By Charles D. Ellison
While Congress debates immigration reform and twists itself into Gangs of 8, it should not go unnoticed that African Americans have very little skin in the game.
The Senate Gang of 8 might boast two Latinos in its ranks, but neither of the two sitting Black Members in the Senate have a seat at that table – and for obvious reasons. Sen. William Cowan (D-MA) is merely keeping Secretary of State John Kerry’s old seat warm until a special June 30th election. And Sen. Tim Scott (R-SC) typically avoids controversy and the off chance that South Carolina voters are reminded they have a Black Senator.
On the House side, there is also a Gang of 8, fastidiously going about the business of crafting a compromise once the Senate bill passes and heads to its neighboring lower chamber. But a quick glance at that House of 8 shows Black folks need not apply. That bi-partisan and “balanced” group consist of only 4 Latinos (naturally) and 4 Whites: On the Republican side are Reps. Raul Labrador (R-ID), Mario Diaz-Balart (R-FL), John Carter (R-TX) and Sam Johnson (R-TX); on the Democratic side we find Reps. Xavier Becerra (D-CA), Luis Gutierrez (D-IL), Zoe Lofgren (D-CA) and John Yarmuth (D-KY).
Incidentally: out of 435 Members of the House of Representatives, 42 are Black. That’s 9.7 percent of the House population, and still several percentage points below the normal proportion of African Americans in the overall U.S. population. Yet, that’s close enough to 10 percentage points to wonder why Black members appear shut out of what is described as a very “selective” House Group of 8.
That there are only eight participants in the House version is a bit half-ass considering there are 335 more people in the lower chamber than in the Senate. If a Senate “Gang of 8” is 8 percent of 100 Senators, why not aim for a similar proportion in the House Gang of 8 and make it the Gang of 35?
Too many chefs and planet-size egos in the kitchen make that idea somewhat impossible. We can barely pass budgets and avoid fiscal calamities, much less try to weave together a complex immigration reform bill that’s 844-pages at last count. But, at some point, did anyone looking at the House “Gang of 8” stop to wonder where all the Black folks went?
At the writing of this piece, the Congressional Black Caucus – 43 strong (including Cowan) – went silent on that question. A recent conversation with Rep. Karen Bass (D-CA), a CBC member heading its Africa Brain Trust and also Ranking Member on the House Foreign Relations Committee, revealed that the House “Gang of 8” was formed “several years ago.”
At that time there were 44 Black Members of Congress, many chairing powerful House committees. What happened back then?
That’s unfortunate given the fact that over 10 percent of immigrants in the United States are from African and Caribbean countries, accounting for a sizable chunk of the migrant population. And, contrary to conventional wisdom, Black migrants are not only among the most highly educated of migrant groups but are arguably the most educated. Most have relied heavily over the years on what are called “diversity visas,” slots in the immigration grid that ensure migrants are hailing from a wide range of racial and socioeconomic backgrounds.
But, like its affirmative action forbearer, the diversity visa is getting phased out based on the most recent reading of the Senate immigration reform bill. Someone managed to catch that as the bill was getting passed between “Gangs of 8” like a love note in the back of a very non-Black classroom.
One would think that warrants at least one Black Member of Congress sitting in with the Gang of 8 – add another Republican from Florida and California (or New York since it’s missing East Coast style) and we can make it Gang of 10, right?
Apparently not, which may not only leave many African and Caribbean migrants – a vast majority residing in Black Congressional districts – out on a limb, but guarantee fewer Black faces making it into the U.S. Like its affirmative action grandparent on life support, the diversity visa is getting shut down with watered-down racial code and immigration poll taxing in the form of a “Merit Based Point System.”
The Black Diaspora has a very long and awfully horrific history in relation to immigration, considering African American ancestors didn’t make it here as a matter of choice several hundred years ago. Alex Conant, a spokesperson for Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL), made the mistake of getting that all twisted recently, arguing in a Tweet that we have not “had a cohort of people living permanently in US without full rights of citizenship since slavery.”
Times like this would call for a reasoned Black voice in the conversation. The problem is that Washington doesn’t want that. Too many folks would like to conveniently forget a very inconvenient history. Having a discussion about Black migrants brings back racial ghosts that ruin it for folks jumping around in the post-racial bounce house.
The Black Caucus response to that? Scenes of CBC Members, including Chair Marcia Fudge (D-OH) and Rep. Donna Edwards (D-MD), literally chasing down House “Gang of 8” member Guitierrez who, by virtue of his loosely progressive Chicago roots, is now honorary CBC rep in the secretive immigration reform negotiations. But Guitierrez doesn’t have to really do a thing about that. Beyond holding forums and issuing press releases, all the CBC can do is stand outside in the hallway and wait.
CHARLES D. ELLISON is Washington Correspondent for The Philadelphia Tribune and Politics Contributor for UPTOWN Magazine. He can be reached via Twitter @charlesdellison
The post How Black Folks Are Shut Out of the Immigration Debate appeared first on UPTOWN Magazine.