Black Americans vs Black Immigrants

1,093 words

Contempt for black immigrants in the United States has surged, largely fueled by the resentment of black Americans. Many black Americans believe they are entitled to a unique status in American society due to their ancestors’ history of enslavement, creating a cultural and ideological divide between them and foreign-born blacks.

They perceive immigrant blacks as defiant for not endorsing their worldview and even regard them as ungrateful for failing to acknowledge what they see as their rightful status. This mindset persists because few challenge its underlying assumptions. Aside from a handful of older scholars, there are no longer writers willing to confront these misconceptions.

For instance, while David Landes and Samuel Huntington were not race realists, if they were alive today, many would likely consider them “based” for their blunt assessments of economic and cultural development. Even dissident writers today lack the conviction to defend Western civilization or dismantle historical fallacies. One must turn to elderly personalities like Robert Weissberg or Paul Gottfried for incisive critiques of the liberal narrative. If more dissidents had the courage to correct these misconceptions, black Americans could spare themselves from the embarrassment of clinging to erroneous beliefs.

One of their most persistent errors is the idea that black immigrants owe them respect because their ancestors “built America.” While this notion may be emotionally satisfying, it is historically inaccurate. America was built by entrepreneurs and innovators—growth is impossible without individuals willing to take risks and allocate labor and capital. While slaves played a role in plantation production, their contribution must be understood in economic terms: they were capital stock. The productivity of plantations depended on the financial acumen and managerial skills of planters, not simply the presence of forced labor.

Furthermore, advocates of the “slaves built America” narrative overlook a crucial fact: slavery was common across many non-Western societies, yet none of them industrialized. The difference was that Western economies were more advanced, institutionalized, and grounded in formal business practices. Slaveholders in the American South and the West Indies were not mere landowners; they read business manuals, joined agricultural societies, and subscribed to research journals. Their approach to plantation management was sophisticated, and their business strategies were designed to maximize efficiency.

This is why some historians draw connections between slavery and American capitalism—not because slavery was essential to growth, but because it coincided with a period of Western advancement, where economic efficiency was already prioritized. In contrast, slavery in non-Western societies was far less documented and operated on a more rudimentary level. Moreover, Robert Fogel demonstrated over 60 years ago that, while important, railroads were not essential to economic growth. If America could have developed without railroads, why would its progress have hinged on slavery?

Further, the mere fact that slaves contributed to economic output does not prove they were indispensable. One study estimates that enslaved labor accounted for 12.49-18% of the increase in output per capita between 1839-1859. However, economic dominance is not determined by raw output alone. A sector responsible for 60% of GDP can still be a drag on growth if more productive alternatives exist—just as agriculture’s share of GDP declines as economies modernize.

Emancipation ultimately benefited both black Americans and the broader economy, leading to higher productivity and greater innovation. Slavery misallocated both labor and capital—forcing skilled blacks into unskilled labor and diverting whites from entrepreneurship to plantation management. Far from being an engine of American greatness, slavery was an economic liability. Yet despite the overwhelming evidence, black activists cling to the comforting fiction that slavery built America, perhaps because it provides a sense of self-worth.

This impulse is also evident in the tendency of black activists to claim African royal ancestry. In reality, most slaves shipped to the Americas were not from elite backgrounds but were captured through warfare, raids, or judicial enslavement. Studies by African economists suggest that the slaves exported to the Americas may have been less intelligent on average, as they were drawn from societies lower on the organizational scale.

Many modern activists also assume that slavery deprived them of a luxurious life in Africa, but their ancestors were well aware of the continent’s hardships. Former slaves expressed this reality with striking clarity. As one recounted to the Works Projects Administration:

Most of the time there was more’n three hundred slaves on the plantation. The oldest ones come right from Africa. My Grandmother was one of them. A savage in Africa — a slave in America. Mammy told it to me. Over there all the natives dressed naked and lived on fruits and nuts.

West Indian slaves, too, often held dim views of Africa. One remarked: “Mandingo one very bad country; me no have vorck too much now, me hae yam, tanias, plantains, everything good.”

Another was even more direct when asked if she missed her homeland: “Eh, misses, mi nuh like dat. St. Vincent fine country – good white massa dey.”

The typical black American activist holds a deeply distorted view of history, one enabled by the ethnomasochism of white liberals. However, because black immigrants reject their historical worldview, they have become targets of native black resentment. For example, activists demand that black immigrants honor them for the benefits of the civil rights movement—ignoring the fact that West Indians like Richard Benjamin Moore and Cyril Briggs were equally influential activists. Black Americans do not have a monopoly on activism, and immigrants owe them nothing.

Many black immigrants, in fact, view black Americans as laggards and consider America a white country founded for white people. Consequently, they see black American grievances as largely irrelevant to their own lives. But unfortunately, after decades of directing their hostility at whites—who have foolishly rewarded them with DEI programs and other concessions—black activists have turned their resentment toward West Indians and African immigrants, who refuse to indulge their grievances.

Instead of resenting those who succeed, black Americans should recognize the advantage of being born in the world’s most powerful country and use that opportunity to improve themselves.

P.S. This is a comment for readers who would like some anecdotes. Black West Indians, even urbane and educated ones, do not like black Americans and often discourage their relatives in America from associating with them. Many Jamaicans think that black Americans are wild and uncouth. In Jamaica patois: We nuh like unnu. Translation: We don’t like you.

The book Domestic Manners and Social Condition of the White, Coloured, and Negro Population of the West Indies, Volume 1 is really good. Most slaves did not like Africa. It can be downloaded online.