Civil rights, yesterday and today

Leaders of the African

American community speak
It has been half a century
since the black community
here started a battle for
the end of segregation. Is
their struggle similar to
the struggle of immigrants
today?
by Johanes Roselló
muNdohISPÁNIco, 9 march 2011

D iscrimination, racial profil-

ing and deprivation are
conditions that black people after
their arrival as slaves knew well.
Ever since that time, the struggle
for their rights has not stopped
and, now more than ever, the civil
rights movement resembles the
effort to support immigrants.
“It is ironic because the first
illegal immigrants were blacks.
After 1809 to bring blacks to
work as slaves was illegal,” said
state senator Vincent Fort.
For the African American leg-
islator, there is much in common
between the struggle of the immi-
grants and that of black people.
According to the Democrat,
after the abolition of slavery some
sought to return the formerly op-
pressed to Africa because they no
longer could profit from them.
“It’s a parallel situation. Lati-
Pro-immigration rally, Atlanta, 1 May 2010.
nos come here because someone
needs them to work. Now there
are too many and they want to
send them back,” Fort said.
Isaac Newton Farris Jr.,
nephew of civil rights leader Mar-
tin Luther King Jr., said that the
exploitation and discrimination
African Americans experienced is
no different from the experience
of immigrants today.
“Unfortunately this country
has a history of taking advantage
of people who are considered
inferior. African Americans in the
1940s and ’50s were discriminated
against. This attitude has trans-
ferred to the Hispanic commu-
nity,” Farris says.
“When my uncle gave his ‘I
Have a Dream’ speech, he was
not only talking about African
Americans but about people of all
colors and ethnic origins that have
been deprived [of their rights],”
he adds. Farris is vice-president of
the Southern Christian Leader-
ship Conference (Sclc), the civil
rights organization founded by
King.
Edward Dubose, president of
the National Association for the
Advancement of Colored People
(NaacP), said that past subordi-
nation of black people resembles
the current struggle of Hispanics.
“In the United States, Afri-
can Americans were denied basic

© 2011 MundoHispánico (www.mundohispanico.com) | The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. For non-commercial, personal use only.
rights, and now the immigrants
are blamed in some cases and are
subject to isolation. Both groups
suffer from abuses and fight to win
back their liberty,” he maintains.
‘The minority will be the majority’
For Georgia State professor of
African American studies Akinyele
Umoja, African Americans and
immigrants are related in that they
are seen as inferior by a section of
the white community.
“The politics of immigration
in this country has always been
racist. There was a time in which
people from Europe were being
brought to assure that the popula-
tion would be majority white. This
is one of the preoccupations that
immigration brings about. We are
moving toward a point when in the
United States the majority will be
the minority, and some are afraid
of that,” Umoja said.
The historian thinks that all
Americans, with the exception of
indigenous Americans, are immi-
grants.
The differences
For Fort the main difference
between the African American and
immigrant struggles lies in legal
status, since African Americans
already were considered Ameri-
can citizens during the civil rights
movement, while many Latinos are
undocumented.
© 2011 MundoHispánico (www.mundohispanico.com) | The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. For non-commercial, personal use only.
“It is more
difficult for
someone who is
undocumented
to go out and do
what we did in
the civil rights
movement be-
cause they take a
chance at being
arrested and
deported,” Fort
said. Discrimination in Texas, 1930s.
Dubose,
who shares whites represents a rejection of
Fort’s views, said that immigrants their culture.
need to be heard. “As long as this does not
“I hope that in this country, es- change, the situation will remain
pecially those on the extreme right, hard for the Hispanic community
would support immigrants and and for them realistically being
the undocumented because we all able to get the respect they de-
want the same thing—they come serve. The white community sees
looking for a better life,” he said. this as a rejection of the United
But Farris thinks that the States and believes that Hispan-
main factor that distinguishes ics are trying to replace American
between the two movements is culture. This generates resentment
the lack of assimilation among and some are able to use it to at-
Latinos into American culture. tack [Hispanics],” he said.
“I think that African Americans
were more prepared to assimilate The problems
in American society than Hispan- According to Fort, the civil rights
ics. I am a big backer of learning movement inspired others in their
the English language because struggles—immigrants, women
what makes us Americans is the and anti-war organizations, for
language,” Farris said. example. And still it functions in
For the African American this way.
leader not learning the language “The brilliance of the civil
is a barrier for Latinos, one that rights movement is that it gave
hinders their struggle and that for others a model for saying, ‘I can

