African Times Editor Explains His Comments

Thank you for the opportunity you gave me to be interviewed and quoted in your feature article “A Continental Divide” (July 10).

However, I would like to correct some inaccuracies, especially as it regards comments credited to me.

At no time did I say that “the hard-work ethic that Africans share with immigrants fosters resentment among some black Americans, who see black foreigners succeeding while they are not. . . . But the elite stereotype adds to the mutual distrust that’s already there.”

All I said is that African immigrants who come to America share the same survivalist immigrant mentality like other immigrants in the United States such as the Latinos, Koreans, Japanese, Chinese, etc., who have to work harder than the average American to survive. And that this does not in anyway mean that immigrant Africans work harder than African Americans.

Words such as resentment and elite were never used in my discussions with your reporter.

The African Times was also wrongly characterized as a “community newspaper for Africans living in Los Angeles.” The African Times is a national, biweekly Pan-African newspaper with bureau offices in Washington, New York, Atlanta and San Francisco. It is also distributed in select markets in Africa.

C. CHARLES ANYIAM

The writer is editor-in-chief of the African Times.