The "Black Voice" in the Immigration Debate

[courtesy of The California Majority Report]

The Black Alliance for Just Immigration (BAJI) and the Bay Area Immigrant Rights Coalition (BAIRC) sponsored a public forum titled "Braving Borders, Building Bridges: A Journey for Human Rights," at Laney College in Oakland yesterday. The panelists hoped to address the "black voice" in the immigration debate. The panel originated from a recent visit by a 14-member delegation of African Americans and black immigrants to the Tucson border area in order to "investigate the human rights abuses of immigrants, Mexican Americans and indigenous communities."  <><>Reverend Philip Lawson, one of the panelists, co-founded BAJI because of the lack of "black faces" during recent immigration marches. For Rev. Lawson and the other members of the panel, the "black voice" is important in this debate, because they are deeply impacted by immigration. Rev. Lawson delivered a powerful speech on the importance of a "culture of hospitality: hospitality for the alien and the powerless living among us."  <>