African-Americans and African immigrants in Harlem
Breaking Down the Black Myth is a 7 minutes short film of how, Harlem a bastion of African American cultural renaissance is slowly transforming into a less homogeneous place with the arrival and growing numbers of continental African immigrants.
The population of African immigrants in the United States is growing at a fast rate. Approximately 50,000 (since 1990) Africans enter the United States every year which incidentally is greater than at any of the peak years during the slave trade. The relatively large numbers of Africans has brought their cultural “ways” to mainstream America. A large proportion of African immigrants tend to be better educated than most race groups in America and are generally seen by white America as less “troublesome” and less “obsessed” with race issues.
The film explores the sort of intra communal suspicions that usually come about as the demographics of an area changes and the ”indigenous” start feeling the need to defend their cultural heritage.
As the narrator in the film states “the definition of black culture is shifting as more African immigrants make Harlem their home”. The narrator asks – Are African Americans and Africans making social and cultural connections? or are the differences too wide to connect?
Meet Thelma – Ghana, Boima – Sierra Leone, Jackie – Polish/Southern African, Ray – African American as they talk about and explore some of the misconceptions that African and African Americans have of each other.