Milton Allimadi is a Ugandan-American, an adjunct professor of African History at John Jay College of the City University of New York (CUNY) and the publisher of New York City-based Black Star News, a Pan-African media outlet. He joins the conversation this week on how cultural identity  impacts race and racism in America.

Diaspora Africans identity is informed by their cultural background and respective countries of origin, hence they identify as Gambian, Liberian, Malian, Ghanaian, Nigerian and so on. But when they arrive in America, they're forced to identify first as black. It is in America that most African immigrants first experience racism without even recognizing it. And it takes a long while for some to be able to discern the covert-coded language of racism. . .  in other words, how can one take offense to something you don't understand.