PEW REPORT: AMERICAN BLACKS CANNOT BE CONSIDERED ONE RACE

The Pew Research Center released a new report that suggests that blacks cannot be considered a single race. The reason for this, according to participants, has to do with divergent values between upper and middle class Blacks and lower class Blacks.

Reading over the report and listening to the commentary it generated on NPR this morning suggests to me that the concept of 'Blackness' is in flux. I always believed that one's blackness primarily had to do with the color of their skin. In fact I would argue that historically, that was the case. If one is to believe the new Pew report, one's Blackness now has more to do with your class and values.

Nevertheless, I was taken aback by a glaring ommission. It appears that the study did not focus on an important source of diversity within the 'Black' group - the growing number of foreign born Blacks in America and their heirs. In this day and age, the average 'Black' American can be of Caribbean or African origin. My neighborhood can definitely attest to this phenomenon. I live within shouting distance of 7 African families (6 of them are Nigerian).

I completely understand that the Pew report was meant to focus on African-Americans. Consequently, I am curious as to why a discussion on the diversity of Blacks did not touch on foreign-born Blacks. But considering the fact that a major contender for the Democratic Presidential ticket is part Kenyan, and the number of Black immigrants from the Caribbean and Africa continues to increase, I believe that it is high time that the existence of foreign-born Blacks be recognized and their issues addressed.