Black "Leaders" Desert Blacks for Illegal Aliens
For example, Cesar Chavez, the Hispanic labor advocate lionized by the left, advocated for strict Immigration and Naturalization Service enforcement for the protection of his legal unionized laborers. Clarence Jones, a former advisor to Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., wrote in his book What Would Martin Say? that he believes King would similarly oppose illegal immigration due to the economic effects an influx of illegal laborers might have on black Americans and their economic security. Barbara Jordan, the first black woman to serve in Congress from the south, testified before Congress on immigration policy in 1995 that an effective policy would find that "those who should not be here will be required to leave."
With black unemployment officially at 15.5 percent in November of 2011 (and likely much higher considering so many no longer look for work) and an astronomical 39.6 percent for black teenagers, illegal immigrant jobseekers can place a particular strain on the black community.
Yet today's black leadership remains fighting the old battle for human rights when the new prize is economic opportunity. In the process, they aren't really standing up for black America. Jesse Jackson, for instance, demanded last year in Phoenix that "we must end the criminalization of undocumented people." The NAACP worries that immigration enforcement such as Arizona's state-based version of federal immigration laws will "contribute to the further criminalization of black and brown community members and mass incarceration."
Black "Leaders" Desert Blacks for Illegal Aliens
For example, Cesar Chavez, the Hispanic labor advocate lionized by the left, advocated for strict Immigration and Naturalization Service enforcement for the protection of his legal unionized laborers. Clarence Jones, a former advisor to Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., wrote in his book What Would Martin Say? that he believes King would similarly oppose illegal immigration due to the economic effects an influx of illegal laborers might have on black Americans and their economic security. Barbara Jordan, the first black woman to serve in Congress from the south, testified before Congress on immigration policy in 1995 that an effective policy would find that "those who should not be here will be required to leave."
With black unemployment officially at 15.5 percent in November of 2011 (and likely much higher considering so many no longer look for work) and an astronomical 39.6 percent for black teenagers, illegal immigrant jobseekers can place a particular strain on the black community.
Yet today's black leadership remains fighting the old battle for human rights when the new prize is economic opportunity. In the process, they aren't really standing up for black America. Jesse Jackson, for instance, demanded last year in Phoenix that "we must end the criminalization of undocumented people." The NAACP worries that immigration enforcement such as Arizona's state-based version of federal immigration laws will "contribute to the further criminalization of black and brown community members and mass incarceration."
Black "Leaders" Desert Blacks for Illegal Aliens