immigrants talk race, even if their advocates won’t

Rinku Sen

immigrants talk race, even if their advocates won’t

In commentary published on tompaine.com and Alternet this week, I argue that the massive outpouring of immigrant activism in recent weeks points to key lessons for policy advocates, not just in immigration reform, but in all of our tricky racial justice issues. Although conservatives and liberals alike hate being explicit about the racial dynamics of immigration for their own reasons (cons to avoid being labeled anti-immigrant and racist, libs to avoid racist backlash), immigrants themselves clearly feel the racial implications of punitive policies such as Sensenbrenner’s. A recent New America Media poll shows that a vast majority of legal immigrants are alarmed by the racism embedded in the current debate. Advocates should be able to articulate clearly the social and political rights to which immigrants are entitled, should be able to move beyond our economic rights and a frame that emphasizes only that we are hard workers. If we cannot do that, we face the possibility of wasting this tremendous base that has emerged over the last month. The role of social networks and ethnic media in fueling the protests also reveal the need to craft our outreach in ways that match up to the modes of modern life. Funders of policy change should take recent events as a sign that the road to big changes meanders between research, writing policy, building base and getting to public opinion through mass action and mass media. All the "outcomes-based" funding in the world won't get us to the kinds of changes we dream of.

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Posted at 1:38 PM, Apr 12, 2006 in
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Something that seems to have been lost in all the writings I have seen on this topic is this: how do native born [i.e. slave descendant] black Americans feel about this issue? I think that the answer would surprise you - or perhaps not. The elephant in the room is that many black Americans are not at one with immigrants on this issue. In a city where 50% of working age black men are unemployed, there is not universal sympathy to the plight of recent immigrants.

I am not suggesting that African American blacks be pitted against Latinos, because this is also an issue with African and West Indian immigrants as well. What I am saying is that it is not simply a black and white issue - this is just as polarizing for the black community as the gay marriage issue was [and continues to be] and if those who pontificate forget that, I suggest they go to the corner of 125th & Lenox on a weekday afternoon and ask the brothas on the corner how they feel about rights for illegal immigrants...

This question of Black solidarity with immigrants is very live and getting quite a lot of attention in the ethnic and alternative press, if not so much in the mainstream press. Check out the New America Media's commentary on this by Earl Ofari Hutchinson, (news.newamericamedia.org/news/view_article.html?article_id=b47d563c26aba72795f92220400ad50c).

My short answer is that Blacks have revealed a lot of ambivalence about immigration in general, not just now, but for many years. Some of that ambivalence is justified -- the "we are hard working, not criminals" frame that most immigrant rights folk use strikes me as an implied contrast to Blacks. Who, after all, does this society consider lazy and criminal? Not the Kenneth Lays of the country.

But some of the ambivalence is simply xenophobic. Check out the debate over a bizarre argument by Jasmyne Cannick ("Gays First, Then Illegals" in The Advocate, widely covered on New America Media and http://www.thenation.com/blogs/notion?pid=75073) that undocs should get in line far behind gay people wanting to get married. Both Black and immigrant queers have really taken her on.

Elite debates aside, I think the majority of Black folk are far from uniformly against rights for undocs. Black people know what it is like to have their labor exploited, and to have their lives thrown away behind manufactured illegality (the Rockefeller drug laws come to mind). A Black friend of mine who was raised on welfare, never went to college, has very shaky income, and is on a 3-year probation for allegedly assaulting a flight attendant, called recently and said "what is this about George Bush wanting Mexicans to come work for a while and then go home? What kind of s___ is that?"

I agree. I think that there are layers of complicated issues for Black folks around the issue of immigrant rights. I also think that being intentional about a racial justice framework changes the nature of the debate for African Americans and allows us to come at the economic exploitation angle with greater clarity and understanding.

Whether anyone is telling the story or not, these are dark and challenging days for the majority of Black folks in this country. And there is a great need to develop and deepen alliances where there is a shared analysis.

I may be a little late to contribute but perhaps those who say, "we are hard working, not criminals" are not comparing themselves to any racially identified group, but to those who are undocumented AND criminals, running drugs and slaves into the country. Clearly, both groups exist. At issue is the subject of immigration. It is illogical to interject race as a component of that comparison.