There's always been tension between African Americans and Africans. Nothing new. From an anecdotal perspective having grown up around a lot of Africans (including an actual African princess/queen/whatever!) I often found them to be rather condescending to African Americans. A constant sense of "I've been here for 10 years and have achieved xzy, what's your excuse for being a fuck up."
I grew up in a pretty Cosby-esque type situation as a teen. Most of the black people I knew were doctors, dentists, lawyers, etc. I was homeschooled at the time, and this was also around the time the city I lived in was debating a pretty interesting racial issue. High tax base area, good schools, lots of opportunities...yet there was still a pretty big achievement gap between black and white students. Despite them being in virtually the same tax bracket/neighborhood. I remember being a kid and listening as my parents and other black parents debated the issue. Was it racism, was it the teachers, was it the tests, etc. The other dynamic was that the African kids were scoring similarly to white kids.
Today the gap
has begun to close, and it's not as big of a topic. This is again just an anecdote, but when I was a teen the African parents I knew were significantly more strict than African American parents, in terms of education; limited TV/music, summer camps, limited sports, etc. My parents weren't as strict as the African parents, yet were more strict than the African American parents we knew. Like, by a long shot. I can't sit here and say all or most African American parents are like that, but I do wonder if that was a part of the issue. I don't think it was simply racism...because as I said, the African kids were doing really well.
