Conscious Dissemblance

Me and my captain don't agree

But he don't know, ‘cause he don't ask me

He don't know he don't know my mind

When he sees me laughing

Laughing to keep from crying

Got one mind for white folk to see

Another for what I know is me.

—Unknown Laborer

In this chapter, the authors expound on how sub-Saharan African immigrants deal with and recreate new transnational identities by discussing some trends of behavior that seem to be used to deal with critical identity issues. Here the authors explore a variety of strategies—from assimilation, integration, and compromising to adapting and reevaluating their ways of thinking and behaving to the American context—adopted by sub-Saharan African immigrants for coping with racism and discrimination based on skin color, language, specifically accent, the transnational dimension of place of origin and other intersecting identities. This chapter also deals with the difficult reality of the lack of validation that many immigrants feel in the United States.

As sub-Saharan African immigrants, we come with our own understanding and definition of success, and we also bring our communities’ and families hopes and aspirations for success. We do everything that America says one needs to do to succeed, but there are so many impediments and outside forces to that success. To fit in and become as American as we can, we go to such extremes, including bleaching our skins and straightening our hair. And yet even that is not enough. We also come possessing a high level of self-esteem and confidence in our cultures and values demonstrated in our fashion and food. However, this does not last long.