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No, but for a few issues. This is based on my experience.First off, it irritates the hell out of me that people say African. Africa is a continent made up of over 50 countries. Nigeria has the most immigrants coming to the U.S.Here is a link to Pew Research: African immigrant population in U.S. steadily climbsI moved to the U.S. when I was 6 after my family won the lottery. In America, people enter the lottery to win a million and a billion dollars, every other country enters lotteries to come to the US. My mom was a teacher and my dad, a principal, both had degrees prior to the move.When we moved to Baltimore in 2000–2001, my mom started working as a nanny, and my dad worked for a year in Virginia at McDonald’s. Household income of $20,000. They refer to the pre-911 days as the glory days when anyone in America could get a job.Boy (me) - 6, Brother (2), Sister (new born/US Citizen), Mom (40ish), Dad (45ish)-2002: mom goes back to college to become a nurse. She would literally walk everyday through all weather about 3 miles to class. Dad gets a job at USPS. After a year, earns enough for a car.-2004: Dad gets a job with the state.-2007/8: Mom gets job as a nurse.-2009: Buys a $380k house, months before the crash. Household income over $100,000. Aunt gets visa to study in the US (I cant remember the specific medical program she is doing).-2010: Grandparents get visa.-2012: Household income over $200,000. $500,000 in investments. Two mansions built in Nigeria, and an apartment complex. Mom is earning $150k.*CIA/FBI interview them, having noticed thousands of dollars being transferred to Nigeria. My parents tell them they are building property in Nigeria.*-2015: Cousin (16 yrs) gets accepted into American university for engineering.-2016: Trump wins, thus further confirming their beliefs about America. Basically what they believe is that America is an idealistic superpower that was built by immigrants, talks about valuing diversity and wants to uplift people. Yet people casted votes for Trump, a man with a long list of dis-qualifiers who was spewed openly racist remarks, instead of for a prestigious, highly educated and qualified person such as Clinton signals to them that America is still and will likely favor those who are white males, and will always discriminate those deemed as “others”.-My brother attends a private high school that costs about $15,000 a year, and will be attending a large university ($35k) on the east coast for dentistry.-Me and my sister tested into a magnet high school which will be featured on Netflix’s House of Cards this year or next. She is pursuing a career in computer science.Growing up, I was always targeted for being born in Africa and having an accent. The thing that baffles me the most is that growing up, I’ve had more negative interactions with black Americans than white Americans or anyone in general. As a few people have noted, you get the ignorant questions of “Do you live in a bush?”, “Are you an African booty scratcher?”, etc, etc.Black people from Africa do like some aspects of black culture, the most adored is the music. What about the food? Not so much, but this is different for each person. Ask a black person from Africa, especially an older one, what they think of how black Americans talk and they will absolutely explode. British English is a what many are taught, so when they move to American and hear black Americans not speaking properly, some really think less of them. When Michael Brown was shot, my family were enraged. Growing up I heard stories of the discrimination that they faced like how racist nursing in America is. Nurses from Africa/black in general get the worst patients while their white counterparts hand pick easier ones for themselves or through workplace politics. Some of my black friends can’t believe I still have a clean driving record and have never had a problem with the police despite getting pulled over driving 30 miles over the speed limit (it was a beautiful day with no traffic) and not having my license on me (forgot it at Planet Fitness). The officer said, if you have a clean record, I’ll let you off with a warning. I got a warning but he followed me for 5 miles before peeling off.A lot of black people from Africa look down on black americans. You were born in AAMMERRRIICAA, Land of Opportunities, and you’re busy wasting your time. *It gets really ugly when people talk freely.* Many simply can’t relate to black Americans, especially when it comes to education and crime. It comes down to this: many people from Africa believe that education is everything and that one should strive to have at least one degree if not more. They believe that you shouldn’t waste your time complaining that the system is rigged because everyone knows and the white American ruling class will never change it. They believe that education and financial independence is the only way black people will be taken seriously in America.Visa Lottery - Applications for U.S. visa lottery more than doubled since 2007*UPDATE*Only one member of my family has been to jail. He was wrongfully convicted for murder that he didn’t commit and served over 20 years. He was released this year after his case was overturned and the state of New York completely exonerated him of all guilt and wrong doing. So in terms of the legal system, black Americans and black people from Africa distrust it.*Check out my blog, Quora Blog which introduces solutions and frameworks to real life problems. My latest post deals with how insurance companies can end kidney shortages.*

