"Off to a Running Start"

The striking contrast between the disappointing economic achievements of American blacks and the progress made by immigrants is commonly attributed to racism. But the discrepancy is also evident when native-born blacks are compared with black immigrants from the West Indies and Africa. Because color is not a factor, such comparisons have fueled a sometimes acrimonious debate about the varying effects of race, class and culture on economic success in the U.S.

Immigrants from Barbados, Jamaica, Trinidad and the Bahamas have been coming to the U.S. in significant numbers since the turn of the century, but in the past 15 years there has been an even stronger surge. From 1961 to 1970, 134,000 immigrants arrived from the West Indies. From 1971 to 1980, that number more than doubled. The number of African blacks coming to the U.S. has also doubled, from 7,000 in 1976 to 15,000 last year. Since 1969 blacks from the West Indies and Africa have accounted for slightly less than 10% of all immigration to the U.S. As a group, these newcomers have already surpassed the living standard of native American blacks.

West Indians have long produced a disproportionate share of black American success stories. Their average family income is now 40% higher than that of all blacks in the U.S., and the percentage who are professionals (9%) is equal to that of native-born blacks. Says Dr. Asa Hilliard, an educational psychologist at Georgia State University: "Immigrants from the Caribbean are, overwhelmingly, the most successful black immigrant group, both politically and economically."

The accomplishments of the West Indians are often attributed to historical and cultural advantages. Economist Thomas Sowell notes that West Indian slaves, unlike their American counterparts, were assigned individual plots of land for their own crops, a process that fostered business experience denied to American blacks. A cohesive cultural identity, explains Hilliard, endowed them with "an inbred orientation for success." According to a recent study, West Indians who have moved to the U.S. retain an ethnic self-awareness and, partly out of a feeling of superiority, tend to socialize mainly among themselves rather than with native American blacks.

The West Indian passion for education, a legacy of British rule, also seems to give them a head start in the U.S. Says Derrick Hoo, who worked to put himself through college and then law school after immigrating to the U.S. from Jamaica in 1961: "When you come here, you're off to a running start because you have a more solid educational background." According to Harvard Sociology Professor Orlando Patterson, who traces his ancestry to Jamaica, schooling and university degrees are more highly prized among West Indian immigrants than native-born blacks.

American blacks tend to be skeptical of West Indians' achievements and resentful of their sometimes haughty attitude. They believe that West Indians are not as likely to be the target of American racism. Says Robert Hill, a Jamaican who is an assistant professor of history at UCLA: "There is a feeling among whites that the West Indians are not part of the black-white quarrel here."

Like the Koreans, African blacks seem intent on capitalizing on every economic opportunity. Their average income has already surpassed that of blacks born in this country.

The disparities between the success rates of immigrant blacks and members of America's black underclass, Sowell and others have argued, suggest that racism may not be the sole factor in explaining the problems of blacks in the U.S. At least in the case of black immigrants, the traditional advantages offered by class and culture seem to enable them to move more easily into the ranks of the black middle class.