Now isn’t this something.
Black folks are at near-bottom when it comes to unemployment rate and the very employed Black elite’s response to them in the middle of this economic crisis? Tough it out.
As I predicted the other day, the scary ghost stories of what MIGHT happen will continue to ramp up on this issue. Commentaries making the claim that ANYBODY who even looks like they are from south of the border are on rapid fire mode as we sit here.
“Currently, there are reports that Black people in Arizona are split on supporting the SB1070. Some suggest the support for SB1070 centers on the potential that African-Americans will face increased job opportunities if “illegal immigration” is curbed. If you’re worried about labor, you’re missing the larger issue with racial profiling.
Since the turn of 20th century, Black people have been writing about the perils of immigration on Black labor and taking a self-interested stance. This attitude has not gotten us more jobs or better paying ones. What this attitude has gotten us is a shrinking share of jobs, lack of protected wages and labor conditions, and continued ethnic tension. It’s time that we fight not just for personal interests but also the collective rights of people.Racial profiling will not bring us better jobs or better opportunities; it will continue us on a slippery slope towards conceding our human rights.”
Written by the very employed R. L’Heureux Lewis, Assistant Professor of Sociology and Black Studies at the City College of New York – CUNY.
Now I have been doing this blog for years now and anytime stuff like this went down, many of the usual Black talking heads out offered very little comment on the issue. Innocent Black folks were being targeted by Mexican/Latino gangs (hotbeds of illegal immigrants). You would have thought these same commentators would have come to the defense of the Black folks who had nothing to do with the beef between gangs in that area. Black folks were getting killed and they said nothing. Mighty Whitey passes a law that targets illegal immigration and now suddenly the Black elite jump on the first thing smoking to Arizona to hold a protest banner and cheese for the camera. Those that can’t make it are left with the task of making their fellow unemployed Black bruthas and sistahs feel more guilty for actually putting their own interests (like finding a job, putting food on the table…you know, survival stuff) ahead of a demographic (illegal) that has been pushing them further down the economic ladder.
If these elitist want to prove that they can take one on the chin for the everyday Black man, then I challenge them to put down the protest signs, stop with the commentaries and compete toe to toe with illegals in the job market. Then maybe they can help me answer the question posed to me from my daughter the other day: “Daddy, why is it that all the road workers I see are Mexican?”
The Black Elite’s Hot Coffee Stand In Hell
by Duane on April 30th, 2010 at 9:53 amNow isn’t this something.
Black folks are at near-bottom when it comes to unemployment rate and the very employed Black elite’s response to them in the middle of this economic crisis? Tough it out.
As I predicted the other day, the scary ghost stories of what MIGHT happen will continue to ramp up on this issue. Commentaries making the claim that ANYBODY who even looks like they are from south of the border are on rapid fire mode as we sit here.
Written by the very employed R. L’Heureux Lewis, Assistant Professor of Sociology and Black Studies at the City College of New York – CUNY.
Now I have been doing this blog for years now and anytime stuff like this went down, many of the usual Black talking heads out offered very little comment on the issue. Innocent Black folks were being targeted by Mexican/Latino gangs (hotbeds of illegal immigrants). You would have thought these same commentators would have come to the defense of the Black folks who had nothing to do with the beef between gangs in that area. Black folks were getting killed and they said nothing. Mighty Whitey passes a law that targets illegal immigration and now suddenly the Black elite jump on the first thing smoking to Arizona to hold a protest banner and cheese for the camera. Those that can’t make it are left with the task of making their fellow unemployed Black bruthas and sistahs feel more guilty for actually putting their own interests (like finding a job, putting food on the table…you know, survival stuff) ahead of a demographic (illegal) that has been pushing them further down the economic ladder.
If these elitist want to prove that they can take one on the chin for the everyday Black man, then I challenge them to put down the protest signs, stop with the commentaries and compete toe to toe with illegals in the job market. Then maybe they can help me answer the question posed to me from my daughter the other day: “Daddy, why is it that all the road workers I see are Mexican?”