Isn't it funny how people coming into this country have more drive to succeed than people born here?

and you expected teh brothers/sisters to actually work for anything?

Not in the circuitry.

Dancin_In_Anson: Can someone decipher that for me?

To quote from Kim, by Rudyard Kipling:

Nobody hates a half-breed like his brother.

Why is it again that we need reparations, affirmative action, native language accommodation?

i blame bush.




/why not?

That's not fair, Katrina/Rita refugees have only had about a year, theses refugees have had FIVE...

Oh, wait... nevermind.

I saw the same attitude in DC last month... All the Northern Africans were pleasant and professional. The natives were typically bored and unmotivated. I think the grass is greener reality is a lesson too many of us have forgotten...
\Down with the Immigrant drive to succeed.

yeah and when is katrina trash goign to get off their asses, stop shooting up apartment complexes & robbing the residents, and help themselves?

houston really f*cked itself on this one..

Well come on now, Sudan is definitely no New Orleans.

Welcome to America Simon.

If I constantly lived with life-threatening political persecution, starvation, civil war, and the rest of the package that goes with Africa, I'd do what it took to get the fark out of there and work my ass off to stay out of there. Flipping burgers and washing dishes beats the hell out of a faceful of machete in the middle of the night.

I think what we really need is an exchange program. Your country sends us 10,000 highly motivated, energetic immigrants, we send you 10,000 lazy, apathetic, heavily entitled emigrants and coupons for Denny's. Everybody wins.

choice and consequence - WOW, that is friggin hilarious. Good one.

If I had any html skills, I'd post a pic of Apu Nahassapeemapetilan saying, "At last, I am an American citizen... Which way to the welfare office?"

/"I'm kidding, I work, I work!"

Hey he is one of only 5 that haven't become alcoholics, he deserves a medal.

Hilary T. N. Seuss: If I had any html skills, I'd post a pic of Apu Nahassapeemapetilan saying, "At last, I am an American citizen... Which way to the welfare office?"



(open angle bracket) img src="insert-url-here" (close angle bracket)

Great documentary:

The Lost Boys of Sudan. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0383475/

The Lost Boys that ended up in Houston wanted the fark out of Houston if they could. They much preferred the midwest. Don't blame them. Lived in both places.

waaaaaah I miss Houston... only two more weeks til I'm back.

Castilla reared a family of four after coming to the United States with her parents in 1915. She has lived in Houston since 1918.

Wow... I can't believe a woman who has been living her for over 80 years is just now getting her citizenship. Mega props to all of these people.

That's simply not possible. Racism makes it impossible for any black-skinned person to succeed in this country.

I'm with marymarch and confused_girl, congrats and welcome.

texquire
Why is it again that we need reparations, affirmative action, native language accommodation?

We don't need those things. These are just feel-good things that the liberals and assorted activists can rant and rave about.

And as far as the Katrina refugees stating that they need more time to find a job in Houston: you've had a year, if you can't find a job there in that time then, either (a) you aren't looking hard enough (which can't be believed) or (b) you don't want a job since you probably never had one in NOLA to begin with.

I tend to go with option (b) having been stationed with a certain military branch in NOLA for 3 years and saw first-hand the laziness that permeates certain parts of that city.

Dancin_In_Anson [TotalFark]
I worked at a Bennigans in Houston a number of years ago and the kitchen staff was almost exclusively Nigerian. All of them were going to UH and not only were very smart (engineering for the most part) but they ran a tight ship.

What I found as quite strange was that they had no respect whatsoever towards the blacks from the US that worked there (most of whom were bus/dish)...I swear to God that they were worse than any redneck I've ever met...

Can someone decipher that for me?

that is common-- I have seen that more than once with black people from Africa I've met.

Another interesting phenomenon is that of the blacks admitted to Ivy League schools, first- and second-generation Americans are a VERY large percentage of that group-- something that has caused a lot of waves in the black community.

mama's_tasty_foods

that is common-- I have seen that more than once with black people from Africa I've met.

Another interesting phenomenon is that of the blacks admitted to Ivy League schools, first- and second-generation Americans are a VERY large percentage of that group-- something that has caused a lot of waves in the black community.

Makes sense. Success has less to do with skin color and more to do with culture than people would like to admit.

Lots of black african immigrants have no respect for black americans for several reasons.

One is that the immigrants housing options are usually in poor ghetto's trying to make ends meet. Within these poor ghettos are usually a disproportionately number of black americans. Add a high crime rate to the poor ghetto along with drugs, you're gonna have lots of black americans committing crimes. High crime rate has nothing to do with race, anyplace with zero gnp and drugs is gonna have high crime. However, the immigrants see the blacks as the ones committing lots of crimes, thus giving the black immigrants a bad rap as will as being victims of the crimes/violence.

I remember a part in the documentary The Lost Boys of Sudan, the immigrants thought they would have some connection with the black americans, however, they were pissed off that the black americans were the ones committing all the crimes in their neighborhood.

Same deal for me. In college, I met a few first generation blacks who's parents were from Africa. They were pretty much disgusted by black American "culture."

/Keep in mind, in America, people in poverty are DYING OF OBESITY.
//As Chris Rock says, look at the rest of the world. . the rest of the world is saying "man, if you have a steak in front of you. . .you should eat the shiat out of that steak!!!

Why can't the refugees succeed in Maine? That's not really something people like to talk about. Maybe it's the climate?

LordOrion
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rhetorical_question

beoswulf

Why can't the refugees succeed in Maine? That's not really something people like to talk about. Maybe it's the climate?

Maybe it is the lack of jobs to compensate for the climate?

SwiftFox

Maybe it is the lack of jobs to compensate for the climate?


