their group, the US government has a very unified approach to viewing African Americans. And they don't care whether they are immigrants, born and raised in the United States, or if their family has lived here for five generations, or if they have been enslaved on this land for five centuries, stolen from Africa, and brought to the American continent. They treat African immigrant groups in different ways and play with them.

Lillian Ingabire from Zambia said, "I am shocked that people are so concerned about race here. In the United States, the first thing people notice is your skin. In the United States, anyone who looks like an African is classified as one group. I always say that if the police ask you to pull over, they won't ask, 'Are you African or African American?' Your identity is not important. Your self-worth is not important. It's like race is weaponized here."

The legacy of slavery in the United States has a direct impact on today's immigration policy and on African American immigrants in many aspects. For example, public accusations related to slavery. This is related to the previously formulated policies on African Americans and the narratives about their identity. They are poor, they are lazy, they have no ability. These are all narratives that have appeared in African American immigration policies.

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