The African American Term. Or Discrimination Essay

The African American Term. Or Discrimination - Essay Example His demand that he should be considered an African-American because he is an African and an American citizen sounds genuine at first glace. But Swarn reveals the issues related to such a proposition from the perspective of those who oppose it. The fact that Colin Powell, the son of Jamaican parents, and Barack Obama, the son of a Kenyan father and an African mother, have reached the pinnacles of US politics explains how the African immigrants have become an integral part of the black community. However, it remains to be seen whether the essentialist African-Americans would identify with them in all spheres. Mr. Alan Keyes, Obama’s Republican challenger for the Senate seat in Illinois had questioned Obama’s claim to be an African-American, stating that he lacks the consciousness that was formed by a heritage of slavery that the ancestors of African-Americans had gone through. Though Obama and Powell prefer to call themselves African-American, many of the children of Afri can Immigrants just prefer the term African, or Jamaican-African or Nigerian-African, depending on the places of their origin. Some others prefer the more generic term ‘black’ for their identity. Bobby Austin, who opposes the African immigrants being integrated to the category of African-Americans, explains that some people feared that â€Å"black immigrants and their children would snatch up the hard-won opportunities made possible by the civil rights movement†. Several surveys support this view, indicating that the children of black immigrants are making use of educational and employment opportunities in a greater number than African-Americans. Dr.Austin affirms that the suffering of the African-Americans that have lasted many decades is not at alleviated with the help of the civil rights movement, because the black immigrants pose a threat and hindrance to their social and cultural development. Mr. Obama’s view is that the African