Page 1 Page 2 Page 3 Page 4 Page 5 Page 6 Page 7 Page 8 Page 9 Page 10 Page 11 Page 12 Page 13 Page 14 Page 15 Page 16 Page 17 Page 18 Page 19 Page 20 Page 21 Page 22 Page 23 Page 2423 FEBRUARY 2017 BODY OF CHRIST NEWS displace skilled Blacks by eliminating them from competition. For another century, the unfortunate native Blacks were employed only in the lowest paid, dirtiest and hardest jobs with few if any benefits. That historical pattern continues today. In highly skilled job categories such as researchers, engineers, scientists and computer specialists, Blacks are dis- placed by immigrants with the assistance of laws. Reforms in visa laws enacted in 1986 were designed specifically to attract technically skilled immigrants. Today, nearly 50 percent of the workers who fill highly technical jobs are immigrants recruited and hired under the H-1B visa program. These workers displace highly trained native Blacks and allow U.S. corporations to fill their technical needs without training, or working with schools to train, native Black workers. Corporations also release native workers and transfer thousands of jobs to other countries, further reducing the number of jobs avail- able to native Black Americans. Approximately 55% of the staff members at historically Black Colleges are immigrants and non-Blacks. The Center for Immigration Studies published a report in 2001 entitled Immigration from Mexico, that documents that immigrants, in the area of low- skilled jobs and especially from Mexico, displace native Blacks from employment such as landscap- ing, construction, hotel and airport service employ- ment, nail care, auto repair, janitorial services, groceries stores, sanitation workers, liquor stores, restaurants, barbering and low level public service jobs. Immigrants also displace native Blacks in busi- nesses and industries they once controlled such as funeral homes, medical practices, gas stations and restaurant cooks and chefs. Native Blacks did not find new industries and employment opportunities. Immigrants operate their businesses in Black com- munities, but they will not buy from Black business- es and they rarely hire Blacks as employees. (“Help Unwanted,” The Wall Street Journal, June 6, 1995) AFFIRMATIVE ACTION Affirmative action programs were originally designed to correct injustices to one race of people, Blacks, by another race of people, Whites; to elimi- nate the legacies of slavery and Jim Crow segrega- tion. But today, affirmative action programs have been converted into preference programs for immi- grants even though most categories of immigrants are White and have never been negatively impacted by racism or racial conditions that caused these programs to be developed. (“Immigration Keeping Blacks on Bottom Rung,” New York Daily News, September 11, 1995) This error can be traced to the Immigration and Reform Control Act of 1986, which effectively required employers to treat immigrants exactly like native born citizens. Since nearly 90% of all immigrants are classified as White on their immigration records and drivers’ licenses and 90% of all native born Americans are White, why aren’t immigrants treated like native Whites and excluded from affirmative action programs? Why are they cat- egorized with Blacks only in this instance of affirma- tive action? Putting apples and oranges into the same catego- ries sets up a situation where immigrants of any race displace Blacks from the very programs designed to help Blacks. It is not possible to justify includ- ing Hispanics, Arabs, Asians, other immigrants or women (who are a majority), in affirmative action programs. The current affirmative action programs ignore the legal mandate that “government use all necessary means to lift the legacies and incidences of slavery off of the shoulders of Black people.” The Harvest Institute’s Position The Harvest Institute’s opposition to increas- ing immigration is based upon the Constitution and the disproportionate harm that it imposes on native Blacks. The 13th and 14th Constitutional Amendments and the Civil Rights Law of 1866 placed Blacks in a protected class and mandated Congress to lift the badges of slavery from the shoul- ders of the Black man. The Harvest Institute under- stands that each branch of government traditionally operates on a policy of benign neglect of Blacks. In some instances there may also be a misunderstand- ing of the effect immigration has on native Blacks. In other instances, there may be the mistaken assump- tion that Blacks will react as they have in the past and sit silently as their government institutes laws and policies that will create even more pain in Black America. The latter is an erroneous assumption and no longer accurate. The Harvest Institute is a strong voice that is not against any group, but is dedicated to helping Black America become self-sufficient and competitive within the country that their labor built. Increased immigration will not lead to that outcome, but the following policy recommendations will begin movement in the right direction. Oppose reform that increases immigration and close the nation’s doors until policies are in place that redirect resources to native Blacks to correct the inequalities of slavery and Jim Crow semi-slavery; Require all immigrants that seek American citizen- ship to demonstrate knowledge of Black history and the contributions native Blacks made to the develop- ment of this nation; Establish community economic development banks, funded by a portion of immigration fees, to alleviate the direct negative impact of immigration on native Black communities; Reform existing immigration laws to treat Haitian refugees equal to Cuban refugees; increase the number of immigrants of African descent until their numbers match the percentage of Asians, Arabs, and Hispanics who have migrated to the United States, legally and illegally over the last 40 years; Prohibit immigrants from applying for affirmative action programs which were initially intended to address the native Black racial problem. CONCLUSION The Harvest Institute offers these recommenda- tions because native Blacks are losing faith in civil rights and social integration. Our government con- tinues a pattern of bestowing the rights that should first go to native Blacks to immigrants from foreign countries. Native Blacks are ignored and patron- ized with symbolic and ceremonial actions by both political parties. The issue of immigration is roiling within Black communities and has the potential to soon become a divisive issue of historic proportions. A 1995 Roper report indicated that 92 percent of Black Americans are opposed to an open door immi- gration policy. And, until the 1960s, Black leaders acknowledged the harm to their group and opposed it. Opposition to open-door immigration should not be interpreted that Blacks are against any other group. What it does mean is that native Black people expect concentric circles of justice for the people who built this country and they expect to be in the center of the circle of benefits. IMMIGRATION ... from page 21