A House with Two Rooms - The Advocates for Human Rights

money home right away can also lead Liberians to get the first job that comes their way regardless of
its relevance to their professional skills. One interviewee noted:
When I got here, I was forced by the people I was stopping with to go into
the nursing home because there was this notion that this is where you make
the money. Every time I left work I was sick. I was lucky to have a professor
who talked to me and actually asked me what I had done for a profession
in Africa, and then she helped steer me to other training. I was able to get
a job…that was actually related to what I had done in Liberia because I had
that help, but hardly anyone does. 370
Statement givers also report, however, that educational and employment opportunities that were not
available to them in Liberia can be pursued in the United States, and that many have moved to
mainstream careers after graduating from high school, obtaining a GED, 371 or obtaining associate,
undergraduate, or graduate degrees from U.S. colleges and universities. Careers cited by statement
givers include, but are not limited to, law and medicine, 372 nursing, 373 home health care, 374 business
owner, 375 security services, 376 and restauranteur. 377 One statement giver, a former child soldier,
observed that, had he remained in Liberia, his only option would have been to become a farmer. 378
Another young Liberian woman in California noted that she has just completed her LPN degree and
she sees herself as a more empowered woman than she would have been had she stayed in Liberia. 379
African American – African Race Relations in the United States
Immigrants from any non-white background often confront for the first time racial discrimination
in the United States. Institutional racism and systemic xenophobia are a longstanding problem in
the United States. Members of the first African diaspora, African Americans, have confronted and
challenged white racism for decades. Although important gains have been made, racism continues to
manifest in acts of discrimination by institutions and private actors. The history of deeply entrenched
racial politics in the United States provides a backdrop for a phenomenon that was often raised by
interviewees and statement givers as a problem in the Liberian diaspora – the negative interactions
between African immigrants and African Americans.
Some Liberians also described unexpected conflicts with African Americans. One Liberian journalist
in Minnesota described his perceptions:
We get this negative look from our African American brothers because there
is this feeling that we came from the jungle and everything is about disease,
violence, and civil war. There is a constant attempt by them to draw a line
of demarcation – there is not a cordial relationship. Even in the classroom
347
Chapter Thirteen