Alliance of White Anti-Racists Everywhere – Los Angeles
James E. Johnson Jr.
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Posts by James E. Johnson Jr.
Center for Immigration Studies Manipulates Poll Results from African Americans
01 year ago
It’s hard to swallow when others are putting words in your mouth. But that is exactly what the Tanton Network has been doing with African American communities. In its latest attempt to twist the views of African Americans, the Tanton Network through The Center for Immigration Studies (CIS) has released a poll titled ‘An Examination of Minority Voters’ Views on Immigration’.
It is not unusual for CIS to twist and skew facts to fit its extreme agenda. Anti-immigrant leaders are using this poll to convince the public that their view is race neutral and that ‘Minority Voters’ agree with their fringe views.
The press statement released with the poll downplayed the fact that a plurality of the ‘minority voters’ they had polled favored allowing immigrants staying in the country if they met certain conditions including: pay a fine, study English and undergo a background check.
Twisting the results was not good enough for CIS; its press release was titled ‘Minority Advocate, Constituents Differ on Immigration’. This is its attempt to drive a wedge between leaders and their communities. It also attempts to say that minority leaders, politicians, civil rights and faith leaders are irrelevant because they are “merely offering their own personal opinions”.
A careful reading of the poll results show that African American leaders are in step with their constituents on the issue of humane and just immigration reform. African Americans view our current immigration system as broken and in need of fixing. They are also agreeable to immigration reform which will allow immigrants to become a part of the rich diverse fabric of America after meeting certain requirements.
This is not the first attempt by the Tanton Network to put ‘blackface’ on its extreme views. In 2006, the Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR) set-up the front group Choose Black America (now defunct), that purported to be the voice of African Americans on immigration. It was lead by Ted Hayes, who Minuteman Project co-founder Jim Gilchrist called the “icon for the African-American segment” of the border vigilante movement.
The Tanton Network knows the African American community has long been considered the conscience of the nation and they are trying to shove words in our mouths. The Tanton Network cannot be allowed to twist our voices or our views.
Cord Jefferson Gets it Wrong on Immigration and Black America
01 year ago
Let’s just say up front I am not sure when Cord Jefferson’s writing is tongue-in-cheek or trying to be serious. Recently, he blogged ‘In Defense of John Edwards’ and talks about why progressives do not have the right to be as upset with Edward’s actions as conservatives, which I am sure was written with tongue firmly planted in cheek. His latest blog in The Root, ‘How Illegal Immigration Hurts Black America’ Jefferson liberally mixes fact and fiction to weave his tale.
Jefferson brilliantly ignores his own sources or twists them like pretzels to craft his fictional piece so that it has the feel of legitimacy.
1. He conveniently ignores an entire paragraph in the referenced Washington Post article which explains why there is higher unemployment by young Blacks such as Dlonta Spriggs. “Traditionally the last hired and first fired, workers in Spriggs’s age group have taken the brunt of the difficult economy, with cost-conscious employers wiping out the very apprenticeship, internship and on-the-job-training programs that for generations gave young people a leg up in the work world or a second chance when they made mistakes. Moreover, this generation is being elbowed out of entry-level positions by older, more experienced job seekers on the unemployment rolls who willingly trade down just to put food on the table.”
2. He also links to a NY Times article, but fails to highlight the following: “Hispanic immigrants had a bigger drop in jobs from 2007 to 2008, although black workers continued to have the highest unemployment rate, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.” The article states the job loss by Hispanic foreign-born workers declined by 4.8% compared to 2.1% for Blacks.
3. His blog suggests that undocumented immigrants make more than African Americans when he states that the median household income of African Americans in 2007 was lower than undocumented immigrants’ median household income for the same year, $32,000 versus $37,000 by his account. But he fudges the data by taking Census Bureau figures for African Americans in 2006 and figures from the Pew Hispanic Center figures for unauthorized immigrant for 2007 (they note unauthorized immigrant income at $36,000). The Pew report also states undocumented immigrants make approximately $14,000 per year less than the median household income of U.S. born residents.
4. I became a bit confused when Jefferson threw in the fact of historical discrimination in hiring practices by employers towards Blacks. ‘Besides competing for work while simultaneously attempting to avoid drastically deflated paychecks and benefits, unemployed African- American job seekers must also frequently combat racial discrimination. In a 2006 research paper called “Discrimination in Low-Wage Labor Markets,” a team of Princeton sociologists discovered that, all else being equal, black applicants to low-wage jobs were 10 percent less likely than Latinos to receive positive responses from potential employers. Furthermore, employers were twice as likely to prefer white applicants to equally qualified blacks.’ Is he trying to say that the employers are all undocumented immigrants?
It is not surprising that Jefferson turns to Mark Krikorian (who thinks that Haitians were not colonized long enough before they overthrow their slave masters in their revolution for independence), of the John Tanton Network’s think-tank Center for Immigration Studies for help in blaming immigrants as what ails Black America. As some Center for Immigration Studies reports have also been called in to question for not telling the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth. The Tanton Network has long tried to drive a wedge between Blacks and Latinos in an effort to advance its extremists views on immigration.
