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An Exchange of Views: “Immigration Amnesty Would Harm African-Americans”

Editor, Our Time Press
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Right-wing Propaganda  or Leftists Blinded by Their Own Rhetoric

Brother Yusuf et al,

This is an interesting piece of right-wing propaganda aimed at definitely dividing Black workers from Latinos and Black immigrants. The three people -who happen to be on the Civil Rights Commission- who wrote this 11 April letter are known right-wing defenders of the Capitalist Order.

Their task is to make a progressive immigration law appear to be a way to keep Blackfolk on the bottom of the employment heap and to divert our attention away from the rich and superrich setting policy in such a way that guarantees unchecked maldistribution of wealth through shrinking salaries and benefits, exporting labor and systematically deskilling the labor force that remains inside the US.

There is plenty of work that needs to be done inside the US! From infrastructure to alternative energy to advance technologies that require a skilled working-class to a expanded and revamped health care system, millions of permanent jobs can be created. Also, the other area of struggle ignored by this 11 April letter and implied in the Our Time Press article is the ongoing battle for a National Living Wage minimum wage.

Both the Democratic and Republican wings of the capitalist buzzard are bought and sold to resist this effort even though small and huge corporations can still make a profit if they paid living wages. This is what makes Black-Immigrant solidarity for a Living Wage so central to our Black Liberation Struggle: there is enough wealth in this nation to benefit ALL workers without bickering over crumbs of crumbs.

In addition to this, our struggle for Black Reparations is an essential struggle to further dismantle the capitalist system of class exploitation and racial oppression. Our demands for redress through free health care, free education, tax-free consuming and interest-free mortgages further pushes the issue of systemic economic disparities based on the legacy of vast capital accumulation via 400+ years of chattel slavery.

Lastly, the statistical info is mostly based upon the impact of undocumented workers- not documented workers. There are other factors attributing to persistent high Black unemployment:

A.  Blackfolk born in the US are not going to work for below minimum wage in great numbers.

B.  Blackfolk born in the US have been systematically miseducated and undereducated -especially over the past 25 years -to such an extent that we are a diminishing few in the skilled and semiskilled labor forces.

C.  Many jobs that may exist for us are now found further away from where we live… forcing us to spend more money in transportation than 25-30 years ago.

I’m sure others can come up with even more reasons why this divisive piece must be challenged. This question of African-Americans and Immigration Reform would make a great Left Forum Debate/Workshop… or anywhere else this coming summer.

In Struggle,

Sam Anderson

The writer Responds

Super Leftists Blinded by Their Own Rhetoric

Last week’s article entitled Report: Immigration Amnesty Would Harm African-Americans was called an interesting piece of “right-wing propaganda aimed at definitely dividing Black workers from Latinos and Black immigrants”. No. The article highlighted the impact of amnesty on descendants of this country’s chattel slavery system.

African-Americans, who survived and valiantly fought off the slave shackles of the world’s greatest superpower, have a right to own our issues. Our issues are distinct. A cursory history survey will reveal that immigrants of color were not clamoring to voluntarily enter this country prior to the Civil War. Though immigrants of color began to trickle in during the late 19

th and early 20th centuries, the massive waves of immigrants of color came with the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965 after the hard fought for 1964 Civil Rights Act and the 1965 Voting Rights Act.

Only myopic folk refuse to see “the rich and superrich” methods of turning a blind eye to rampant unauthorized and out-of-status immigration as a “way to keep Blackfolk on the bottom of the employment heap”. Why? Basic economies of scale. A surplus of unskilled, low-wage, unauthorized immigrant workers depress the wages and employment opportunities for low-wage, unskilled citizens – both Black and white – for the benefit of the wealthy classes. Haven’t you ever wondered who funds the myriad groups advocating for amnesty?

Those who have no problem accusing President Obama for allegedly ignoring the plight of unemployed and underemployed African-Americans oddly choose to ignore the direct impact of unchecked unauthorized immigration.

The United States has immigration laws on the books which includes a variety of Visa opportunities. About half of the current Diversity Visa system currently benefits immigrants from Africa who apply legally. The Congressional Black Caucus is correct to stand in support of the program’s continuance. The CBC also supports addressing the backlog of status transfer applications that lead many to fall out-of-status while waiting for their applications to be approved. African-Americans do (in fact) join in unity with Latinos and Black immigrants who apply legally.

But what about our issues? A better question is “What are our issues?” Spouting rhetoric about infrastructure and alternative energy are not enough. We do have “an expanded and revamped health care system” getting ready to roll out in 2014. It is euphemistically called Obamacare. And simply talking about a “Nation[al] Living Wage” is not enough. Who is organizing the “Black Liberation Struggle”?

Verbalizing a “struggle for Black Reparations” is not enough, nor is “demands for redress through free health care, free education, tax-free consuming and interest-free mortgages.” Free everything? Who is supposed to pay for it… the same oligarchs you rail against? Get serious. Even in the Netherlands where there are robust social services the tax rate is upwards of 40-50 percent. Talk is cheap. Where is the action? Where is the organizing? Talking into an echo chamber is not enough.

The statistical information cited in the article “is mostly based upon the impact of undocumented workers – not documented workers”.  That was the point. Legal documented workers are not the problem. The problem is unchecked, undocumented, unauthorized immigration by people who don’t respect this nation’s laws yet ironically demand those same laws be changed for them.

