A few points. Of course my experience does not invalidate yours or anyone else’s. Why would you even think that?

To be fair, even the experience of black immigrants will be different from that of native born African Americans.

I am interested in all types of people, black people included. I’ve read black authors like Zora Neale Hurston, who I think is extraordinary, particularly given her life story. I also loved Maya Angelou when I was a kid, and went to hear her speak when I lived in South Carolina. I’ve read many biographies and histories of black people. The first one was of Mary McLeod Bethune, but I’ve read many others and was in fact chastised on this site for mentioning I admired things about Malcom X.

When my parents moved to America, Indians were not considered “model minorities”. My Dad spoke with a heavy Indian accent and was dark skinned and experienced a lot of prejudice because of it. Most people had never seen an Indian person and there was a lot of ignorance and misinformation. I remember in school kids told me that they’d heard Indians never cut our hair, we ate monkey brains (thank you Indiana Jones) and so on.

In my post, I was talking about my experience in the Upper Midwest. This was not a slave holding area of the country. The black people in this area, by and large, IMMIGRATED there. During the Great Migration, many African Americans left the American South for the Midwest. More recently, Somali immigrants and others have arrived there.

If you are not interested in my experiences or those of other non-black people, whether Chinese or white or Latino, no big deal. Not everyone is fascinated by other cultures. But you shouldn’t try to silence their voices. I personally think we can learn much from listening to ALL stories. This is my own personal preference, though and I would not push it on anyone.