S1, E10: Immigration, Assimilation and Being an Ally

There seems to be a universal friendly gesture, or hidden code if you will, among Black people here in New Hampshire. It's the eye contact and head nod. Whether shopping for food, weaving through the aisles in Walmart, or sitting in traffic, that head nod means acknowledgment.  

And yet, Black Americans in New Hampshire and across the country aren’t a monolith. Although our roots at some point land in Africa, our roads here to America have been quite different. Mine were through birth, but some took the long road of leaving turbulence in their homeland to wind up here on American soil. There are thriving communities of refugee populations here in New Hampshire. 

Listen as Anthony Payton, host of the Common Ground Initiative, tells his own story and interviews Grace Kindeke, of Manchester, who came to New Hampshire as a child from Democratic Republic of Congo. The two discussed how the African immigrant community and the American-born Black Community have traditionally interacted with each other. 

PODBEAN BOILERPLATE: Anthony Payton is a freelance writer and father living in Manchester. He can be reached at anthony.payton@collaborativenh.org. This story is part of his project, The Common Ground Initiative which aims to highlight the diversity of our communities with stories of people the average Granite Stater might not get to see or meet. The goal is to clarify misconceptions and find the threads that bind us all together as one New Hampshire community.

The podcast is produced by Payton in partnership with The Granite State News Collaborative and the Marlin Fitzwater Center for Communications at Franklin Pierce University.