This is some amusing stuff. Predictable, but, still amusing. First as usual, some folks trot out their imagined "African friends" to pretend they're not racist and to rhetorically beat Black Americans over the head with the supposed success of their "friends". All the while referring to certain Black Americans as primates!

Anyway, the "success" canard is just a way some have of saying "you're not like those other niggas". "We like you. you're "different". This usually means they are socially pleasant and have nice foreign accents. Insofar as success goes, the really funny thing is that there are numerous successful Black Americans in every field imaginable. The success angle is just an attempt to "split" Blacks into good niggas and bad niggas. This odd premise rests on the notion that foreign born blacks are generally more successful (whatever that means) as compared to Black Americans because they have ceratin qualities (e.g. moral and social) that most Black Americans lack. When I see this, I wonder do those people who hold this view actually know any Black people other than their "special friends". Most American born blacks are extremely chruch going working class people who work hard and tend to be socially, though not politically, conservative. I suspect certain people define Black based on the folks on "Cops", "Six O Clock" local news and "BET/MTV" videos.

Also, the talked about, but not measured, success comparison is flawed. If you take into account the population sizes involved (the much larger American born black population versus the non-American born black population) such anecdotal comparisons are meaningless. And Horatio Alger mythology aside, most of the immigrants being dicussed tend to come from the higher echelon (financial, education, etc.) of their respective societies. Menning it's not like the majority of them are coming staight from the slums of wherever to be "successful" here.

About the article, what's interested me aside from it's stange placement as a Front Page story, is that her son's embrace of current hip-hop culture is something that required a switch to private school. Does she think she is "saving" him by taking him out of that culture? I guess she might not understand how utterly mainstream that culture is now. It's as mainstream and apple pie as the materialism, violence and anti-woman attitudes that some of it's music promotes. But since hip-hop is equated with Blacks it becomes a "what's the problem with Black people" issue rather than a general societal issue. Rap on the whole is 30 years old. The current hip-hop inspired uniform of baggy pants, sneakers and generally loose fitting clothing, is standard male teenager casual wear. The notion that she is getting him away from that and hip-hop culture in general by shipping him off to private school is odd. After all, who do you think are buying all those Tupac, Eminem, Snoop, 50cent and Jay Z cds? Do you think those guys (including Tupac's estate) became millionaires strictly selling to the 'hood? I don't think so. Well, I guess he'll dress better during school hours.

Sorry about the typos folks. The rigorous high school application process...lol

Oh please, you've just proved the point I was making. Namely, that people like you use your "friends" as cultural leverage and weapons against "other" blacks. There are plenty of non-immigrant blacks who share your supposed values. What, couldn't find any? Or are they all just valueless urban ghetto dwellers? I guess it's just much more exotic and romantic to go on about Lost Boys and whatnot. Also, while the "Lost Boys" are an exception, my general point still stands. Most non-American black immigrants tend to be from the upper strata of their respective societies.

Well, when I hear folks like you talk about how well your "friends" are doing in comparison to other blacks, I wonder how do you know? After all, your special brand of friendship apparently doesn't extend to other blacks so how do you know how well they are doing in school or life in comparison? Media? Rumors? Assumptions? It seems like you just write them off as urban ghetto dwelling criminals who live to taunt/harass/beat their betters. Even if you limit it to your school, how do you know how well the "others" are doing in school and life and does it make sense to compare the performance of a dozen people to hundreds or thousands of others?

What's really annoying though is the lumping together of people from say, Mozambique, Cape Verde, Ghana, Liberia, Kenya, Nigeria, Senegal, Ethiopia, Jamaica, Trinidad, Haiti, Guyana and so on into a single race based cultural group and using the success of some of those folks, as immigrants here, as not only proof that they share your "values" but that others of their race don't share those values.

Is there anyopne here saying that her concern for her son's welfare is racist? My only comment about the article itself was that she won't escape hip-hop culture, and her son's embrace of it, by moving him somewhere else because it's mainstream, not just black, culture. The rest of my letters dealt with the racist nonsense others here were spouting. Insofar, as academic success being labeled white, like ebonics before, that's more hoopla than reality. It gets everybody preaching, but if you look at indicators like SAT scores for example, you can see there's been a continuous improvement and I'm optomistic for the future. Baggy pants, Rap, whatever, the kids will be alright.

While the article was certainly genuine and heartfelt, I think I can hear grandparents of a certain age letting out a few karmic chuckles about it. Talk about what goes around comes around... As you state, similar dire feelings and predictions were tossed around about rock.