Says Mr. Ronald Walters, director of the African-American Leadership Institute at the University of Maryland, quoted in today's New York Times. He's referring to the conflict he sees between championing immigrant rights and the issue that half the population of young black males are unemployed in some cities.
This echoes something I said some time ago. There is a fundamental problem with supporting massive illegal immigration at the expense of citizens in this country. We need to look after our own first. A flood of cheap labor undercuts the ability of our own people to get meaningful work at reasonable wages. Some blacks rightfully fear that their issues will be pushed to a back burner as focus shifts to the illegal immigrants.
But despite some sympathy for the nation's illegal immigrants, many black professionals, academics and blue-collar workers feel increasingly uneasy as they watch Hispanics flex their political muscle while assuming the mantle of a seminal black struggle for justice.
Some blacks bristle at the comparison between the civil rights movement and the immigrant demonstrations, pointing out that black protesters in the 1960's were American citizens and had endured centuries of enslavement, rapes, lynchings and discrimination before they started marching.
Others worry about the plight of low-skilled black workers, who sometimes compete with immigrants for entry-level jobs.
I am in favor of legal immigration, I am in favor of giving every citizen of this country equal opportunity on a level playing field. I'm also in favor of closing the border and stopping the flood of illegal immigrants.
I think there are a lot of people who think like I do on this issue. I think it's time for Washington to listen.
