In a declining economy, African-Americans appear..

i don't care what they think and i never get too comfy with them to get bamboozled. 

I think cultural assimilation and acculturation are essentially the same

If not, that's how I meant it

Unless you're talking about assimilating through miscegenation?   Wow, a deeper topic, my mercy touchy but so relevant. Hard to address without strong afrocentricity in place first 

I was describing a preference for acculturation whereas it seems that what actually happened was assimilation ... how heart rending.   Luckily full assimilation isn't possible due to our skin color, we can hold onto vestiges although now they've been distorted

I wish we had a rolling panel of scholars researching these topics with the goal of breaking down what happened and how and strategies for rebuilding our culture, in modern terms our "brand"

Hmmm