In late August of 2012, my wife and I announced that we'd be having our first child in March. We’d known for several weeks and it felt fantastic to finally share the good news with everyone. We had been window-shopping for homes online in preparation for the new addition, and that Saturday we casually attended an open house nearby. A little over twenty four hours later, we were looking at houses with the realtor we’d met at the open house. At the last house we visited, we knew that it was the house we wanted. It was perfect for our family. It was everything we wanted in a first home; three bedrooms, a studio space, a huge back yard, even a well-maintained garden! By the end of the next week, we’d officially reached mutual acceptance with the sellers of the house. We were going to buy our first home! It seemed like everything was going right in our life.In my life, the good and the bad never seem to get evenly spread around. The bad all clumps up together and the good all happens at once. Usually, though, there’s a lot of neutral stuff in between the good and bad sections. This time, however, the bad came screaming in at eighty miles per hour, pulling a trailer, and rear-ended the good.We came out to our car Saturday morning to find that somebody had taken the left front wheel off of our car, slashed the tire, jammed the whole thing under the body of the car, and stolen the lugnuts and hubcap. The policeman tells us he thinks the person was trying to steal the catalytic converter. He tells us that another car in the complex was broken into the same night. He tells us, very politely, that our complex is pretty much a cesspool. “Not to disparage your residence, but we have a lot of problems in that area.”I went in to work the next Monday and went through my day as usual. Mid-afternoon, the CEO and CTO pull me aside (it’s a small startup, so I talk to these guys regularly), and inform me that I’m being laid off. For a few moments, I don’t breath, blink, or move. I get mild tunnel vision, my skin flushes, and I get the dreamy “this can’t be real” feeling because I can’t believe that the worst possible words are coming out of my bosses’ mouths. I go back to my desk, speechless, the dreaminess and tunnel vision still not completely gone. I’m a bit shellshocked. It finally hits me and I head outside to call my wife.At this point, the adrenaline is catching up to whatever brought on the numbness from minutes before, and I’m hyperventilating a little bit. My wife answers and I don’t beat around the bush. “I just got laid off,” I spit out in despair.Now, at this point, let me take a brief moment to explain to you about my wife. She is, without equivocation, the best thing that has ever happened to me. Never in a million years would I have ever guessed that I would find a woman so supportive and loving and kind to be my wife. With that in mind, think of how devastating this news is, not just for me, but for her, and for us. She’s pregnant, we’re about to buy a house, and I’m losing my job. The natural reaction would be for her to start bawling into the phone and screaming or freaking out like I clearly already was. And that reaction would be completely understandable and not something that anybody could hold against her.My wife instead said this, “Jake, it’s going to be ok. Things are gonna be fine. Do you need me to pick you up from the bus?” I told her I had till the end of the week and was going to finish up the work day and then head home at my normal time. We get the most devastating news ever and instead of freaking out with me, she shows immense strength and compassion and tells me that things are going to be ok. Now, I’m sure that as soon as I got off the phone she screamed or bawled or something else, but before all that, she injected some peace into my heart and mind. Helluva lady.I went through the last two hours of my work day in a haze, instant messaging with my coworkers about the layoffs (there were several others as well), and feeling awful about the entire situation. Could I have done something different? Should I have worked harder at finding a new job before this happened? Had I completely let down my wife?I call my parents on the way home, and their sympathy almost makes me break down in tears. Almost. But I keep it together and get on the bus for home. All the way home, my stomach is full of knots. I’m cold and shaky despite the warm weather. And sweaty. I feel sick. I feel like the world is moving a thousand miles an hour around me while I shamble in slow motion home.I get inside, and like usual, our dog is losing her mind with excitement that I’m home. My wife embraces me and I start to lose it again, but clamp back down. She’s in the middle of making dinner, so I let her get back to that and I slump down on the couch and let the dog climb all over me, showing me how happy she is that I’m home.From the kitchen (which, in that 680 sq/ft apartment, was about 10 feet away) my wife tells me something that must have been some kind of revelation from god or womanly intuition or something, because it’s exactly what I need to hear, “Jake, I want you to know that no matter what, I am not mad at you, or upset with you, or disappointed in you.” Well, ladies and gentlemen, after keeping a tight lid on it up to this point, I finally lost it. I broke down.I can not stress to you the life-altering, breathtaking, borderline magical power of having a loving, supportive wife.Though we were both terrified of our new situation and devastated about the the impact it would have on buying a home, my wife was thinking of me. She knows me well and knew that I would probably be beating myself up about it. She knew that I would feel the whole