I like the way she opened the piece at a beauty salon because that's where many blacks feel comfortable sharing issues and starting a dialogue, i.e. Beauty Shop and Barber Shop-two popular movies that feature both blacks and africans.

One of the reviewers felt the piece was all over the place. I disagree. The fact that he could so vividly remember the points he highlighted shows the piece was somewhat memorable. There were a few technical problems and I agree the writing could be a bit tighter but overall she makes some very important cultural observations. These are issues that aren't spoken about much in the mainstream-just behind closed doors. The dirty little secret is everyone harbors certain prejudices and stereotypes -the bravery comes in talking about them and trying find some common ground. A piece like this is important because it gets us talking. I wonder how many people know about the tension between these two groups? As the reporter suggests there's a temptation to group all blacks together because they share the same skin color. We need more pieces that explore issues of race on the radio--and gosh not just during black history month.

Nice job.

At the base of the issue explored in this piece is who is an 'African American'. African immigrants to this country are African Americans. But they come from completely different places and cultural backgrounds than American born African-Americans, even though, as this piece points out, the broader culture/politics of the United States does not necessarily distinguish between them because of the color of their skin. This piece explores the tension around affirmative action, for example, and we hear from students about their thoughts about who should benefit from these programs and who should not. This is a well reported exploration of the tensions between African immigrants and African Americans--looking at many aspects, from the individual, to the political to the psychological. This piece should make listeners think about how they define themselves in the multi-cultural/immigration culture of the United States. It will also challenge assumptions, made by all people, about categorizing people based on the color of their skin, instead of looking at their cultural or historical background and experiences.