African-Americans drowning in wave of illegal immigration

Houston Chronicle ^ | February 2, 2003 | TERRY ANDERSON

[Dog Gone]

THE black community has made great strides in the last few decades. Racism has certainly not been eradicated, but it is no longer accepted with a wink and a nod as it once was. We are proud to see Secretary of State Colin Powell, even when we do not agree with everything he does. The same with Condoleezza Rice, the president's national security adviser, and many others.

That's the good news.

The bad news is that in some regions we black folks are so overwhelmed by the huge numbers of immigrants that we are being displaced in our schools, jobs and neighborhoods.

That may seem a harsh thing for a black person to say against brown people, but I don't see it that way. I am an American, proud of both my nation and my race. What I see in my community of South Central Los Angeles -- where I have lived nearly all my life -- is thousands of Mexicans who care nothing about our traditions and culture, and only want to impose their way on us. That's not immigration, that is invasion.

It is sad what has happened in my neighborhood. This was a respectable, blue-collar area of hard-working black folks living in their bungalows and going to their jobs. In just a couple decades it has become almost entirely Mexican. They live several families to a three-bedroom house and keep chickens in the yard, but the city doesn't care about the zoning violations or the noise of having so many crowded into a small space.

According to the Census Bureau, nearby Watts is now 60 percent Hispanic, and it was previously the black community on the West Coast. No longer.

The immigration situation is really hard on our young people. A 17-year-old kid on my street couldn't get a job at McDonald's because he didn't speak Spanish. Another young neighbor boy was thrown into a bilingual classroom at age 8 and was forced to listen to Spanish all day long. His six-hour school day was turned into three hours. When his mother asked for an English-only class, she was told "there are none."

Would you believe that I, a black man, have been called a racist many times for speaking up against this invasion? I have a radio program on the subject and therefore hear from a lot of people, even some in Mexico.

When they call me a racist, I put this question to them: What if a hundred thousand Vietnamese were suddenly dropped into Guadalajara? And what if those newcomers didn't speak Spanish, and further insisted that their children be taught in Vietnamese? What would you think if they were happy to work for half the normal wages for any job they could get, thereby putting thousands of your local Guadalajarans out of work? Would it be racist to say there was a problem?

When people of good will and good sense hear the situation put that way, nearly all understand and respect my viewpoint.

Now if only they would listen in Washington. America's political leaders are the problem. They have been selling out this great nation for real and imaginary political benefits while ignoring the dangers. Even after Sept. 11, nothing has been done to plug up our borders. Another terrorist attack could be 10 times worse, and it would likely happen because Congress and the president learned nothing about the need to keep the nation's borders secure.

If I sound angry, you hear right. Like other Americans, I want immigration to be legal, controlled and reduced. But as a black American, I see that the burden my people must carry is heavier than for many others. I am sure that if Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., were alive, he would understand the fundamental unfairness to the black community of allowing more immigration than the nation can handle.

---

Anderson is an auto mechanic living in South Central Los Angeles. He is the host of The Terry Anderson Show on radio station KRLA airing on Sunday nights. He testified before Congress in 1999 about the effects of mass immigration on his community. Anderson can be e-mailed at terrry@theterryandersonshow.com.

[Clara Lou]

Deal with your extinction. How nice. Is that what you would have told the Jews living under Hitler?
Who mentioned "extinction"? The article and this discussion are about one ethnic group (Hispanics, legal or illegal) moving in and overwhelming the previous ethnic group. Get a grip on your imagination.

[Clara Lou]

Red, read my post #21, and be very careful before you call others ignorant. It makes you look bad.

[rdb3]

Tailgunner, remember last month when you initiated a thread concerning the MLK holiday and our conversation pertaining to it? I'll find the post but I'm too friggin' lazy to do it now.

I remember you suggesting to me that I seemed okay with the ramifications of the hijacking of the Civil Rights Movement by the race hustlers out of some sort of revenge factor (something to that affect)?

In the end, you saw that that was not my intention(s) at all. However, please peruse this thread and tell me if you don't see the exact same thing that suits what you were asking.

Immigration is indeed a huge problem. There's no denying it. But one would think that Americans of all stripes would stand together on this issue. That doesn't appear to be the case with some here.

A black person raises the same issue that is of tremendous concern to conservatives and the reactions of some is simply, "Oh, well. What goes around comes around!"

Ain't that a bitch?

T-minus 41 days until the girth of Tha SYNDICATE, the philosophical heir to William Lloyd Garrison.
101 things that the Mozilla browser can do that Internet Explorer cannot.

[FITZ]

"All these years during which especially young black men could have been studying instead of feted at the altar of Jesse Jackson's "You have a right to be perpetually down 'n in the 'hood.""

The hood? Check this out.

http://www.lapdonline.org/get_involved/most_wanted/0alpha_most_wanted/a_wanted_index.htm

[Harmless Teddy Bear]

It is very late in the game I know but I will keep fighting. Immigrents and illegal aliens are two very different things. When you allow the other side to define the word usage you allow them to define the debate.

[billhilly]

Has anyone checked the temperature in Hades? It may be freezing.

[Hank Rearden]

I understand the problem he describes, but Inglewood CA used to be a nice town too when I was a kid (many years and 1,200 miles ago). Now look at it. A Turd World ghetto, like Compton and Watts from years gone by.

