“Nothing in all the world is more dangerous than sincere ignorance.” Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
Since the end of the Civil War in 1866, and the passage of the 1964 Civil Rights Act, to the days of Richard Nixon’s affirmative action and his investing in Black colleges, Black Americans have been improving their social and economic status. With education and upward mobility in the workplace, entry level positions trained them for high paying management jobs. This training enabled many to start their own businesses. Today, 70% of all Blacks consider themselves middle class.
In 2008, the Commission on Civil Rights released a report on “The Impact of Illegal Immigration on the Wages and Employment Opportunities of Black Workers.” They found illegal workers comprise one-third of the unskilled workforce. Illegal immigration has created a glut of low-skilled, low-wage labor in the U.S. Experts on the panel found illegal immigration depresses wages and employment for American citizens, and how Black workers are affected disproportionately..
The commission found that six in 10 adult Black workers have a high school diploma or less and are employed in entry level positions in the labor market. They determined that they are in “labor competition” with illegal migrants for these entry level training positions and many are not interviewed for jobs at all.
“Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.” – Martin Luther King
Dr. Vernon Briggs, professor of Economics at Cornell University, told the Commission since many Black citizens and illegal aliens live in large metropolitan areas and competition between these groups over jobs can be extensive. Since illegal migrant workers are use to low wages in their countries, they will work for far less in the U.S. This prices most Black Americans out of the entry job market.
The commission determined that many illegal aliens consider low paying entry level jobs career positions and work at those jobs for years. Entry-level jobs used to be filled by workers who used them to gain experience, develop skills and prepare for a better job with higher wages and benefits.
As the employment of illegal immigrants increases, Black income and wealth decreases. Reducing the number of Black workers in entry-level jobs by forced competition limits wealth creation for Black Americans. They found income for unskilled Black workers is at least 10% less.
Black Americans aren’t just deprived of income. With limited employment and income, this has a negative effect on the ability of middle-class Blacks to marry and support their families. In a national poll, 71% of all adults surveyed said it was very important for a single spouse to be able to support a family financially so they could raise their children properly and influence their values and morals.
The commission found that in urban areas where illegal immigrants and Black workers compete for entry level jobs, there is a higher percent of crimes committed by Blacks. When many are deprived of a legal income because illegal aliens work for less, with nothing else to do, many turn to crime in the streets.
“We must build dikes of courage to hold back the flood of fear.” – Martin Luther King Jr.
It’s not just Black workers taking an economic hit, this equally affects the white working-class and Hispanic citizens with little education or skills. As more unskilled illegal immigrants enter the work force, this competition between Hispanics, unskilled whites, and Blacks is driving wages down in industries that thrive on minimum wage workers. This does not grow the economy, it stagnates it.
Progressives are trying to build a voting base that will guarantee they win every election. They are encouraging illegals to do anything they can, which includes hiring risky coyote cartels, to make it across the border while they still control Washington.
A new report from Project 21 claims the cost of illegal immigration is $113 billion a year. It revealed that the burden falls unjustly on urban Blacks who have to pay taxes to fund free services for these illegal migrants and then compete with them for the same social and welfare programs. Project 21 Co-Chairman Horace Cooper “working class Blacks shouldn’t be taxed to pay for illegal migrants.”
Although Black Americans are disproportionably affected by illegal immigration, there are very few organized groups fighting back. Since most Black politicians are Democrats, they embrace illegal immigration. Like many undereducated white voters, many Black voters have been brainwashed by their pier groups to vote only for Democrats because they are the only ones who will take care of them.
Millions of people are in our country illegally, which demonstrates the failure of our immigration system. This causes a significant strain on public services at the state and local level. Our most needy citizens, particularly Blacks in urban communities, must compete for education and health programs with those who shouldn’t even be here. Yet very few are standing up and fighting back.
Much of the funding for social programs comes from regressive taxes that hit poor and working-class Blacks the hardest. This means they are paying for the privilege of having illegal migrants in their communities who are taking their jobs and using the services that they are paying for.
Democrats made immigration a political flashpoint when Joe Biden detailed his new open border policies. To remain in Biden’s good graces and with the Democratic Party, many Black leaders in Congress are supporting the illegal crossers while others have buried their heads in the sand.
The Democrats entitlement agenda now prioritizes those who enter our country illegally over the lawful citizens whose ancestors were here and fought for this country as far back as its founding. It’s appalling and disgraceful that Black leaders support these policies of redistribution of wealth paid for by working middleclass Black Americans. These giveaways of our tax dollars must end.
Dr. King said, “In the end, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends.” During the Civil Rights Movement, Blacks and whites worked side by side and passed one of the most important bills in U.S. history, the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Neither Blacks nor whites could have done this alone. Currently it is mostly middleclass white voters who are protesting Biden’s dangerous open borders. It is time for Black America to join them for their own survival.
The Civil Rights Movement was a mission to give an equal opportunity for everyone to catch the American Dream. It does not protect the civil rights of illegals who have no rights in America. It’s time for Black citizens to ask their Black leaders why they support illegal migrants at the expense of Black citizens.
“The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy.” ≠ Martin Luther King
This article was originally published at www.thecentersquare.com