One would hope that Mr. Jefferson will write a serious blog that really discusses ways to help reduce the level of unemployment and underemployment among America’s Blacks. One in which he quits blaming those least responsible and starts talking about the real issues that are at the root of the problem: discriminatory hiring practices that lock Blacks out of jobs and advancement, poor educational systems that reduce employment opportunities, outsourcing of jobs historically held by Blacks to other countries, and labor laws that make it more difficult for workers to organize unions to help protect their wages and benefits.
The Disappeared In America
02 years ago
Across the U.S. hundreds of thousands of good people have disappeared without warning; some say it happened in the blink of an eye. No, it is not the Divine Rapture. People have disappeared because they believed in the American dream. More than 369,000 people who believed in the dream and worked toward making the dream become a reality are being held in detention facilities for following it.
Recently, there has been a focus on how our broken immigration system is turning the American dream into a nightmare for those who are working to make it their own. As the New Year approached, Jean Montrevil, who worked not just to make the dream a reality for himself and his family but also for others, was snatched up when he appeared for his regular immigration check in. Jean Montrevil is an example of the American story that is a model of redemption. The type of story that Frank Capra made movies about and for which people shed tears. Montrevil paid his debt to society, with a three year stint in prison for a conviction in 1989. Since that time Montrevil has given back to the community and the country with hard work and dedication to the American dream.
There is also the case of Nurul Alam who gave all the people that he met kindness and joy by selling fruit and giving his heart. Suddenly, Alam was gone from his usual location on Park Avenue in New York City, leaving patrons and friends to wonder what had happened to him. These are just a couple of the cases taking place in cities around the country to thousands of people who are trying to make the American dream a reality for themselves and others in this country.
Many have suffered inhumane treatment while in U. S. custody. Family separation and the jailing of children were detailed in the New Yorker article, The Lost Children. Recent reports, such as the one by Human Rights Watch, US: Immigration Detention Neglects Health, have described the lack of concern for the health of those detained. Other reports detail the inappropriate treatment of people, held by order of the U.S. government, sometimes leading to death according to a NY Times article.
The government has turned to a policy of disappearing people that have been victimized by the broken immigration system in the U.S., a broken immigration system that criminalizes thoughts of or striving for the American dream. When did we decide that it was good that America should be mentioned in the same breath as Argentina, the Soviet Union, Iran, and others where people were routinely rounded up and disappeared?
While people are calling for reform of the detention system, let us not forget it is just one of the symptoms of a broken immigration system. Let us work to develop a just and humane immigration system that meets the ideals that we value as Americans. Let us work towards the ideals and values that are looked upon as the shining example of what we want nations of the world to be.
Mark Krikorian’s TPS Comments Contradict Anti-immigrant Agenda
02 years ago
Once again we are seeing the John Tanton Network use one of its tentacles, Center for Immigration Studies, to mask its extreme agenda. Mark Krikorian, speaking on behalf of the John Tanton Network’s Center for Immigration Studies, said “The Haitians in Florida are certainly upset about this tragedy… but this is going to end up benefiting them immensely.”
Krikorian’s remark was reported in The National Journal’s article about how politicians on both sides of the aisle are pressing the Obama administration to grant Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for Haitians who are residing in the U.S. In another article, Krikorian says TPS for Haitians may be justified, but also stated that it is his understanding that things would “sort of get back to normal in a few months.” He believes that after a few months the Haitian refugees should be forced to return to Haiti. This would compound the tragedy of Haiti and the Haitian people.
Believe it or not, this is the softer version of the Tanton Network’s stance, which states that Haitians should be granted TPS only if it is denied to refugees from other countries.
The Tanton Network has long advocated against assisting Black immigrants and refugees. In 2004, Joyce Tarnow, advisory board member of the Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR), another Tanton Network organization, was quoted as saying, “We need to help nations that can subsist and let others wither on the vine,” and her advice for Haiti was “Stew in your own juices.”
This is not the first time a Tanton Network organization has advocated to send Black people into unstable situations. Eric Ward outlined in his blog Anti-Immigrant to Blacks: Go back to Africa how Dan Stein of the Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR) used nearly the exact same argument to force Liberians to return to a country still recovering from the wars that ravaged that nation and its people.
Another spokesperson of the Tanton Network, Jessica Vaughan, Director of Policy Studies Center for Immigration Studies wrote, “One legacy of TPS has been its contribution to the burgeoning street gang problem in the United States.” She pointed to a study that she authored as evidence. Her pronouncements dripped with racist overtones, as do the statements of Krikorian and Stein.
Krikorian is following the same script that the John Tanton Network has employed for years. If Krikorian truly wants to be a voice of repute in the TPS discussion, he must renounce the Tanton Network and its racist foundation. Until that time he is just another bigot.