Straddling identities: identity cross-pressures on Black immigrants’ policy preferences

ABSTRACTThe rich Black Politics literature suggests that Blacks in the US think about the well-being of their racial group in political decision-making; consequently, Blacks should continue to behave similarly as long as they perceive their life chances as inextricably linked to their racial identity. We suggest that it is becoming increasingly important to examine the centrality of other identities in Black political behavior as the ethnic diversity among Blacks increases with large influxes of African, Afro-Latino, and Afro-Caribbean immigrants. We test the idea that minorities, even Blacks, navigate multiple identities when making political decisions. Findings show that ideas of ongoing unity among Blacks do not square empirically. Although Black immigrants are lumped into a larger Black category, we find that they often differ from African-Americans, even on policies that affect Black immigrants because of their racial group membership. Our findings have major implications for Black politics specifically, but also minority politics broadly, chiefly since our findings concern prospects for inter- and intra-group coalition and conflict.