I guess that is one thing I don't agree with - while I respect your opinion about "taking care of your own", I just don't subscribe to it, myself. What is the definition of "our own"? I think it is those arbitrary divisions we put up that are at the very root causes of what we are trying to break-down. Nationalism is a social construction, nothing "real" or substantial (in my opinion). Yes, I may get lots of angry remarks for that statement, but as a political scientist I have studied so many cases of wars, famine, etc are fought solely on nations ideals of "taking care of their own", yet no one seems to really know what that is. So, I can't agree that we should take care of "our own" first before "looking elsewhere" - as citizens of developed nations we have the priviledge of being able to offer these children homes - wherever they happened to be born.
And yes, while AA are obviously tied to Africa culture and heritage - there are also ties to the Caribbean (New Orleans), etc - which again can be traced back to Africa - but can't we all? My point was more that we were drawn to SA culture and history in an inexplicable way, despite having travelled in many parts of the world. So when we teach our kids about their heritage we do it with tons of enthusiasm (maybe too much sometimes?)
And while canada does not have the same history of racism - I also disagree that most blacks are from the west indies - actually the majority are from Northern Africa (Somalia, Ethiopia) and many from SSAfrica. And yes, as our cities get bigger there are many issues arising with race, especially around boys and men...sad but true. We also have a lot of racial tensions and very sad situations with our Aboriginal population...and so much racism.
When it comes right down to it, genetically we are all 99.99% the same - yup, almost NO difference genetically between whites, blacks, hispanics, Asians, etc...which leaves very little room for difference. I tell our son that we are all shades of brown (his daddy is the lightest being Dutch - so really he is pink!, I am medium brown - being part native, and he is darker brown).
Anyways, not sure where all this is going - love to hear more of what others think!