The Black Informant | African American Commentary, News and Community Building

Reportedly, Al Sharpton is once again shining up his marching boots to help with protests in Arizona over their immigration policy.

We all know the drill:

#Great outrage and fear will be created over the “possibility” of what could happen. CHECK!
#EVERY arrest of individuals who are in this country illegally will be micro-analyzed.
#Arizona will be branded as a racist state.

It’s too bad that while Sharpton can fly from his perch in New York to Arizona, apparently his wings are not strong enough to take him to California.

“When Anthony Gentry showed up for a job interview a few months ago, he could sense the cards were stacked against him.

Most of the faces in the Fontana factory were brown. The only black person he saw shook his head.

‘He looked at me like, `They’re not going to call you again,”‘ said the 40-year-old Hesperia resident.

As the country struggles to climb out of the recession, Gentry believes Latino immigrant workers are winning the battle for low-wage jobs formerly held by blacks.

‘They are taking a lot of jobs,’ said Gentry, who was at the San Bernardino Employment and Training Agency on Friday morning looking for a job. ‘I’m not against them coming to the United States, but it’s harder to compete against them because they get paid less money.’

A new study by Louisiana State University researchers backs up Gentry’s belief.

Latino immigration caused black workers to be uprooted from low-skill labor markets, which in turn increased crime in urban areas across the country, according to the study.

[...]

James Tate, a local Republican activist, runs a San Bernardino business that trains nursing assistants and home health aides.

He says many of his medical assistants can’t get jobs because they are black.

‘We have clients that have told us, `We don’t want a black. Anybody but a black,’ Tate said.

Tate said he has talked to many blacks who tried to get manufacturing and service jobs.

‘A lot of blacks aren’t at construction sites because of illegal immigrants,’ he said. ‘The story I hear is that from the get-go they’re up against it mainly because they’re outnumbered.”

Some years back when I lived in Colorado, I sat in a day labor facility (ran by Whites) that supposedly was looking for anyone wanting work. For about 4-5 hours I sat in there as I was passed over by my south of the border brothers–many of whom could not speak a lick of English. Never mind the fact that I was there way before some of these guys. After my long wait, I finially caught on to what was going on. For someone who was fighting to get his family off of welfare and make just enough to get food on the table, this was a kick in the nuts for me.

It is unfortunate that issues like what is being highlighted in the above article routinely get either played down or ignored–unless of course it was being done by a bunch of White folks. Even many of you reading this know what’s up, yet for some you choose to remain mum about it lest you are break the narrative and be branded some type of “hater”.

This is not about “hating” anybody. Illegal immigration (notice I said ILLEGAL) has had an adverse effect on Black folks, yet many of us are being coddled into just dealing with it and remain silent.

Back in ’06, I quoted a MSNBC article that told a much different story of how Mexico handles its own “illegal” problem.

“As tough as the United States can be for workers who slip in from south of the border, Mexico is in a poor position to criticize. The problem goes far beyond the predatory gantlet of thugs and crooked cops facing defenseless transients like Moisés. There’s ample precedent in Mexico for just about everything the United States is—or isn’t—doing. Calling out the military? Mexicans may hate the new U.S. plan to deploy 6,000 National Guard troops on the border, but five years ago they cheered President Vicente Fox for sending thousands of Mexican soldiers to crack down on their southern frontier. Tougher laws? Hispanic-rights groups are enraged over U.S. efforts to criminalize undocumented aliens—yet since 1974, sneaking into Mexico has been punishable by up to two years in prison. Foot-dragging on amnesty? Fox has spent the past five years urging the United States to upgrade the status of millions of illegals from Mexico. Meanwhile, his own government has given legal status to only 15,000 foreigners without papers.

Some of the worst abuses take place on the coffee plantations of Chiapas state, where some 40,000 Guatemalan field hands endure backbreaking jobs and squalid living conditions to earn roughly $3.50 a day. Some growers even deduct the cost of room and board from that amount. “If you ask them, ‘Why are you bringing in Guatemalans to work?’ they say, ‘You can’t depend on Mexicans. They don’t work hard; they’re irresponsible’,” says George Grayson, a political scientist specializing in Mexico at the College of William & Mary. “The truth is, you can pay [the guest workers] a pittance. And if they cause the slightest disturbance, you can send them back to Guatemala.”

But here in America, illegals are given education, health care, transportation, etc. and can displace Black workers and many online (and off) Black activists (or those who consider themselves activists) are quick to sit and stay.