Growing up in Nigeria, Lillian Obiara and her peers idolized aspects of black America -- the vibrant culture, the dynamic music, and the movie and sports personalities they saw on TV. Some of Obiara's girlfriends dreamed that one day they might marry an African American.
But when Obiara finally came to the United States less than two months ago to pursue a nursing degree, she was dismayed by the lack of knowledge about Africa, the insulting comments about the way Africans live, and the hostility she encountered from some black Americans.
"Before I came, I thought that since they are black-skinned like us, they would be more open," said Obiara, 26 and a resident of Long Beach. "The reality here is very different. The whites are more receptive than the blacks."
Obiara's views are not uncommon among many of Southern California's 80,000-plus immigrants from sub-Saharan Africa -- the majority from Ethiopia, Nigeria and Ghana.
Relations between African immigrants and African Americans pose a paradox.
Many African Americans feel an emotional and spiritual attachment to Africa. Some give their children African names -- Kwame, Kofi, Hakeem -- often employing elaborate African rituals. Weddings in which the bride and groom don ornate traditional attire, often a melange of costumes from across the continent, have grown in popularity.
Ethnic arts and crafts gathered from a growing number of festivals and fairs celebrating Africa's creative talent fill the homes of many African Americans, and trips to Africa by black Americans are becoming increasingly common.
Neighborhood Party
On Sunday, scores of Africans joined by some African Americans celebrated the first anniversary of the designation of one Los Angeles neighborhood -- a busy hub of businesses on a strip of Fairfax Avenue between Pico and Olympic boulevards -- as "Little Ethiopia."
As restaurants, shops and stalls sold traditional Ethiopian food, hawked T-shirts with the country's insignia and promoted trips to Africa, organizers said the celebration was designed to embrace black people from the diaspora as well as promote local businesses.
"We are trying to reach out to all African nations and to African Americans, anyone of African descent," said Anteneh Demelash, 24, a college student and one of the organizers.
Demelash, who emigrated from Addis Ababa, the Ethiopian capital, nine years ago, said young people were key to bridging the cultural divide between Africans and black Americans.