Irony is obvious at times.

[FITZ]

he would tell young black children to study, to work on their education; but he, has long since stopped explaining to kids how they must prepare themselves for law-abiding opportunity.

If you look at the LAPD Most Wanted lists, you'll see relatively few blacks, they are far far outnumbered by those "hard-working, hard-studying" immigrants. Much of our crime is now imported.

[Hank Rearden]

The problem with America today is not the blacks and its not the immigrants. It is the elite liberals who control our institutions (and they are almost totally white).

Hey, Celebrate Diversity!

Je$$e Jackass
Al Sharpton
Charles Barron
Charles Rangel
Maxine Waters
Eleanor Holmen Norton
The Texas idiot cow who thinks men landed on Mars (Sheila Jackson Lee?).

Want more?

[kaylar]

black person raises the same issue that is of tremendous concern to conservatives and the reactions of some is simply, "Oh, well. What goes around comes around!"

Those of us who saw both white and black working people go from one 40 hr a week job to 2-3 minimum wage jobs (or meth cooking/dealing) just to survive don't feel that way. And I won't even go into the housing shortage...the 33% rise in crime in one calender year (1997-1998) per the county sheriff...the reappearance of one eradicated diseases like TB (both my husband and I tested positive for exposure)....the closing of one store or business after another...the closing of all but 2 of the factories....This country is becoming a nightmarish version of a third world country, because wages may be going down-but bills and prices, rents and mortgages, etc, are not.And no job category is safe. They told laid off factory workers to go learn computers ; well, we can see whats happening to the tech jobs. Looks like HCPs are the next on the chopping block.

Over 80% of the American people, including a comfortable majority of Hispanic citizens, want illegal immigration halted and our laws enforced. And BOTH parties are ignoring us. I really would like to know why. I do believe it goes waaaaaaaay beyond voting blocs for the Democrats and cheap labor for the Republicans....

[applemac_g4]

If Asian or European immigrants had moved into your neighborhood it's likely that you wouldn't have had to write this article.

It's only the desire of *some* hispanic immigrants to terraform areas of the United States into little Mexicos completely with Spanish spoke in the public square that causes this problem.

It is not at all racist for American immgrants of prior generations to demand that this new wave conform to the standards we have set for our country.

[Servant of the Nine]

My reaction to Mr. Anderson's concerns is "Hey! That's life. It's happened to many groups, ethnic or otherwise, over the span of history, and it's going to happen some more. Deal with it."

NO. It has never happened here.

All previous ethnic groups have learned the English language and American ways and assimilated.

Until the present Hispanic population has assimilated at least as well as the Irish or Italians, we need to completely seal the Southern Border. Afterwards, we need to have limited immigration and guest worker programs, but continue to do whatever is necessary to stop all illegal infiltration.

So9

[quebecois]

I was including the top reaches of the Republican party in the mix when I said "elite white liberals". On many of the most important issues today, there really isn't a "dime's worth of difference" between the two parties.

The rank-and-file of the Rep party is different....but those who control the power in virtually all of our institutions (cultural, academic, and political) are whites who share some of the same, globalist ideas.

[quebecois]

I think that you missed my point. The list of black "leaders" that you mention has power in american society only because they've been granted power by the liberal white elites. Without these elites, these black marxists would have no influence in america

[Clara Lou]

For the last time, when I said "span of history," wouldn't that have been a clue to you that I meant the history of "man" rather than the short 230-year period of U. S. history?

[xJones]

If that idiot Vicente Fox would get off his duff and do something about Mexico instead of always insisting that it's the US's responsibility to handle this problem, we might get somewhere.

What's in it for Fox? The countless millions of illegal Mexicans send huge amounts of American money home. No income tax, free public services here, and Mexican families thrive due to American wages sent south of the border. It's time to fine the hell out of companies using illegals, but there are big business interests against that. And Fox keeps demanding *rights* for his illegal cash-cows in the U.S. The word *suckers* comes to mind....

[Lizavetta]

I've made a few changes....see how it sounds:

This was a respectable, blue-collar area of hard-working white folks living in their bungalows and going to their jobs. In just a couple decades it has become almost entirely black.

This was a respectable, blue-collar area of hard-working Gentile folks living in their bungalows and going to their jobs. In just a couple decades it has become almost entirely Jewish.

Now back to the original wording:

This was a respectable, blue-collar area of hard-working black folks living in their bungalows and going to their jobs. In just a couple decades it has become almost entirely Mexican.

[FITZ]

Here's a Texas Most Wanted website. It lists the criminal with their gang name. Again ---relatively few blacks.

http://www.tgia.net/Most_Wanted/most_wanted.html

[applemac_g4]

One more way that illegal aliens hurt the United States: An American citizen, who lives in the United States, is not as likely as an illegal to send significant percentages of his earnings back to Mexico to support impoverished family members there. When an illegal does this, it takes wealth out of circulation in the United States, and reduces the multiplier effect in our economy.

[Hank Rearden]

the magazine for the National Association of Black Scuba Divers

I wonder . . . . would they accept for publication an article by a white guy named Angus Black?

or are they just fixated on skin color, like those "racist Republicans"?