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Immigrant Movement Must Reach Out to Blacks
By Jasmyne Cannick and Earl Ofari Hutchinson, New America Media,
NAM Editor's Note: No sustained effort to reach out to blacks and
rally behind issues important to them has been made by leaders of
the immigrant rights movement, the writers say.
LOS ANGELES--Immigrant rights leaders have repeatedly and with great
pride compared the movement for humane immigration reform to the
great civil rights battles of the 1960s. They have cited the Poor
Peoples March in 1968, the high esteem that Cesar Chavez held for
Dr. Martin Luther King, and the unequivocal support that top civil
rights leaders and the Congressional Black Caucus has given to
immigrant rights as solid models of black and brown cooperation.
Yet, despite these public pronouncements, there has been no
sustained movement to build any real coalitions with blacks on the
immigration issue.
That has led to confusion and even anger. California Legislative
Black Caucus Chair Assemblyman Mervyn M. Dymally came out in support
of humane immigration reform. Dymally, who is was born in Trinidad
and became the first foreign-born black member of Congress, in a
statement on his Web site said that, "While I have not participated
in any of the demonstrations because I was never invited by the
organizers to do so, Assembly member Joe Coto, vice-chair of the
California Legislative Latino Caucus knows of my support for the
demonstrations."
While a Field Poll in California found that blacks -- by a bigger
percentage than whites and even American-born Latinos -- backed
liberal immigration reform measures, little has been done on the
side of immigrant rights groups to work with blacks on issues that
both groups have in common.
Immigrant rights leaders have been MIA at rallies and gatherings on
issues that blacks find important, including renewal of certain
parts of the 1965 Voting Rights Act that are due to expire in 2007,
police misconduct, improving failing inner city public schools, and
most important the astronomical crisis of black joblessness among
young blacks. That's particularly important because most blacks
perceive that illegal immigrants take jobs away from blacks.
The NAACP's mission statement reads: "The mission of the National
Association for the Advancement of Colored People is to ensure the
political, educational, social and economic equality of rights of
all persons and to eliminate racial hatred and racial
discrimination." But unlike the NAACP, the Mexican American
Political Association (MAPA), which has been a major backer of the
immigrant rights protests, has not spoken out continually and
relentlessly for black rights issues. Its mission statement reads:
"The Mexican American Political Association, founded in Fresno,
California in 1960, has been, and is, dedicated to the
constitutional and democratic principle of political freedom and
representation for the Mexican and Hispanic people of the United
States of America." There is no mention of blacks, poor whites or
even other immigrant groups, just Latinos.
This lack of an interracial message in the fight for civil rights
has been heard loud and clear by blacks in America.
When black members of the Minutemen Project held a protest in a
predominantly black neighborhood in Los Angeles, immigrant activist
and MAPA president Nativo Lopez said that he believes they are out
of step with most black leaders and that both blacks and Hispanics
face the same problems.
While many blacks denounce the Minutemen, blacks, especially in Los
Angeles, are not completely supportive of illegal immigrants.
With the exception of a few black leaders, blacks in general have
not come out in support of illegal immigrant rights, but many have
gathered opposing illegal immigration.
While the Spanish language continues to be a huge divide in
communication between blacks and Latinos, black-brown relations will
continue to be strained as long as blacks are the only ones reaching
out to Latinos to build coalitions.
Latinos who want to change the mindset of blacks on illegal
immigrants' rights must make a visible and concerted effort to reach
out to blacks -- not just on immigrant rights issues, but on issues
that are important to blacks as well. Just as they vigorously pound
on Congress, the Bush administration, employers and the American
people to make jobs and justice the watchwords for dispossessed
immigrants, they must make jobs and justice the watchwords for
dispossessed poor blacks too. That is the right and indeed the only
way to build a firm and lasting relationship between blacks and
immigrants rights groups.
Jasmyne A. Cannick writes political and social commentary and is a
member of the National Association of Black Journalists. She can be
reached via www.jasmynecannick.com. Earl Ofari Hutchinson is the
author of The Crisis in Black and Black (Middle Passage Press). The
Hutchinson Report blog is now online at
www.EarlOfariHutchinson.com. His column is a regular post of New
America Media.
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