On December 5th 2013, I posted a blog entitled “Equality and Fairness” in which I stated off-handedly:
“(By the way, about half the people with African blood in the US have zero American slave ancestry. Yes, like the president. They are descendants of immigrants like me, people who volunteered to come tot his allegedly racist country.)”
Two people came down on me like white on rice demanding a source for this assertion. The first was Professor Terry because he hates good news. He was so foaming at the mouth that he even forgot for a while Harry Belafonte and other immigrants from the Caribbean obviously with African ancestry. Then he demonstrated his racial expertise on how various degrees of blood admixtures define or don’t define the category “black.” Brandon Christensen, the editor of Notes on Liberty, also challenged me for a source mostly because he pillages me every chance he gets.
I have to report that my fast and superficial search did not help me recover the relevant source. I am ninety per cent sure I read it in the Wall Street Journal sometimes since 2010. It could have been in the Oped pages. Trust me, my failure leaves me deeply ashamed.
At any rate, I cited this number to make a substantive point: Liberals who insist that the US is just about as racist as it was in the good old days of Bull O’Connor (when Martin Luther King was marching) have to deal with the disturbing fact of black immigration to the US. I mean by “black” people who come from Africa and people who would tell you they have some African ancestry. Such people come to this country legally and illegally and they come in large numbers.
I am guessing they come here for the same reason that there is no great exodus of people with African ancestry leaving this country. They come because this is very good country with an open heart and loosely enforced laws (Why, what do you know? The Supreme Court ruled recently that it’s illegal for states to enforce some federal laws.)
Let me cite a specialized website that does not address my still-unsourced assertion but something germane to it:
Black immigrants are a significant group in the United States—more than 3 million people comprising 8 percent of the U.S. foreign-born population. **
More than half come from the Caribbean, with the rest mostly coming from Northern and sub-Saharan Africa. A small number also come from Europe and Canada. Black immigrants account for more than one-quarter of the black population in New York, Boston, and Miami.
Now, the foreign born comprise about 13% of the general US population and African-Americans, in the broadest definition, are also about 13%. Yes, we are far from my original assertion. We don’t know how far exactly because we don’t know how many US-born children and grand-children foreign-born blacks have. But they would have to have on average something like 13 or 14 descendants per couple for their total to approximate half of people living in America who have African ancestry. Even if all black immigrants came from rural backgrounds, that might be too high a figure.
This is bad for for my credibility.
Still, I don’t know that the (unreferenced) estimate regarding immigrants and all their descendants for all times of half is too high, or much too high. This does not matter much from a substantive standpoint anyway. People with African ancestry, the very kind of people most likely to be victims of racism according to an obsolete, jaundiced view of this country come here in large numbers.
I know five personally, four Africans and a West Indian who is an executive chef. He hardly ever flies “home.” One African has a college degree and earns a lot of money right here. Another has an advanced degree and performs stellar scientific research of a nature he could only do in a handful of other countries, none in Africa or in the Caribbean. The third is an extraordinary musician, excellently trained in his country of origin, and whose creativity demonstrates that he has obviously overcome his training. The fourth is another musician, a very young man who may be leading a disreputable life as I write. All four are Africa-born, aliens; all four remain in this country at considerable cost and or risk to themselves. None of the Africans ever complains of American racism except sometimes in the presence of African-Americans, of black people born in the US of American parents (Go figure!)
Of course, they would not complain in my presence because they suspect I keep my robes in the back of my pickup truck. No, that couldn’t be, I am a Republican; the KKK was entirely Democrat!
PS : I used to enjoy occasionally at the gym listening to a mean, swarthy complexioned man on MSNBC. Alas Martin Bashir is gone! I wonder how long it will take MSNBC to find another dark-skinned man with an affected English accent and a potty mouth.
* Dear overseas readers: Feel free to ask questions about vocabulary and idioms. (The “idioms,” the idiot is someone else though.)
** The source for this number will remain a secret for the time being. The source for the other numbers is the US Census 2010.
