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July 06, 2007

Blacks Join the Immigration Reform Fray—At Last!

By Joe Guzzardi

I’d like to thank President George W. Bush and Senator Edward M. Kennedy. And while I’m at it, I’ll thank Senators Arlen Specter, Lindsey Graham, John Kyl and the rest of the dunces who drafted or supported S. 1639.

Because of their insistence, in the face of all logic, that the proposed amnesty immigration acceleration legislation was good for America blacks—long-time fence-sitters regarding illegal immigration—have joined the fray. We welcome them as allies to our cause.

Black conservative talk show hosts have hammered away at illegal immigration for sometime with modest success. They are aware of the danger posed to blacks by the illegal alien invasion.

Several years ago, I had lunch with Tony Brown, the host of Tony Brown’s Journal. Brown told me that unless something was done to end illegal immigration, black Americans would be “finished.”

Is Brown prophetic? Since my meeting with him, Hispanics—because of the unchecked alien population and their inevitable anchor babies—have passed blacks as the nation’s largest minority. And although blacks aren’t finished, the government trend toward supporting all Latino causes is troubling.

But it isn’t just black conservatives who see the light. When he was a guest on the Lou Dobbs Tonight program Washington, D.C. radio personality Joe Madison, a strong anti-illegal alien voice, said that when he guest hosted Al Sharpton’s broadcast, every caller (who one assumes are largely liberal) that phoned in was irate about S. 1639.

Madison, by the way, said that he is routinely subjected to harsh criticism from the Congressional Black Caucus for appearing on the “racist” Dobbs show.

Some black voices that traditionally have supported—at least in broad terms—illegal immigration have changed their tune.

Listen here to this NPR interview with Earl Ofari Hutchinson who has previously indicated sympathy toward aliens. Guest host Michel Martin, a black, moderated.

Hutchinson, who lives in Los Angeles, said that fellow black Angelenos view illegal immigration with “fear,” “anxiety,” and “fury.”

And Hutchinson posed interesting questions that indicate that his eyes are opening.

• What, Hutchinson asked, if African Americans had entered the U.S. illegally and took to the street to demand their “rights”? He speculated that the “full force” of the authorities would come down on them.

• Why, Hutchinson wondered, were the citywide student marches that supported illegal immigration handled with “kid gloves”? Where were city officials, Los Angeles Unified School District Administrators or the Los Angeles Police Department? Had the marchers been black, Hutchinson said, the riot squads may have been summoned.

• Where, Hutchinson wanted to know, is the outreach to blacks from Latino leaders? According to Hutchinson, if it isn’t forthcoming soon the African American middle class will feel the full impact of the shifting demographic as Hispanics are voted into political office while blacks are marginalized.

• Black youths find it difficult to get low-end jobs because of the abundance of cheap illegal alien labor. This fact, according to Hutchinson, is “undeniable.”

Martin chimed in too. She said, more than once, that it is “intuitively obvious” that more illegal aliens means more cheap labor. And that makes it tough for black youths to get any kind of job.

Blacks are no longer willing to be duped. Chicago-based VDARE.COM reader and thirty-year anti-illegal alien activist “ Braveheart” forwarded me an e-mail she received from a friend she described as “a former card-carrying liberal” but now “an ardent patriot with regard to illegal immigration.”

“Braveheart’s” friend was furious about uninformed remarks sympathetic to illegal aliens made by radio personality Tavis Smiley. (e-mail him here)

Here, in part, is what she wrote to Smiley:

“You have no idea what it's like when black men in my family go for jobs.  They are always asked if they are bilingual. A student of mine quit a construction job when he found out that the foreman paid his Hispanic friend $5 more an hour than he paid my student…. In the weeks following Hurricane Katrina, NPR reported that illegal aliens were paid in cash up to $1500/day to haul garbage. My own cousin, a native of New Orleans, was prevented from even entering the city.  These illegal aliens broke the law and entered the country, settling
in Houston, TX.  They drove to New Orleans looking for work.  When asked when they would leave, they replied through an interpreter, ‘Never!’  

“My cousin and thousands of other black men were refused entry in Katrina’s early days because they had  ‘no place to live.’  My cousin offered to sleep in his truck, just like the illegal aliens did, but he was turned down.  Go to New Orleans, as I did recently.  Hit me back and tell me when you can count the number of black men working by using two hands.  I saw exactly one and I photographed city workers for hours. I am 60 years old and never saw a black man begging for food on the streets of New Orleans. This time I did.”

Shortly after I read this mail, Brenda Walker’s blog item appeared chronicling the sad truth about New Orleans today—a city increasingly in the grasp of Mexico.

Braveheart and her friend are not the only grassroots blacks that are increasingly vocal.

Read this press release from the National Leadership Network of Conservative African-Americans that “applauds” the defeat of S. 1639.

Americans of all creeds and religions can no longer deny the overwhelming evidence that illegal immigration threatens our country’s future. Some, like the blacks, have been slower to come around than others. But all are welcome.

As Terry Anderson, the first black radio host to expose illegal immigration’s evils, likes to say: “If you ain’t mad, you ain’t paying attention.”

The good news is that America is listening to us now.