Harlem, New York (SaharaReporters) — Like many other recent immigrant groups, Africans come to New York City to work, live or settle-down for good, some learning by trial and error about, how to maneuver in the system to access services and resources.
Harlem, New York (SaharaReporters) — Like many other recent immigrant groups, Africans come to New York City to work, live or settle-down for good, some learning by trial and error about, how to maneuver in the system to access services and resources.
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With the growing, large African, immigrant community in Harlem, mostly West African-born and a smaller number from other regions of the continent, Africans in Harlem are the second largest group after Latinos, making up 23 percent of the immigrant population in Central Harlem.
With such rising numbers, African community leaders recognize that families and individuals—especially vulnerable groups that include women and children—face unique obstacles when it comes to accessing resources on account of cultural or language barriers. As a result, community leaders have become more proactive, partnering with City officials and agencies to bring information to their members.
One such event took place on February 28 when the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office joined with the Association of Senegalese of America (ASA) and the New York City Council of African Imams at the Adam Clayton Powell State Office Building in Harlem. The forum, in English and French, brought together over 40 city agencies and organizations for an audience of over 200 people.
Papa Setté Drame, the president of Association of Senegalese (ASA), and Imam Souleimane Konaté, head of the NYC Council of African Imams, urged diverse African communities from Senegal; Gambia; Guinea; Mauritania; Ivory Coast; Mali; Uganda; Nigeria; Liberia; Ghana; Burundi; Niger; Togo; Congo; and many other countries; to ask questions in order to obtain the information necessary for empowering their communities.
Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance, jr. said that his office is hosting a series of programs to specifically target the growing African immigrant population. “The Manhattan District Attorney’s Office, along with your partners in the city and law enforcement agencies, community organizations, and the African community, is committed to empowering immigrant communities and families with tools and information to [prevent] fraud,” Vance said.
As faith is at the center of African life, Father Evariste Ouedraogo from Burkina Faso, who heads the Church of the Holy Name of Jesus; and Imam Konate, an Ivorien from Masjid Aqsa (Aqsa mosque), offered prayers for the interfaith audience. Both of them urged the crowd to not only use the information but also share it with those in their respective communities who were not able to attend.
The topics covered included: issues that affect victims of crime; education; and resources and services available to the African community; including translation and language services. Speakers talked about the roles of different government agencies; what to do when one is a victim of a crime, especially immigration crimes; how to use 311, as opposed to 911 to access City services, or when and how to access the police department, if necessary.
Konaté, addressing the crowd, said, “We Africans, we are here to stay. We are not going anywhere. Let’s integrate and be civically engaged.”
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He said he recognized the belief of solving problems in-house as a commonality that cuts across many African cultures, instead of going outside the community to seek help. “That’s our culture, we want to solve things inside first.” He pointed out that while that may be helpful in some cases, it is sometimes necessary to reach outside in order to strengthen and empower their communities from the inside.
Mr. Vance observed that new immigrants are often victims of fraud, especially immigration fraud, because they do not understand how the system works, explaining, “Which is why it is important for law enforcement and city agencies to reach out to our growing immigrant communities and make them aware of available services, programs and resources.”
Africans who come from diverse geographic, linguistic and socio-economic backgrounds may not know how to access free resources, which are afforded to all New Yorkers. Due to unique barriers, vulnerable groups like the undocumented—more commonly known in most African communities as someone “with no papers”—may be afraid or unwilling to reach out for help or report a crime for fear of deportation, thereby making them easy targets of fraud. District Attorney Vance stated that his office is reaching out to these individuals to make them aware that the office is not immigration and will work with everyone to help them access resources for their families and solve cases if they are victims of crime, regardless of their immigration status.
When SaharaReporters asked why it was important for the African community, particularly women and girls, to attend this event, Vance said that the number of Africans is growing and his office working on outreach efforts to make sure these new communities are strong and healthy. He added, “That’s why we created a Community Affairs Bureau in our office, who day in and day out, with Famod Konneh [from Liberia], who talk to African communities about how to protect themselves, immigration fraud and domestic violence.”