weight of both of our sadness on my shoulders. And she told me exactly what I needed to hear.I didn't feel much like eating the delicious dinner she made and I kind of floated through the rest of the evening with a sense of disappointment and despondency floating through my head. I told myself that I could have that one night to feel sorry for myself and be frustrated, angry, and negative. I decided that after that, I would be productive, optimistic, and driven. I wasn't sure how, because I tend to be kind of a pessimistic dude, but I knew I didn't really have a choice. I didn't have time for that crap.My wife called and talked to our realtor and the mortgage officer we were going to use, and told them that I no longer had a steady income and we no longer qualified for the mortgage. It was official. We were losing the house. The house we’d already moved into emotionally. The house that was going to be where we started our family. Where our baby would come home from the hospital, and where he'd take his first steps. Where our dog would be able to run at full speed in the back yard and chase squirrels. We were being banished back to the world where people randomly take your wheel off your car in the middle of the night to try to steal a car part, and when they fail at doing it because they’re probably high, they slash your tires and steal your lugnuts to spite you.I went to bed earlier than usual that night, but couldn't sleep. All I could think about was how I had no idea what I was going to do. About how we’d lost the house. And I couldn't stop wondering if somebody was outside right then trying to do something to my car.I finally started praying. Not your typical, going-through-the-motions kind of prayer. I was talking to God and begging for help. I was terrified about my future and heartbroken about the present. I asked for comfort. I asked for guidance. I asked for opportunity. I asked that, somehow, by miraculous intervention, I could be positive and optimistic about all of this. That somehow I might feel hope. After a solid half-hour conversation with God, I went to sleep.I woke sometime after 5 am because my wife was weeping in bed next to me. Losing the house was so devastating, especially when we had been so close. She worded it perfectly: “I feel like my fiancé has broken up with me three days before the wedding.” (NOTE: Waking up to your wife crying in bed next to you is pretty much the worst thing in the world. Just saying.)I had to visit my chiropractor the next day, and my wife had to work, and we needed to visit my parents, so we all piled into the car the next morning and headed south. Most of my day was going to be devoted to job hunting. Job applications, résumés, and cover letters make my head swim and my blood boil. They make me feel despondent and tired. They suck the life out of me. But I had promised myself that night before was my only allotted ”feeling sorry for myself” time, and so I approached the day with every ounce of can-do that I had in me. Furthermore, I’d asked God to help me be optimistic and hopeful, so I figured I’d try to meet him part way. If he was going to send me the ability to be optimistic, I might was well try to act on the ability I was asking for.I will accept no other word short of “miraculous” to describe the fact that, as the day progressed, not only did I not get depressed, or feel hopeless, or get angry, but I actually began to feel positive. I began to feel like something good was in my future. I began to feel like things were going to get better. I felt a miraculous aura of comfort, optimism, and peace begin to infuse me. It ebbed and flowed a bit, that first full day on the job hunt, but as we drove home that night, it struck me in what I can only describe as a revelation. I turned to my wife and said, “You know what? Things are going to be ok. I know it.”My wife, being the aforementioned saint that she is, was way ahead of me: “Oh, I know that. I don’t doubt it one bit.”If you doubt my use of the word miraculous, I will tell you that the positivity and hopefulness lasted for months. I was productive and positive in the face of an enormous loss, and that is not normal behavior for me.The next morning, I got up to go back to work. I sat, mentally poring over the job leads that friends had fed me on the hunt the previous day, as I ate a bowl of cereal and watched a little Law & Order with my wife. I got an unexpected text from a coworker telling me that he had a lead for some contract work for me and wanted to help. This was the second time where I broke down. It made me realize just how blessed I am to have so many kind, generous, compassionate people in my life. My wife, my parents, dozens of coworkers and friends spread across the state and country. Tears rolled down my cheeks as I thought about how people were going out of their way to help me out in this difficult time.I got to work and the barrage of kindness continued. It seemed like every one of my coworkers has some lead on a position, or a job, or a company that was hiring, or a good staffing agent. My coworkers, whom I was always certain I annoyed the hell out of, were all reaching out to help. One of them even insisted on buying me lunch even though he could easily justify pinching his pennies, he himself getting his hours cut back due to the same circumstances that led to the layoffs.The outpouring of compassion and kindness I was shown in that tough time was more than I could have ever dreamed of. I can’t express enough gratitude for the wonderful people I have in my life.I finally understand why my mom always cried whenever we watched It’s a Wonderful Life when