Notes On Liberty 
Haha. So in addition to getting your facts wrong, indeed from getting caught for pulling your facts out of thin air after (falsely) accusing several of us for doing so here on this blog, you have crafted a hastily-built straw man for all to see. Observe:
I’m not a “liberal” (but really, see Rick’s recent post on this term) and I don’t purport to speak for an entire political quadrant, but I’m 99.8% certain that Leftists don’t believe “black immigration” is a disturbing fact that utterly devastates the (very real) critique of racism in the US.
This could have been a fascinating, well-reasoned post if you had taken a less combative approach to it. For instance, you could have apologized for being so wrong and for relying upon made-up facts before asking: “Do Africans and blacks from the Caribbean migrate to the US in significant numbers? If so, what are the sociological implications of such a wave?” or something along these lines.
Instead, you’ve stepped in caca and unknowingly tracked it through the house, much to the chagrin of everyone else.
Well, Brandon, I will certainly take your lesson to heed and try to become a better person all-around.
Your attempt at teaching manners shows a wonderful sense of humor. Saying, “I may have been wrong” on a minor point is apologies enough, I think. I am not sure I was wrong anyway; I just got tired of looking for the reference. I am mostly guilty of ignoring sacred cliches of the Left, I think. Note, that I did not have to do anything about that unreferenced statement. It was quite gracious of me to re-open this minor chapter, I would think.
Yet, I am a little confused : Of course, my remarks concerning liberal pessimism had nothing to do with you . They referred to Prof. Terry and his band of old maids. I don’t know why you would quarrel with me on this. Are you protecting him (that would make some sense from a humanitarian standpoint)? Or are you rejecting my representation of liberals as hating good news? (That would make no sense at all.)
Jacques observes the not-so-obvious:
Why, thank you. I like to think of myself as the funniest man I know.
You are still avoiding the main issue, which is, unfortunately for you, whether or not your assertion that “about half” of all black people in the US have zero slave ancestry is true (or close to true).
I have my issues with Leftists, but as a libertarian I also have issues with conservatives. Most members of both groups seem much to eager to flock to banners that are factually dubious to begin with. I think this is because of ideological zeal, of course, but I can never be too sure.
Owning up to one’s mistakes is often a good indicator of zealousness and lack thereof.
Your characterization of Leftists as despisers of good news is a good one, and your musings on African and Caribbean immigration into the US have fertile merit, but I think that in your quest to tarnish the credibility of your enemies you have inadvertently made yourself look like a cuckoo bird. I don’t need to accuse you of lying on this matter, directly or otherwise. Idolaters have no need to lie. Their beliefs are often enough to carry them to an imaginary glory.
By the way, are the black-skinned immigrants from the Caribbean not descendants of slaves as well? Did I miss a huge influx of migrants from Africa to the Caribbean sometime in the past 100 years?
@ Dr. Pinocchio
It no longer surprises me when you make up factoids, what does still surprise me is when you do it unnecessarily. As far as I can tell the nature of your argument was/is…There is no racism in the US because lots of black people emigrate to the US and they wouldn’t come to the US if there was racism. I think that was your argument. Let’s set aside the quality of your logic for the moment.
Your fictitious factoid was [apparently] meant to emphasize the large number of black immigrants. Actual facts would’ve been better. My quick & dirty research showed a bit less than a million immigrants from Africa during 1965-2007, 3.3% of total immigration. Substantially less from the West Indies. While 3.3% might seem too small to suit you a million or so people is nothing to sneeze at. The quality of your logic would not have been improved by actual facts but the few remaining shreds of your credibility would not have taken another hit.
The real puzzle is why your snippet shows up in a post on income inequality and redistribution. It doesn’t add anything to what you had to say.
@Brandon
Thank you for protecting me from Dr. Pinocchio. Without your shielding I’m sure I’d be spammed with more ‘good news’ about what a rousing foreign policy success the invasion of Iraq gave us. You’re a true humanitarian.
Well, I am grateful for all your lessons.
Of course, Terry: The influx of immigrants with African ancestry into this country proves the continuing virulence of racism in America.
I said earlier when I was correcting myself:
“Black immigrants are a significant group in the United States—more than 3 million people comprising 8 percent of the U.S. foreign-born population….”
My source may have derailed me again.
It’s the Center for American Progress: “ Progressive ideas for a strong, just and free America.” (2013)
Brandon: I have already requested that you don’t call me or anyone a liar in however indirect a form. Thank you.