He said that some are victims of crime and may not have the confidence to report the crimes because they don’t know where to turn. “As for women and children, the reality is that so many victims are vulnerable in the case of domestic violence. This is not a crime that some people are comfortable reporting. They are concerned about the relationship. They are concerned about their own safety. The most dangerous part of a domestic violence relationship is when victim is exiting and it is our job to speak to community of women and children, where they can go for help; how they can get help; and have an exit plan on how to protect themselves. Women and children are often suffering in silence and we have to, at events like this, be the vehicle and explain how to get help,” Mr. Vance explained.
Like other immigrant communities, African communities are noticing that some youth are going into child protective services or NYC Administration of Children’s Services (ACS) in when cases of domestic violence or instability occur at home. District Attorney Vance told SaharaReporters that circumstances can get very hard, especially for new immigrants who don’t understand the system, adding, “There is obviously a very difficult situation when the government has determined that the child needs protective services. Obviously the family can be restored as long as it is done safely [If children are removed from home due to domestic violence situation]. It is not desired to separate families but someone has to step in for interest of children.”
Mr. Vance further explained that his office helps domestic violence victims who are in abusive relations. “Audrey Moore [Special Victims Bureau] and Jeanine Launay [Domestic Violence Unit] are representing interests of women who are victims of domestic violence. Most of the time, we are helped by our federal partners. Most of the time, these crimes that occur—assaults, sexual assaults and harassments—it is really the DA’s Office, the prime agency that takes cases to court. And many of them are very serious and we are trying to reconcile families,” District Attorney Vance said.
Resiliency and Resistance in the African Community
Mr. Vance said that African communities, like many other new immigrant groups, are reaching out for information but at times may also be insulated because they are new to their surroundings.
“There is both resiliency and resistance from the African community. People who are in the U.S who come from a different culture, particularly undocumented individuals, are afraid to come forward. I think you heard the police department and other agencies who said people should feel confident to come forward and their documented status [immigration] is not relevant to how they are treated as a victim. If someone is here from a foreign country, there is a natural resistance,” he said.
While the District Attorney admitted that there may be fear of police, he said, “Ultimately these kinds of meetings are here to break down barriers to demonstrate that the District Attorney and his staff will come to the community directly and gather agencies—religious and cultural institutions— to explain, despite those resistances, and these people [DA staff and city agencies] are here to help.”
Inevitably, a question came up about the high-profile sexual assault case of the French politician Dominique Strauss-Kahn and the Guinean-born maid Nafissatou Diallo, which District Attorney Vance handled, but in which the charges were later dropped.
Mr. Vance said that he had answered all the questions about the case in the court papers he filed. “No disrespect intended. We are prosecutors who are obliged to make decisions based on the law and the facts as we do in every case. It is so important for us to look beyond a single case.”
The District Attorney emphasized that the DSK case was one of thousands of cases that his office processed. “Many of those cases that are so important, you don’t pay attention to. I invite you to our courtroom. I invite you any day of the week where our communication folks can demonstrate to you the hundreds of cases that are tried by our office and I think it is important when you focus on the single case that you focus on the context of the work of our office. The fact that you are here tonight, everyday we are achieving convictions on rapes, assaults. In response to your question, I think I have said enough. I really urge you to come and see the work we do,” he concluded.
Jeanine Launay, Deputy Chief of the Domestic Violence Unit in the District Attorney’s Office, said that their office is willing to do workshops in schools, churches, mosques or any other meeting place. “We also go wherever we need to go to speak about what domestic violence looks like. In terms of programs from men to prevent them to go down the right path, there’s one agency that helps men to get educated,” she said.
Launay reiterated that domestic violence is not unique to any group, and is a growing concern for many groups across the City, and urged audience members to speak out against the problem.
Since some individuals may be coming from countries where domestic violence is not properly prosecuted or is culturally accepted due to unequal gender roles and dynamics, the office offers education workshops to help both men and women to rethink how they approach the topic of domestic violence, Luanay said, stressing,“The goal is the educate both men and women that this is a crime, about what healthy relationship looks like to keep families and children in the African community together and healthy.”
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