Thursday, May 04, 2006

Growing Unease for Some Blacks on Immigration

NYT But despite some sympathy for the nation's illegal immigrants, many black professionals, academics and blue-collar workers feel increasingly uneasy as they watch Hispanics flex their political muscle while assuming the mantle of a seminal black struggle for justice. Some blacks bristle at the comparison between the civil rights movement and the immigrant demonstrations, pointing out that black protesters in the 1960's were American citizens and had endured centuries of enslavement, rapes, lynchings and discrimination before they started marching.

They are right there, but the most important reason for them to be concerned is that black teenagers have the highest unemployment, and employeers are not willing to pay much for employees with no experience, and if they can fill those low end jobs with illegals that they can pay cash for, they will do that rather than pay young blacks and have to pay social security taxes for them.
Others worry about the plight of low-skilled black workers, who sometimes compete with immigrants for entry-level jobs.

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