Maybe, except the non-refugees in the same job market aren't such a problem.

I ran a seminar with international scholars, many of whom were from Africa. I asked one man who lived in Atlanta what his opinions/connections/observations were of the African Americans in his community. At the time I had NO idea and was just looking for info.

He practicaly spat on the ground and went off on a rant about 'these people' just lazed around in filth all day, when he could find three jobs. He had ZERO respect.

IMHO I think much of the world sees issues through the lens of class, as opposed to race. I also believe that is still a large factor in ethnic fights in Rawanda and Burundi for example.

Gotta say I was pretty rocked back by his vehmence.


But I guess maybe if you see people shiatting all over the OPPURTUNITY to work your ass of just get to the NEXT ballbusting oppurtunity that you risked everything for;you probably would feel that you had nothing in common either.

Oh FYI I hope that was what you were looking for D_I_A

Dancin_In_Anson
I worked at a Bennigans in Houston a number of years ago and the kitchen staff was almost exclusively Nigerian. All of them were going to UH and not only were very smart (engineering for the most part) but they ran a tight ship.

What I found as quite strange was that they had no respect whatsoever towards the blacks from the US that worked there (most of whom were bus/dish)...I swear to God that they were worse than any redneck I've ever met...

Can someone decipher that for me?

I taught biology at Lee HS in Houston. We had lots of immigrants from all over the world. I loved teaching them. They worked harder and took school way more seriously. Basically, from what they told me, school, work, America... was a real opportunity. School is free here - not so in many of their home countries. Also, they are working hard to either (a) go back to their home country to help others with the skills that they've learned and money they've earned or (b) they're working hard to bring other members of their family here (because conditions at home suck - war, famine, no work, etc.).

My African students (Ethiopia, Sudan, Kenya, Nigeria, etc.) did not interact well with my African-American students. I recall one African-American student asking why they worked so hard and dressed so dumb (my African students generally tucked in their shirts, wore pants that fit, and generally didn't look like they'd just stepped out of a club). They told my Ethiopian student that all they needed to do was get on welfare and take it easy. The Ethiopian student asked why they had no pride... Fortunately, I did not need to break up a fight. The immigrants in the class outnumbered the natives and we got back to work.

I would like to say that the African-American students I had that did work hard, had family support at home to do well (even if it was just mom, grandma, or an older sibling), and were planning on going on to college generally got along well with my African (and other immigrant) students. Again, a question of culture, not color.

I met few of the Sudanese Lost Boys @ a film screening a while ago in Dallas. Though our interaction was brief - I was working and they were fielding many questions & shaking lots of hands, their composure was something to be admired.

You know "the vibe" concept? Well, they projected a serene + focused vibe I rarely feel amongst anybody - though they seemed to lack the tools to express it, beyond their very presence, they were wise as opposed to educated. That counts for a lot in Texas - many people are educated, but few are wise (I dabble in both, unfortunately).

Put a Meth cook, a Harvard Grad, and a self-made Millionaire - all crackers - in the same room, and watch the interactions.

I agree that "class" and "perspective" are probably the biggest factors to "success" or rendering judgment in many instances. Entitlement is a b!tch.

Argh - I should've used "culture" in that last blurb!

*Tips hat to Jin Verde*

theviciousscribe: and you expected teh brothers/sisters to actually work for anything?

Not in the circuitry.

Check it out, I found a picture of you.

I ordered this on my Netflix recently and thought it was amazing. Especially to see how they struggled to intergrate themselves into our culture and how much they changed from the time they were in Sudan until after they had been in the US for a while.

Thanks sp0rk_of_psychosis. *tips hat back*

I think one of the quotes I used to post in my room sums up the attitude my successful immigrant and non-immigrant students gave me:

You have to study and learn so that you can make up your own mind about history and everything else, but you can't make up an empty mind. Stock your mind, stock your mind. It is your house of treasure and no one in the world can interfere with it. You might be poor, your shoes might be broken, but your mind is a palace.
Mr. O'Hallahan in Angela's Ashes by Frank McCourt

Most immigrants to the U.S. really do impress the hell out of me.

I've worked hard to get where I am in life, and when I put myself next to a lot of immigrants and see how hard they've worked, I always feel a bit ashamed, like I'm kind of taking for granted the opportunities we have here.

Then, I look at the majority of the Katrina refugees here, and I realize that I could be doing a hell of a lot worse than I am now.

One African dude I met this past year (he's in grad school for public health) actually went back to the Sudan to take what he's learned and share it with the Sudanese.

I'm glad to see the guy in this article is taking advantage of what America has to offer and giving back something while doing it.

Was about to call BS on this article. But then I read it was Sudanese refugees. That I believe.

You all be racist, honky-mofos, fo' sayin' dat de bruthas an' sistas be lazy. Dey just wants what's comin' to dem. What? Sudanese? Dey be de bruthas and sistas too? Sheeit. Den deys be Unca-Toms. White-bread, oreo, mutha-farkas. Deys be keepin' de brutha down by suckin' up to whitey with deys books, and deys colleges.

The Lost Boys of Sudan

This ne is a must see. I worked with a girl from the Ivory Coast and she caught hell from some of the other blacks at work because she was so dark. She worked her way through college, obtained a MS and was doing well. Plus she was pretty damn hot. She had no use for American blacks.

I had a bunch of Sudanese guys working for me in Iraq. That should tell you something about the Sudan, that Iraq was a major step-up for them.

Ahaha! Too Bad the Katrina Refugess can't do anything right!

Go Sudan!

Boo NOgerians!

*cymbal splash*

Send the Katrina refugees to Sudan. Seems they'd be happier there anywhere with all that violence and stuff.