Arizona rally, March 2010.
do what they did and we can be
free,’ ” Fort said.
But the key might be in the
cooperation between the move-
ments and in Hispanics finding
a leader who represents them.
According to Isaac Newton Farris
Jr., the Hispanic community must
form an alliance with African
Americans. Together Hispanics
will be stronger and more success-
ful in their struggle, as the union
leader César Chávez realized
years ago.
“I have not seen since César
Chávez the disposition in the
Hispanic community to ally with
the African American community.
© 2011 MundoHispánico (www.mundohispanico.com) | The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. For non-commercial, personal use only.
What I think is by the potential support of their
that that reluctance electors or the lack of support
does not make they bring.”
[Hispanics] stron- Fort agrees with Farris on this
ger but weakens point.
them, because unit- “They have to march and pro-
ed forces are able to test, but also they have to march
bring progress,” he to the polls, because elections
added. matter. One person’s vote makes a
Farris also difference,” the legislator said.
emphasized the
importance for Leaders of immigrant
Latinos of organiz- groups give their opinions
ing themselves and
using the model of
nonviolent resis-
tance that the black
S am Zamarripa, the first
Hispanic to serve in the
Georgia Legislature, believes there
civil rights move- are many similarities between the
ment used. ongoing immigrant struggle and
“First [His- the black civil rights movement.
panics] must ally He also believes that Latinos have
themselves with a difficult task in finding enough
other organizations and welcome leaders.
the idea of nonviolent resistance. “We have strong national
I do not believe that the time of leaders in maldef [Mexican
massive demonstrations is over. I American Legal Defense and
don’t think it’s too late to educate Educational Fund], La Raza,
the Hispanic community to use lulac [League of United Latin
the tools they have at their dispos- American Citizens] and in
al,” he said. chambers of commerce, but there
Further, Farris emphasized are many pressures related to im-
the importance of Latinos who migration that make it difficult
are citizens involving themselves to have the number of leaders we
in the electoral process. need. All our leaders are under
“I don’t believe that the pressure,” said Zamarripa, who
Hispanic community is involving also credited the work of local
itself in the political process. The Latino activists.
first step is registering to vote, Helen Kim Ho, executive
because politicians are influenced director of the Asian American
Legal Advocacy Center, also sees
the connection between both
movements and believes in the ne-
cessity of a contemporary alliance
among different ethnic groups.
“Although current anti-
immigrant measures are aimed
toward Latin immigrants, Asian
Americans are at their side with
all our fellow immigrants, be-
cause we know how easily the fire
of hate can build and consume
everyone,” she said.
Jerry González, executive direc-
tor of the Georgia Association of
Latino Elected Officials (galeo),
agrees with Kim Ho on the impor-
tance of cooperation and empha-
sizes African American support.
“They [African Americans]
had success in their struggle,
although even now we don’t have
racial harmony in this country.
There is still discrimination
against them, against Latinos and
against immigrants,” González
said. “We have a long way to go,
and I think that points to the
power we can have if the groups
work together.”
And in spite of successes
in the black movement for civil
rights, Adelina Nicholls of the
Georgia Latino Alliance for Hu-
man Rights (glahr) also calls
attention to the negative effects
African Americans suffered and
that might now threaten the im-
migrant community.
“We know that they had
segregated neighborhoods at
that time and now we have just
about the same—very segregated
areas where our community lives
and even more so now with the
participation of the local police,”
she said.
—translated by John Turnbull

Proposed anti-immigrant / anti-Latino laws

Immigration-enforcement legislation pending in
the 2011 Georgia Legislature:
¶hb87 “La Georgizona i” | Empowers local law
enforcement to arrest undocumented immigrants
and to initiate deportation proceedings. Establishes
fines and prison time for those presenting falsified
documents to obtain work.
¶sb40 “La Georgizona ii” | Requires companies—
excluding the state farm industry—to use the
E-Verify program to verify employees’ visa status.
Local law enforcement can detain any person they
“suspect” of being undocumented and turn that
person over to immigration authorities.
¶sb104 “Day Laborers’ Law” | Citing “vehicu-
lar chaos” caused by day-labor pools, establishes
penalties for day laborers, those who hire them, and
county and municipal officials who fail to enforce
the law.
¶hb296 “The Undocumented Accounting Law” |
Requires hospitals and public schools to keep track
of all services provided to undocumented immi-
grants.
¶hb59 “Kill the Dream Law” | Would prohibit
undocumented youth from entering any publicly
funded state post-secondary school.
¶hb72 “The English-Only Law” | The written
portion of the Georgia motor-vehicle exam would
be offered only in English.
Source: Mundo Hispánico, 16 March 2011
Additional resources available from the state Legislature
(www.legis.ga.gov), aalac (aalegal.org), American
Immigration Lawyers Association (www.aila.org), galeo
(www.galeo.org), glahr (www.glahr.org), lulac
(lulac.org), maldef (www.maldef.org), and the National
Council of La Raza (www.nclr.org).

© 2011 MundoHispánico (www.mundohispanico.com) | The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. For non-commercial, personal use only.