The 2Nd Migration: Being an Analysis of How and Why Africans Are Migrating to the U.S.A.

Copyright © 2009 by Richard E. Nzeadibe, Ph. D.

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Contents

DEDICATION

PREFACE

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

CHAPTER I

THE FIRST MIGRATION TO U.S.A.

CHAPTER II

DESIRE FOR EDUCATION

CHAPTER III

CAUSE FOR 2ND MIGRATION—SEARCH FOR SAFETY AND SECURITY

CHAPTER IV

SEARCH FOR ECONOMIC WELBEING

CHAPTER V

U.S.A.—THE LAND FOR THE FREE

CHAPTER VI

A DEVELOPED ECONOMY

CHAPTER VII

AMERICA, THE LAND OF ENTERTAINMENT INDUSTRIES

CHAPTER VIII

IMMIGRATION POLICY—LIBERAL AND HUMANE

CHAPTER IX

THE SECOND AFRICAN IMMIGRANTS KEEP THEIR ROOT CHANNEL OPEN:

CHAPTER X

THE PRESENCE OF THE FIRST IMMIGRANTS ATTRACTS THE SECOND

CHAPTER XI

US LEADERSHIP ROLE

CHAPTER XII

CAN THE AFRICAN LEADERS STEM THE TIDE OF IMMIGRATION TO U.S.A.?

CHAPTER XIII

CONCLUSION

DEDICATION

This book is dedicated to the memory of my late wife, Mrs Angeline Adanma Nzeadibe who died on June 6, 1980 at Owerri General Hospital, Imo State, Nigeria.

Even though she is dead and buried, the spirit of co-operation and love she left behind, still binds us together.

PREFACE

Throughout history, humans have moved from one ecology to another in search of security, new life, hope, food and change. Some people moved freely to their new environment with certain objectives in mind. Others moved into new areas, conquered the indigenes and took over their lands. Still, there were those of higher capabilities who moved into new areas, conquered the original inhabitants and moved them to foreign lands against their will.

In this book, however, my objectives are: (1) To analyse the situations which have continued to face the African people to seek to migrate to the U.S.A.; (2) To contrast this movement with the First Migration, otherwise known as the Slave Trade Across the Atlantic Ocean in 17th, 18th and 19th centuries, (3) A close attention will be paid to the process of migration, causes of migration and the effects of migration; and (4) The conclusion may help African authorities and policy makers to decide to move forward in their decisions to develop the continent: this should not be the time for traffic-jam, go-slow, forward never, take time in their development.

Furthermore, in recent times, the distance between Washington D.C. and African capitals, has shrunk drastically both physically and mentally. This is a direct result of science and technology. Not only do Africans come to U.S.A. for a visit, some come to stay. Why?

Armed with my long stay experience in U.S.A., both as a student and as a lecturer in African and European Civilisations, and as a traveller between U.S.A. and Africa, I hope to contribute to some new thinking about the migration of Africans to the United States of America. The idea to write this book first entered my mind in 1967 while I was a graduate student at Howard University in Washington, D.C. and crystalized in 1977 when I left for Nigeria. The Nigeria Civil War was partly responsible for it. This book is for all.

Igbo Kwenu! Kwenu! America Hi! This book is for every immigrant, whether from Africa, Asia, Australia, Latin America and Europe. I hope it will guide us in this 21st Century!

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

This book is a result of more ideas that rushed into me from June 1977 when I returned to Nigeria temporarily leaving my lectureship at Towson State University in Baltimore, Maryland, U.S.A.

I have not done a formal, academic research. But I have observed closely the things I have put down here especially from 1967 when Nigeria/Biafra War started. I have also conversed with my fellow Africans at churches, family meetings and other organisations in U.S.A. I appreciate their ideas.

I am profoundly indebted to my son, Ihi and wife, Ugo, fondly called Enyidia, who provided me a separate and private room in which I can write without disturbance. I know that sometimes they felt I was isolated from them. I did this in order to complete this book.

My thanks also go to my two lovely daughters, Nwangbogho and Nka and their families with whom I exchanged some of my ideas regarding the behaviour (behavior) of my grand-children who are born here.

Some of my conclusions come from the Constitution of the Ubakala Indigenes Association, U.S.A. This association keeps contact with Africa, with Nigeria, with Abia State and with our community, UBAKALA, in particular.

I did a lot of personal reading at the Barnes and Noble Bookstore in Freemont, California, in order to keep my thinking sharp. My gratitudes go to the workers there for their willingness to allow me make use of their store. How much I wished this kind of bookstore be found in Nigeria.

Whatever shortcomings that may be found in this book, should be mine and mine only.

CHAPTER I

THE FIRST MIGRATION TO U.S.A.

(Slave Trade Across The Atlantic)

The African-American History month which comes off every February, reminds us vividly the history of Africans in the New World. Black history unites two continents—North America and African Continent. There is no way it can be swept under the rug. As long as the United States of America exists, the history of the Blacks will continue to echo. It is a history written in blood, in sufferings, in hardship and in treachery. The First Migration, therefore, is the Slave Trade Across the Atlantic Ocean. There is no way one can write about the present migration of African people to the United States of America, without hitting the First. Somehow, somewhere, the two migrations may meet and they are meeting.

The Portuguese were the first Europeans to visit West Africa, the heartland of the Black Race in the 15th century. Geographically, West Africa is a huge territory surrounded in the South and Southwest by the Atlantic Ocean. The northern part was, and still, covered by the sands of the Sahara. The inhabitants speak several indigenous languages like Twi of the Ashanti, Igbo, Yoruba, Hausa and others.

Because of the geolocation of the area, West African climate is very hot in summer even though it rains heavily along the coast from April to November. Dry season is brief—December to March. The area separating the coast from the Sahara is known as the Sahel. Travellers seem to enjoy these parts because of the dryness of the atmosphere. Open and less infested by tse-tse fly, this region provides cattle to the entire West Africa. It is also the home of numerous wildlife, such as leopards, elephants, antelopes, gazzels, grasscutters and snakes.

The humid coastal territory contains plenty of forests and tall trees such as palm tree, coconut tree, raffia palm tree, iroko, mahogany, cotton tree, obeche, redwood tree, ebony and mangrove. Insects abound. One can witness plenty of colourful butterflies, the deadly mosquitoes which were the greatest enemies of the whiteman until 1854 when the cure for malaria was discovered.

When the Portuguese visited the West African Coast early in 15th Century, I believe, they met organized societies. Their first visit was casual because they were on their way to India via the Cape. The Moslems, having taken over the land route to India during the crusades, the Portuguese were resolute in their decision to find an alternative route by the sea to the land of spices. They succeeded.

Several visits were made to the land of the Blacks. They bought ivory, leopard skins, gold and pepper. They made friends out of the Coastal Kings. Evidence of this is found in the Kingdom of Benin in Edo State of Nigeria. The inferior status ascribed to Blackpeople in the 19th century, was entirely strange to the early Portuguese Kings. From the letters exchanged between Benin royals and the Portuguese royals, the international relation was that of equals who addressed themselves as Dear brother so and so. There was no inferiority implied.

Christopher Columbus brought a drastic change in the history of the world when he discovered the New World in 1492. Columbus was an Italian geographer and a traveller who loved adventure. Having learned a lot about the geography of the world from the African-Arabs of North Africa, Columbus decided to sail the Western Atlantic Ocean in order to prove that the world was round. At the time, the African Arabs knew a lot more than the Southern Europeans about the shape of the earth. Armed with the available geographic instruments and some African Arabs, Columbus