countering the reactionaries...
here's an article that a friend forwarded. it's a beginning of some black leaders speaking out for unity as opposed to division. it's a beginning...i'm hoping for more and maybe this will lead to something really positive for the black community and creaking linkages between the civil rights movement [which seems to be only spoken in the context of black folks' rights and not others but anyhow] and the current immigrant rights movement sparked by h.r. 4437.
New York Times
May 4, 2006
Growing Unease for Some Blacks on Immigration
By RACHEL L. SWARNS
WASHINGTON, May 3 — In their demonstrations across the country, some Hispanic
immigrants have compared the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s struggle to their
own, singing "We Shall Overcome" and declaring a new civil rights movement to win
citizenship for millions of illegal immigrants.
Civil rights stalwarts like the Rev. Jesse Jackson; Representative John Lewis,
Democrat of Georgia; Julian Bond and the Rev. Joseph E. Lowery have hailed the
recent protests as the natural progression of their movement in the 1960's.
But despite some sympathy for the nation's illegal immigrants, many black
professionals, academics and blue-collar workers feel increasingly uneasy as they
watch Hispanics flex their political muscle while assuming the mantle of a seminal
black struggle for justice. Some blacks bristle at the comparison between the civil
rights movement and the immigrant demonstrations, pointing out that black
protesters in the 1960's were American citizens and had endured centuries of
enslavement, rapes, lynchings and discrimination before they started marching.
Others worry about the plight of low-skilled black workers, who sometimes compete
with immigrants for entry-level jobs. And some fear the unfinished business of the
civil rights movement will fall to the wayside as America turns its attention to a
newly energized Hispanic minority with growing political and economic clout.
"All of this has made me start thinking, 'What's going to happen to
African-Americans?' " said Brendon L. Laster, 32, a black fund-raiser at Howard
University here, who has been watching the marches. "What's going to happen to our
unfinished agenda?"
Mr. Laster is dapper and cosmopolitan, a part-time professor and Democratic
activist who drinks and dines with a wide circle of black, white and Hispanic
friends. He said he marveled at first as the images of cheering, flag-waving
immigrants flickered across his television screen. But as some demonstrators
proclaimed a new civil rights movement, he grew uncomfortable.
He says that immigrant protesters who claim the legacy of Dr. King and Rosa Parks
are going too far. And he has begun to worry about the impact that the emerging
immigrant activism will have on black Americans, many of whom still face poverty,
high rates of unemployment and discrimination in the workplace.
"I think what they were able to do, the level of organization they were able to
pull off, that was phenomenal," said Mr. Laster, who is also a part-time sociology
professor at a community college in Baltimore. "But I do think their struggle is,
in fundamental ways, very different from ours. We didn't chose to come here; we
came here as slaves. And we were denied, even though we were legal citizens, our
basic rights."
"There are still a lot of unresolved issues from the civil rights era," he said.
"Perhaps we're going to be pushed to the back burner."
This painful debate is bubbling up in church halls and classrooms, on call-in radio
programs and across dining room tables. Some blacks prefer to discuss the issue
privately for fear of alienating their Hispanic allies. But others are publicly
airing their misgivings, saying they are too worried to stay silent.
"We will have no power, no clout," warned Linda Carter-Lewis, 62, a human resources
manager and the branch president of the N.A.A.C.P. in Des Moines. "That's where I
see this immigrant movement going. Even though so many thousands and thousands of
them have no legal status and no right to vote right now, that day is coming."
Immigrant leaders defend their use of civil rights language, saying strong
parallels exist between the two struggles. And they argue that their movement will
ultimately become a powerful vehicle to fight for the rights of all American
workers, regardless of national origin.
"African-Americans during the civil rights movement were in search of the American
dream and that's what our movement is trying to achieve for our community," said
Jaime Contreras, president of the National Capital Immigration Coalition, which
organized the April 10 demonstration that drew tens of thousands of people to
Washington.
"We face the same issues even if we speak different languages," said Mr. Contreras,
who is from El Salvador and listens to Dr. King's speeches for inspiration.
Mr. Jackson, who addressed the immigrant rally on Monday in New York, echoed those
views. He noted that Dr. King, at the end of his life, focused on improving
economic conditions for all Americans, regardless of race. And he said the
similarities between African-Americans and illegal immigrants were too powerful to
ignore.
