03/21/08
Political Ad Blames Immigration for Black Unemployment


by Kandiss Crone
kandiss@wlbt.net

An recent anti-immigration ad blames foreign-born workers as the cause for Blacks not having jobs. The ad states: "If you're a Black American, you've noticed many of us are out of work. You've probably also noticed a huge increase in immigration. Those two facts are related."

In the ad Dr. Frank Morris, a member of the Congressional Black Caucus, says 40-percent of the decline in Black employment is due to immigration.

"Anybody that's trying to get a job as a day laborer, he is gonna have a hard time if you have a flood of immigrants coming into this state or into this country," said Rep. Credell Calhoun.

Calhoun is a member of the Mississippi Black Legislative Caucus. He recently voted for senate bill 2988 which forces employers to check the legal status of potential workers.

Governor Haley Barbour signed the bill into law this week. According to the Mississippi Immigrants Rights Alliance, the ad was simply a tool to get the job done.

"Word was out that the Senate was gonna push out a bunch of anti-immigration bills thinking that the House was gonna reject all of them and so they had a counter offensive ready to get out there and get people especially the Black community to start calling the Black caucus to vote for these bills.

Erik Fleming with the Mississippi Immigrant Right's Alliance says the ad has little relevance in Mississippi, since there are more prominent factors contributing to Black unemployment.

"When you are talking about physical plants that are moving out of the inner city. When you are talking about just going down to the Metrocenter Mall and seeing how stores move out of there that has an impact."

The ad is paid for by Coalition for the Future American Worker.

http://www.wlbt.com/Global/story.asp?S=8053280