Thread: Blacks and Latinos need to get behind changes in immigration

Posted on Tue, Mar. 21, 2006

Under the Sun | A common cause for blacks, Latinos
For jobs' sake, the two groups need to get behind changes in immigration laws.
By Harold Jackson

God knows Jesse Jackson likes a good march, but none of the newspapers I read mentioned him being at the massive immigration-rights rally more than a week ago in his hometown Chicago.

Estimates put the number of participants at 100,000. Too bad Rev. Jackson wasn't among them. The immigration issue is important to African Americans as well as Latinos. Jackson's presence at the march might have helped steer those two communities to the logical conclusion that they should unite on this topic.

Such a coalition could be a formidable motivator for some Congress members to stop making speeches that mimic the nativist drivel spouted by the prejudiced thugs in the movie Gangs of New York who raised hell to keep Irish immigrants and Negroes in their place in Civil War-era America.

Jackson hasn't been quiet on immigration. He flew to Mexico last year after President Vicente Fox put his foot in his mouth with a comment that Mexican immigrants in the United States take jobs that even African Americans refuse.
Jackson also flew to New Orleans to complain that illegal immigrants were hustled into town after Hurricane Katrina to take cheap-labor jobs rebuilding the city.

"These workers are not just coming across the border, they're being sent for, brought in and hired," Jackson said in a Jan. 30 interview on Lou Dobbs Tonight. "That's why we're going to have a massive demonstration on April 1, demanding that these citizens - white, black, and brown, whether Mississippi, Alabama, Louisiana - have the right to return with preferences on jobs and contracts."

See, told you the reverend liked marches. But this is no joking matter. Their common need for jobs is the mortar that ought to cement the relationship between African Americans and Latinos when it comes to immigration.

Black leaders who argue against making immigration easier because they believe it will cost African Americans jobs are being shortsighted. They need to instead join the current push for immigration reform to make sure any new laws also create job opportunities for black workers.

Fox may not have articulated his point very well, but he wasn't entirely wrong when he said folks from his country are taking jobs in this country that blacks don't want. But whites don't want those jobs, either. They are slave-wage jobs, by American standards, and they don't include health insurance.
Immigration reform, if done right, could change that. But the odds of it being done right haven't been looking too good.

The Senate has before it a very good bill sponsored by Sens. John McCain (R., Ariz.) and Ted Kennedy (D., Mass.) that would allow the estimated 11 million illegal immigrants in this country to apply for guest-worker status. It wouldn't be amnesty. They would have to pay fines and fees.

The Kennedy/McCain bill would require employers of guest workers to follow all U.S. labor laws and provide guest workers with the same wages and benefits as American workers.

Do that, and suddenly some of those jobs that regular old U.S. citizens, black and white, now refuse would become more appealing. Do that, and an improved domestic labor pool would reduce the incentive for employers to hire illegals. Add stricter monitoring and harsher punishment of employers who do hire illegals and the annual tidal wave of illegal immigrants would begin to go down.

Unfortunately, though, the Senate is flirting with following the House's lead in passing a bill that would make it tougher to cross the U.S. border - which is good - but does not include a guest worker program that would lead to eventual citizenship. Without the citizenship incentive, millions of illegals in this country will keep hiding.

President Bush says he supports a guest-worker program. But with plummeting approval ratings, apparently he's afraid to push for a citizenship provision that would further alienate his right-wing base.

That's why African Americans and Latinos need to unite. Their historic coalition on this issue might persuade Congress to pass legislation that not only reflects this country's history as a beacon for immigrants but also the nation's real need for additional labor as its birth rate and pool of native workers decline.

Contact deputy editorial page editor Harold Jackson at 215-854-2555 or hjackson@phillynews.com.
© 2006 Philadelphia Inquirer and wire service sources. All Rights Reserved.

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This guy is a nutter who must think jobs are created by force of government decree. Also that an unlimited stream of incoming candidates with lower earnings expectations helps American born Blacks compete for and obtain a finite number of jobs.

"These workers are not just coming across the border, they're being sent for, brought in and hired," Jackson said in a Jan. 30 interview on Lou Dobbs Tonight. "That's why we're going to have a massive demonstration on April 1, demanding that these citizens - white, black, and brown, whether Mississippi, Alabama, Louisiana - have the right to return with preferences on jobs and contracts."

You don't GET it Mr. Harold Jackson, shill for the open borders organizers.

JESSE AINT HAVIN' IT! HE IS FOR CITIZENS FIRST!

CITIZENS Do you remember what those are?

I just called this guy and his big argument was "What are you going to do with the 11 million already here. I tried to explain that if the law was enforced and employers fined and/or jailed we'd have more than enough money from the fines to deport those who chose to stay. I then told him if that didn't work, we could deduct it from the home country's foreign aid.

He started sputtering about not having the time to debate the issue with me on the phone, so I asked him if I could submit a point by point rebuttal to his column. He didn't make any promises, but I'm sure if we come up with something well-written and reasonable we could get 6-800 words.

Anybody want to collaborate?

Pinestraw, you are a really good writer. You would probably do as good a job on that as anyone. I can't stand talking to idiots like that.