Abstract:
For many Africans who come to study or to settle in the United States, it is often a shock to realize that far from being issues of the past, racism and sexismarestillverymuchcurrentrealities. Theysoonrealizethevastdifference between espoused values of equality and the lived realities of inequality in spite of the monumental achievements of the civil rights movement and the women’s movement. For many Africans who are trying to make a living, the cost of racism is very high. It entails putting up with much subtle and covert racism; and not talking about it because their positions are not secure. The shock of racism and its attendant marginalization in the United States are unparalleled, because they are not expecting it.