"We too were denied citizenship," Mr. Jackson said. "We too were undocumented
workers working without wages, without benefits, without the vote. "We should feel
honored that other people are using tactics and strategies from our struggle. We
shouldn't say they're stealing from us. They're learning from us."
Mr. Jackson said corporate employers were fueling the tensions between blacks and
immigrants by refusing to pay a living wage to all workers. John Campbell, a black
steel worker and labor activist from Iowa, agreed.
"This is a class issue," said Mr. Campbell, who has been disheartened by black
critics of the immigrant marches. "We need to join forces. We can't improve our lot
in life as African-Americans by suppressing the rights of anyone else."
But blacks and immigrants have long had a history of uneasy relations in the United
States. W.E.B. DuBois, a founder of the N.A.A.C.P., and other prominent black
leaders worried that immigrants would displace blacks in the workplace. Ronald
Walters, director of the African-American Leadership Institute at the University of
Maryland, said blacks cheered when the government restricted Asian immigration to
the United States after World War I. And many Europeans who came to this country
discriminated against blacks.
Blacks and Hispanics have also been allies. In the 1960's, Dr. King and Cesar
Chavez, the Mexican-American farm labor leader, corresponded with each other. And
when Mr. Chavez was jailed, Dr. King's widow, Coretta Scott King, visited him in
jail, Mr. Walters said. In recent years, blacks and Hispanics have been influential
partners in the Democratic Party.
A recent poll conducted by the Pew Hispanic Center captured the ambivalence among
blacks over immigration. Nearly 80 percent said immigrants from Latin American work
very hard and have strong family values. But nearly twice as many blacks as whites
said that they or a family member had lost a job, or not gotten a job, because an
employer hired an immigrant worker. Blacks were also more likely than whites to
feel that immigrants take jobs away from American citizens.
Mr. Walters said he understood those conflicting emotions, saying he feels torn
himself because of his concerns about the competition between immigrants and
low-skilled black men for jobs. In 2004, 72 percent of black male high school
dropouts in their 20's were jobless, compared with 34 percent of white and 19
percent of Hispanic dropouts.
"I applaud them moving out of the shadows and into the light because of the human
rights issues involved," Mr. Walters said of illegal immigrants. "I've given my
entire life to issues of social justice as an activist and an academic. In that
sense, I'm with them.
"But they also represent a powerful ingredient to the perpetuation of our
struggle," he said. "We have a problem where half of black males are unemployed in
several cities. I can't ignore that and simply be my old progressive self and say
it's not an issue. It is an issue."
New York Times
May 4, 2006
Growing Unease for Some Blacks on Immigration
By RACHEL L. SWARNS
WASHINGTON, May 3 — In their demonstrations across the country, some Hispanic
immigrants have compared the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s struggle to their
own, singing "We Shall Overcome" and declaring a new civil rights movement to win
citizenship for millions of illegal immigrants.
Civil rights stalwarts like the Rev. Jesse Jackson; Representative John Lewis,
Democrat of Georgia; Julian Bond and the Rev. Joseph E. Lowery have hailed the
recent protests as the natural progression of their movement in the 1960's.
But despite some sympathy for the nation's illegal immigrants, many black
professionals, academics and blue-collar workers feel increasingly uneasy as they
watch Hispanics flex their political muscle while assuming the mantle of a seminal
black struggle for justice. Some blacks bristle at the comparison between the civil
rights movement and the immigrant demonstrations, pointing out that black
protesters in the 1960's were American citizens and had endured centuries of
enslavement, rapes, lynchings and discrimination before they started marching.
Others worry about the plight of low-skilled black workers, who sometimes compete
with immigrants for entry-level jobs. And some fear the unfinished business of the
civil rights movement will fall to the wayside as America turns its attention to a
newly energized Hispanic minority with growing political and economic clout.
"All of this has made me start thinking, 'What's going to happen to
African-Americans?' " said Brendon L. Laster, 32, a black fund-raiser at Howard
University here, who has been watching the marches. "What's going to happen to our
unfinished agenda?"
Mr. Laster is dapper and cosmopolitan, a part-time professor and Democratic
activist who drinks and dines with a wide circle of black, white and Hispanic
friends. He said he marveled at first as the images of cheering, flag-waving
immigrants flickered across his television screen. But as some demonstrators
proclaimed a new civil rights movement, he grew uncomfortable.
He says that immigrant protesters who claim the legacy of Dr. King and Rosa Parks
are going too far. And he has begun to worry about the impact that the emerging
immigrant activism will have on black Americans, many of whom still face poverty,
high rates of unemployment and discrimination in the workplace.
