Local Hispanics gain a key ally in their call for immigration reform
By Robert L. Smith
May 03, 2010, 5:50PM




Gabriel Moreno, 3, sits on the shoulders of his cousin, Jose Bermudez, both of Painesville, as they participate in the rally in Cleveland protesting Arizona's new immigration law.CLEVELAND, Ohio -- There were cries of ethnic profiling and anti-Hispanic prejudice at a downtown rally Monday, but also references to Jim Crow, Black Codes and the Montgomery Bus Boycott.

In what could be a watershed moment in the immigration debate in Northeast Ohio, black civic leaders joined Latinos to denounce harsh new immigration laws in Arizona and to call for comprehensive immigration reform.

Several black speakers described a haunting similarity between the new laws targeting brown-skinned people and an earlier series of laws targeting black-skinned people.

"We've been through the bad, bad days in this country before and we're not going to go back to that," State Sen. Nina Turner told a crowd of about 100 people gathered near the Free Stamp sculpture at East Ninth Street and Lakeside Avenue. "'Show me your papers?' We need people of good conscience to stand up and speak out!"

What is alarming Turner and other black political and civic leaders is a set of laws that make it a crime to be an undocumented immigrant in Arizona. Many fear that the state law, scheduled to take effect this summer, will encourage police to confront people they suspect of being in the country illegally and to demand identity papers.

Stanley Miller, executive director of the Cleveland NAACP, said that reminds him of a time when bus drivers in Montgomery, Ala., were obligated to assess the race of riders and where they should be sitting.

For nearly 100 years after the Civil War, Miller said, a patchwork of state and local laws in the South "were meant to keep a certain group of people in their place. I see us starting back down that slippery slope."


Rosa Garcia and Jazmin Miranda, students at Harvey High School in Painesville, participate in the rally in Cleveland protesting Arizona's new immigration law.Not everyone sees it that way. Polls show most Americans support Arizona's efforts to confront illegal immigration in the vacuum of federal inaction, as did members of a small group of counter protesters holding signs across Lakeside Avenue.

Arzella Melnyk, a white woman from Kirtland, wore a T-shirt that read "Immigration -- Legal Only." She said she was not wholly familiar with Arizona's law but that she doubted it would lead to ethnic profiling and intimidation.

"People should have enough confidence in our law enforcement that that kind of behavior will not happen," she said.

Rally organizers drew solace from the larger and multi-racial crowd. For more than two years, local Latino leaders have often stood alone as they called for federal immigration reforms that offer illegal immigrants a path to citizenship.

Monday's rally drew people like Jane Zheng from China, who waited 10 years for her green card, or immigrant visa, despite an American master's degree and a husband who works as a senior economist for Eaton Corp.

"We know a lot of people like us," Zheng said. "I think the system needs to be reformed, especially for high-educated persons."

The presence of impassioned black leaders struck many as a game changer.

"What happened in Arizona may be a blessing," Rev. Jesus LaBoy, leader of the Coalition of Latino Pastors of Northeast Ohio, said as he surveyed the scene. "It may have awakened a sleeping giant."


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