I was a kid. I feel much like George Bailey did at the end of the movie as he reads Clarence’s parting words: ”Remember: no man is a failure who has friends.”It's been a year and about eight months since this happened. I've done a lot of contract work and worked some crappy day jobs, but not only have we stayed afloat, we bought a house last October, and I have my final interview this week for a really fantastic full-time position doing exactly what I want to be doing. It's been a long path being underemployed (at pretty much the worst time to be looking for a job in the last seventy years), but things are finally on the up-and-up.Oh, and my son is absolutely adorable and makes trudging through every rejection and unanswered job application worth it:Note: My big interview is on Thursday afternoon. Any thoughts/prayers/good vibes you can send my way are appreciated. :)Update: Unfortunately, I probably didn't get the job. There were three rounds of interviews today, and I only got through two.However, I have a few other prospects I'm remaining hopeful about, and I'm taking programming classes at Code Fellows, so I'm not losing hope.I've been blown away by the response I've gotten on this post. I can't thank you all enough for your concern, kindness, and moral support during my struggle. It has brought me almost to tears reading all of your encouraging words ad kind thoughts. :)PostScript: I work in video game audio. If any if you happen to know of any studios or teams that need audio or music work done, here's my portfolio: http://www.jakehawken.comSECOND UPDATE: Because the universe seems to hate me and everything bad seems to happen at once, our home was burglarized today and lots of expensive things were stolen from us. Things we can't afford to replace. We have insurance but we're not making much money right now so the deductible is going to hit us really hard.THIRD UPDATE (October , 2 years after losing my job): I've now taken the two introductory courses and on Monday (Oct. 6th), I'll be starting my 8-week, 40hr/week Development Accelerator course at Code Fellows. It will be very challenging and time-consuming, but I'm going to learn a lot. I'm very excited and I can't wait to get started. The average graduate from my track has a job in four to six weeks after graduating, so here's to hoping I have a full-time job by year's end! Wish me luck! :)FOURTH UPDATE (December 3, 2 years and 3 months after losing my job): I just finished up at Code Fellows yesterday and I'm now officially a certified iOS developer! My job prospects look pretty decent and things are starting to look up! :)FIFTH UPDATE (February 10, 2 years and 5 months after losing my job): I started a contract position as an iOS developer at a startup in Seattle! It's not an employee position, but it is a huge step up. I have no complaints. I'm very happy about it. I'm still shopping for full-time employment, but hopefully this will turn into it.SIXTH (and final) UPDATE (April 6, 2 years and 7 months after losing my job): I got a job! A full-time job! Finally. Thanks to everyone for your immense kindness, encouragement, and support. You've all been wonderful!(OK, ONE MORE): That startup I was at went under but I'm totally confident I'll get a new job soon. In the meantime though, if you feel so inclined as to help out, check out this Kickstarter campaign for a game I've been working on with a couple friends: Haven's DemiseTHE FOR-REAL FINAL UPDATE: I just got a job that is not only a great job, and is not only a full-time job at a stable company, but the #1 job on my list. It's the exact job I've been trying to get for the last seven months, and I got it! There is no more perfect job for me right now than this job. I can't tell you how ecstatically happy I am right now. And not only is it my ideal job at the company I want to work at most, but they really like me and have so much nice stuff to say about me.Anyway, thanks again for all the encouragement and empathy. Quora users rock!

I can think of a few. One private investigator submitted a video with accompanying report to an insurance company “proving” that an injured painter had nothing wrong with him. Carrying and climbing ladders, painting all day, etc. They were following the wrong guy.Another investigator submitted video and a report stating that unequivocally, there was nothing wrong with a claimant who had a head injury. The insurance company vigorously defended the claim and refused to pay. I studied the video and captured and blew up stills from it that clearly proved the claimant had brain damage (permanent clawing of last two fingers on both hands - at all times). The jury verdict ultimately cost the insurance company millions. Had they settled when they first got the evidence, they’d have paid less than half - but they believed the investigator instead of studying the work product.An investigator “did a background” (paid for a pushbutton result from a data vendor) on a job applicant and returned a clean report. The applicant was hired. The employee turned out to be dangerous and probably psychotic, and created a dangerous situation on the new job. My background on the same individual demonstrated that he had been stalking and threatening people, committing criminal mischief, and having the police called on him repeatedly for over a decade. He had two felony convictions.An investigator threatened and bullied witnesses on a case to get the information he wanted. When it came to depositions, none of the witnesses would appear in response to their subpoenas, and the case had to be abandoned. Cost the attorney thousands.There are more, but that’s a sampling.