Agba Mangalabou, who arrived from Togo in 2002, recalls his surprise when he moved here from Europe. "In Germany, everyone knew I was African," he said. "Here, nobody knows if I'm African or American."

From the New York Times, More Africans Enter U.S. Than in Days of Slavery (a better article than the title intimates). Is is really that hard to appreciate this phenomenon before one moves to the USA? This is one of my favorite things about the States.