Black Identities: West Indian Immigrant Dreams and American Realities Paperback - 2001

West Indian immigration to the United States is considered a success story. Many of these adoptive citizens have prospered, most notably General Colin Powell. But in this book Mary Waters tells a very different story about immigrants from the West Indies, especially their children. She finds that when the immigrants first arrive, their knowledge of English, their skills and contacts, their self-respect, and their optimistic assessment of American race relations smooth their integration into the American economic structure. Over time, however, the realities of American race relations begin to swamp their positive cultural values. Persistent, blatant racial discrimination soon undermines their openness to whites. Discrimination in housing channels them into neighborhoods with inadequate city services and high crime rates. Inferior public schools frustrate their hopes for their children's future. Low wages and poor working conditions are not attractive to their children, who apply American and not Caribbean standards to measure success. Ultimately, the values that gained these first-generation immigrants their initial success -- willingness to work hard and to ignore racism, a desire for education, an incentive to save -- are undermined by their experience in the United States. In many families, the hard-won relative success of the parents is followed by the downward slide of their children. Contrary to long-held beliefs, Waters finds, those who resist Americanization are more likely to succeed economically, especially in the second generation.