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NEW YORK, NY July 02, 2004 — Between 1990 and 2000, the number of immigrants from African countries living in New York City more than doubled. Most of these 92-thousand immigrants came from Western Africa and are now settling in predominately black neighborhoods around the city. But having the same skin color doesn't make the transition any smoother. WNYC's Beth Fertig has more.

The African immigrants settling in New York City are coming largely from Nigeria, Ghana, and Senegal. Over the past 20 years they've become a huge presence in Harlem.

On West 116th street, there are hair salons, restaurants and tailor shops all run by immigrants from Senegal.

On a cool summer night, men hang out on the street speaking in the soft sounds of Wolof. But while many Harlem residents say the immigrants have improved the neighborhood by taking over buildings that were once abandoned, relationships aren't always harmonious. The children of these immigrants can rattle off the names they hear from other kids.

GIRL 1: African booty scratcher. Or they would say that I was ugly and I was dark.

GIRL 2: Africa is poor, that everybody is dark skinned, they dirty, they smell, they don't take showers.

FANTA: Like when I was younger they used to call me blackie, you know, I'm burnt from the oven. Like I used to be like the fastest runner. So they used to say I'm used to it because I be chasing lions and tigers and stuff.

That's 18 year old Fanta Toure and two other girls who are part of the Umoja Media Project, a group of African and African American teens who are trying to address these negative stereotypes. They describe a reality that's in plain view in some parts of Harlem.

At a subway stop on 125th Street, female riders leaving the A train are immediately met by African women offering to braid their hair.

WOMEN: Excuse me? Hair braiding miss? Excuse me?

Most people exiting the station ignore the women. Others, like Mary - who didn't want to give her full name - look on with contempt.

WOMAN: It's degrading. It's like prostitutes on the street, that's where they at. Begging let me braid your hair.

Sixteen year-old Daba Diakhate has heard stereotypes before.

DIAHKATE: My friend asked me if I could braid hair. I said I'm just learning but I can't braid hair.

Diakhate is the daughter of immigrants from Senegal. And she says her classmates often make assumptions about her based on what they see in the subways.

DIAKHATE: He said oh, does your mom own a shop. And I'm like no my mom doesn't own a shop. And he's like oh I thought you could braid hair, since all Africans could braid hair because they all have the braiding hair shops.

Daikhate is also part of the Umoja Media Project, a program run by the Harlem Children's Zone. Umoja is the Swahili word for Unity. The group's coordinator Tene Adero Howard says the project started with federal anti-violence money after September 11th, when organizers were concerned about bias incidents against Western Africans, who come from Muslim nations. Since then, she says, Umoja has been brining African immigrants and African Americans together through all forms of communication.

HOWARD: In the central Harlem community West African and African American folks live side by side and there was really a need that we saw that really wasn't being addressed. A need to have open forums, for discussion. A need for places for both people to be able to learn more about each other.

The Umoja Media Project is such a place. Kids talk about what they have in common, like their interactions with police as people of color. They're also upfront about African stereotypes and about how Africans are portrayed on television. Recently, the group made a video.

VIDEO: We are the youth of the Umoja Media Project and violence prevention group

The kids interviewed Africans and black Americans living in Harlem. They asked them for their opinions of one another. They found wariness on both sides.

WOMAN: Languages are different, there is a difference in language. But just common courtesy. You don't have to speak each other's language. WOMAN: English is very hard. I'm still learning. WOMAN: How do you say hello in Wolof? WOMAN: Nanga def. WOMAN: Hello. Hi! Hello. Nanga def. I can deal with that. All you have to do is share and open up tell a person!

The video has been shown to several community groups. Nineteen year old college student Taahir Griffin saw the video. He says he learned a lot about the immigrant perspective from watching it But, he says,

GRIFFIN: It goes both ways. A lot of time Africans don't really see African Americans as being from Africa - you know what I'm saying, they're just American. They're not African American they're just black.

African kids acknowledge these assumptions go both ways. Some of the kids in Umoja admit their parents warned them not to hang out with black Americans fearing they'd get involved in crime.

The conversations in Umoja are giving both sides a better picture of one another.

THIAM: They understand better. The more you live together the more you understand together.

Fifty-five year old Abdullye Thiam is a consultant to the Umoja Media project. When he moved to Harlem from Senegal in the 1980s he was excited about living in the black capital of America. But he says he was often cursed at and told to go back to Africa. Now, he says, with more African shops and businesses he believes things are improving. Abdullye Jufe, a statistician who also immigrated from Senegal, agrees with him.

JUFE: Always the immigrant who came before they think they're entitled to more right than the newcomers, that's natural. I don't see no problem.

In other words, he says, African immigrants are just repeating the same old New York story. Only their challenge is redefining what it means to be an African American. For WNYC I'm Beth Fertig.