Comprehensive
Immigration Reform (CIR), long delayed, for the wrong reasons. I arrived at JFK International Airport, in
August of 1985, to study Accounting, at Brooklyn College with a F1 Visa. My
wife and children would follow with F2 Visas.
At the airport, the customs officer in an unfriendly tone asked, “Why I
did not stay in my home country to study, don’t you have Universities there?” I
said, “No, we are undeveloped in the Caribbean and swing on vines.” He then
stamped my passport with a frown.
At
Brooklyn College, I was member of the National Association of Black
Accountants, later President, member of the United Students League (USL), later
Floor Leader and member of Black Family.
Black Family, was an organization where I drew comfort from, because the
emphasis of the organization was keeping black families together. Student politics at Brooklyn College was
racially divided, Blacks, Hispanics, East Indians and other minorities usually
were members of USL, Jews and Whites were members of PHD, the other party. Organized cheating at exams were dominated by
Jews and Whites especially in the Accounting Department, where there was also
an emphasis on multiple choice exams. Organized
cheating was a moral shock to me, being a student of the British system all my
life that emphasized honesty and focused on essay writing.
At
Brooklyn College, American Students of African Descent (ASAD), an umbrella
organization for Black Clubs, was formed when a Haitian student was attacked by
White students of the college’s baseball team.
The organization effectively dealt with that incident of racism, but was
not successful overall, because minorities seemed to need a crisis to stay
together.
First
employment, at a retail store and warehouse in Brooklyn, where all Blacks and
Hispanics were placed in the warehouse, all Whites and Jews were placed in the sales
department on the first floor. Internal control for theft was only directed to
Blacks and Hispanics, while White and Jewish employees were recruited to spy on
Black and Hispanic workers in the warehouse.
At Brooklyn College, while studying for my accounting degree, my Jewish
auditing professor said, “Internal controls for protecting assets, should be
based on the presumption that everyone would steal, if you give them the
opportunity to do so, not color” Oh, the biggest thieves over the years at the
warehouse were White and Jewish, not Black and Hispanic.
Reverend
Sharpton, was my hero, I marched like most Blacks with him for racial justice
in the Yusef Hawkins case, worked with him on the Abner Louima case, disagreed
with his political tactics in addressing civil rights issues in general, but
was inspired by the organized effort of Norman Siegel of the New York Civil
Liberties Union, on the same NYPD issues in 1997. During that time and less presently, Reverend
Sharpton’s and other civil rights leaders, amazed me by their lack of
organizational abilities and execution.
Additionally, their lack of knowledge on immigration issues, as it
relates to civil rights issues is disappointing. They, like some immigrants differentiate
between the African-American and Caribbean-American experiences, forgetting, that
the slave ships made different stops with the same cargo of people, separating
families. Caribbean-Americans and other immigrants are no different when they
believe that they are better than African-Americans.
Comprehensive
Immigration Reform, or lack of reform, separates families, deportations whether
criminal or non-criminal separates families. September 11, 2001, created more
vocal anti-immigrant sentiments and movements in the United States by already
extremist groups whose focus is keeping America white, more so, than keeping
America safe. The eight Senators, supported by President Obama, the number one
deportation President, have a new or old proposal on CIR, it’s called the Border Security, Economic Opportunity,and Immigration Modernization Act of 2013. The Boston issue
has created another opportunity for extreme White or KKK organizations to delay
CIR. What should be done?
The networks, FOX,
CNN, ABC, NBC, MSNBC, etc., most times, or some times, portray immigration to
the United States as an inconvenience as opposed to a necessity. Old immigrants
were mostly white or Jewish, new immigrants are mostly Hispanic or Black, this
is the difference that is at the center of the debate without intellectual
acknowledgement. The new CIR, Senate
proposal creates new categories that favor the “smart” over family. This new approach may make economic sense,
but panders to the extreme with racist agendas. The House is next. They get an
opportunity to either approve the Senate proposal or to use Boston as a
rallying call to continue the status quo. To House representatives the status
quo is fine, because it slows demographic changes favoring Hispanics and is a
blow to the President and Democrats who promised CIR in 2012.
At Figeroux
& Associates, we are intellectually aware, experienced and good American
attorneys and staff supporting Comprehensive Immigration Reform, and like
President Obama, we understand that in negotiations, you have to give, to
get. My experience, my Welcome to
America, is not uncommon. I
statistically believe that America will one day be a nation of greater
diversity, that change takes time, and that multi-culturalism is America’s
destiny. God bless America.
For a brochure
on Comprehensive Immigration Reform, click here.