"I think what they were able to do, the level of organization they were able to
pull off, that was phenomenal," said Mr. Laster, who is also a part-time sociology
professor at a community college in Baltimore. "But I do think their struggle is,
in fundamental ways, very different from ours. We didn't chose to come here; we
came here as slaves. And we were denied, even though we were legal citizens, our
basic rights."
"There are still a lot of unresolved issues from the civil rights era," he said.
"Perhaps we're going to be pushed to the back burner."
This painful debate is bubbling up in church halls and classrooms, on call-in radio
programs and across dining room tables. Some blacks prefer to discuss the issue
privately for fear of alienating their Hispanic allies. But others are publicly
airing their misgivings, saying they are too worried to stay silent.
"We will have no power, no clout," warned Linda Carter-Lewis, 62, a human resources
manager and the branch president of the N.A.A.C.P. in Des Moines. "That's where I
see this immigrant movement going. Even though so many thousands and thousands of
them have no legal status and no right to vote right now, that day is coming."
Immigrant leaders defend their use of civil rights language, saying strong
parallels exist between the two struggles. And they argue that their movement will
ultimately become a powerful vehicle to fight for the rights of all American
workers, regardless of national origin.
"African-Americans during the civil rights movement were in search of the American
dream and that's what our movement is trying to achieve for our community," said
Jaime Contreras, president of the National Capital Immigration Coalition, which
organized the April 10 demonstration that drew tens of thousands of people to
Washington.
"We face the same issues even if we speak different languages," said Mr. Contreras,
who is from El Salvador and listens to Dr. King's speeches for inspiration.
Mr. Jackson, who addressed the immigrant rally on Monday in New York, echoed those
views. He noted that Dr. King, at the end of his life, focused on improving
economic conditions for all Americans, regardless of race. And he said the
similarities between African-Americans and illegal immigrants were too powerful to
ignore.
"We too were denied citizenship," Mr. Jackson said. "We too were undocumented
workers working without wages, without benefits, without the vote. "We should feel
honored that other people are using tactics and strategies from our struggle. We
shouldn't say they're stealing from us. They're learning from us."
Mr. Jackson said corporate employers were fueling the tensions between blacks and
immigrants by refusing to pay a living wage to all workers. John Campbell, a black
steel worker and labor activist from Iowa, agreed.
"This is a class issue," said Mr. Campbell, who has been disheartened by black
critics of the immigrant marches. "We need to join forces. We can't improve our lot
in life as African-Americans by suppressing the rights of anyone else."
But blacks and immigrants have long had a history of uneasy relations in the United
States. W.E.B. DuBois, a founder of the N.A.A.C.P., and other prominent black
leaders worried that immigrants would displace blacks in the workplace. Ronald
Walters, director of the African-American Leadership Institute at the University of
Maryland, said blacks cheered when the government restricted Asian immigration to
the United States after World War I. And many Europeans who came to this country
discriminated against blacks.
Blacks and Hispanics have also been allies. In the 1960's, Dr. King and Cesar
Chavez, the Mexican-American farm labor leader, corresponded with each other. And
when Mr. Chavez was jailed, Dr. King's widow, Coretta Scott King, visited him in
jail, Mr. Walters said. In recent years, blacks and Hispanics have been influential
partners in the Democratic Party.
A recent poll conducted by the Pew Hispanic Center captured the ambivalence among
blacks over immigration. Nearly 80 percent said immigrants from Latin American work
very hard and have strong family values. But nearly twice as many blacks as whites
said that they or a family member had lost a job, or not gotten a job, because an
employer hired an immigrant worker. Blacks were also more likely than whites to
feel that immigrants take jobs away from American citizens.
Mr. Walters said he understood those conflicting emotions, saying he feels torn
himself because of his concerns about the competition between immigrants and
low-skilled black men for jobs. In 2004, 72 percent of black male high school
dropouts in their 20's were jobless, compared with 34 percent of white and 19
percent of Hispanic dropouts.
"I applaud them moving out of the shadows and into the light because of the human
rights issues involved," Mr. Walters said of illegal immigrants. "I've given my
entire life to issues of social justice as an activist and an academic. In that
sense, I'm with them.
"But they also represent a powerful ingredient to the perpetuation of our
struggle," he said. "We have a problem where half of black males are unemployed in
several cities. I can't ignore that and simply be my old progressive self and say
it's not an issue. It is an issue."