In an odd and poorly understood way, African Americans often view Africans in either one of two polarized ways. For some of these African Americans, they view Africans with an air of indifference, superiority, and disdain. Other African Americans view Africans as estranged brothers and sisters and joins hands with them in solidarity against white supremacy in the United States.

Africans, on the other hand, often view African Americans in either one of two polarized ways too. Africans either embrace African Americans as estranged brothers and sisters or see them as an embarrassment to the African continent. As far as this latter view is concerned, the Africans who adopt it make an emphatic effort not to be identified as African American and prefer to assimilate, via bootstrapping, into white America socially, economically, etc.