On Black Leadership, Black Politics, and the U.S. Immigration Debate

Abstract

In the wake of the massive mobilization of immigrants in the United States in the spring of 2006, I have looked in fascination and sometimes concern at the lack of response from black leadership. While for some the response to anti-immigrant legislation has been formally clear, given the potential for racism and human rights abuses, the response from black leadership has been extraordinarily muted. In the context ofthat vacuum, the media has portrayed the feelings of African Americans as ranging from anti-immigrant to ambivalent. Many African Americans are fearful, some are hateful, and some just do not care. Black leadership has failed to grasp what is at stake in this debate and continues to fail to articulate a clear message on a number of social and economic issues of relevance to the African American community. On moral grounds, African Americans must stand by their tradition of being the guiding light for freedom and human dignity in the United States and around the world and support the legalization of the more than 12 million people in the United States who are struggling for basic rights and desperately trying to obtain what so many Americans take for granted: their citizenship. However, we as a community and leaders of our community must educate ourselves and make sure the media do not allow fear to drive our choices. But how do we fill the vacuum?

We must learn to live together as brothers, or perish together as fools.

—Martin Luther King, Jr.