The assertion that “Blackfolk born in the US are not going to work for below minimum wage in great numbers” ignores the fact that African-American workers are being displaced by undocumented immigrant workers who do work for below minimum wage. Blanket amnesty would make matters worse due to a glut of low-skilled, low-wage unauthorized immigrant workers competing with citizens.

Solely placing blame on an education system for rendering Blackfolk born in the U.S. “miseducated and undereducated” is a tired and worn excuse. Education is an interactive endeavor. Self-proclaimed education activists who have been whining “over the past 25 years” should take a good look at themselves. Educational systems in NYC and nationally have undergone several organizational structures from community control to mayoral control and from No Child Left Behind to Race to the Top. Yet, the professional Super-Leftist complaints remain the same.

There is nothing stopping educational activists from organizing “Saturday Schools” like the ones other ethnic groups provide their children to teach their culture. There is nothing stopping activists from challenging the males among us who impregnate barely educated little girls then expecting those same little girls to effectively educate and parent their own children by themselves.

We have had strong leadership on education. For the love of her people, Regent Emerita Dr. Adelaide Sanford gave us instruction. She was among those who led the fight for the Curriculum of Inclusion, but somehow we couldn’t figure out how to get it funded.  Bob Law spent an entire year conducting rallies and informational forums across the city in an attempt to inspire African-Americans to support independent Black schools. We didn’t take him seriously and follow through. Now we have fewer independent Black schools than 25 years ago.

I don’t know what to say to someone who would argue that distance and an increase in transportation cost from 25 years ago is a bigger reason for Black unemployment than unauthorized immigration. How far did unauthorized immigrants illegally travel and at what cost?

I will say this: Super-leftists who have no ability, willingness, or agenda to address African-American cultural impediments to advancement should stand down. Jumping on other people’s bandwagon to help them organize their well-defined, arguably hubristic agenda that will continue to displace African Americans who don’t have an agenda of our own is a recipe for disaster.

You can make your comments at: www.ourtimeathome.com

Developer outreach successful in employing local contractors & residents

Stephen Witt
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Potential contractors at outreach event for downtown Brooklyn project.

Thanks in part to an aggressive outreach program, African-American-owned construction contractors and individual workers are finding increasing success in finding work on the City Point project now under construction at the former Albee Mall site on Fulton Street in Downtown Brooklyn.

The program is run by Crescent Consulting, a firm specializing in construction compliance with Equal Employment Opportunity and Affirmative Action (EEO/AA) requirements, which City Point developer Albee Development LLC hired to exceed those requirements.

“City Point contacted us to work with them to develop a program to get more minority contractors and to identify local contractors that could perform some of the work,” said Crescent Consulting spokesperson Rohan DeFreitas. “We have regular outreach events where minority and local contractors interface with prime contractors so they can bid on some of the work.”

DeFreitas explained some of the smaller contractors might not have the upfront money to cover insurance and bonding costs to do an entire portion of the work, so they match them with larger contractors to do a portion of the work.

“Say the prime contractor is doing concrete and you wanted to do some concrete work. We put them together and find how it would be possible to do contract work,” said DeFreitas.

Among the black-owned contractors that recently won a bid for some of the work on the project after going to one of the outreach meetings. is C&D Iron Works, 194 Sackman Street.

“We’re doing a couple of the floors,” said C&D Iron Works owner Chad Roopchan, who has nine workers on the job including the off-site fabrication work. “Often small minority contractors are locked out because bids require union workers.”

DeFreitas said similarly white-owned construction businesses working at City Point have to satisfy employment components that requires them to hire minorities and local residents.

“If you are unemployed and looking for work it would be to your advantage to go to the job site and let the supervisor on the job know you’re seeking employment,” said DeFreitas. “Your information will be taken and we will meet with you to establish what kind of trade you want and we’ll try to identify opportunities with contractors.”

Phase one of the massive mixed-use project just down the street from Juniors Restaurant was recently completed with the opening of Armani Exchange. The second phase currently underway will have 1.3 million square-feet broken down into 680,000 square feet of retail space and 680 units of housing including 125 units of affordable housing for moderate and low-income residents. The retail end will ultimately include anchors such as New York City based retailer Century 21 and the seven-screen Alamo Drafthouse Cinema.

Albee Development spokesperson Tom Montvel-Cohen said in phase one of the project over 50 percent of contract dollars have been awarded to local and minority-owned businesses.  Over 80 percent of construction employees are members of minority groups, he said.

View From Here: Drones and the Boston Bombing

David Mark Greaves
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The FBI has sent an interrogation unit to question Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, the 19-year-old that video shows apparently placing the second of two bombs that killed three people and injured at least 180 at the Boston Marathon.  One of their goals is to find the “reason” for the bombing,  they want to hear, “We did it because…”  and then the “reason”  will be given for the death and maiming.

But the reason sounds the same whether heard in Yemen or Boston.  People writhing on the ground don’t care about the reason.   If you live in Yemen and are sitting at a cafe and a man who the United States believes to be a “terrorist” is speaking to another not far away, you are subject to being one of over 3,000 civilian Yemenese-— women, children and men— killed as collateral damage because of U.S. “reasons”.  Imagine the Boston Bomber, times a thousand, going off across our country.  Killing people from Maine to California.  Firing from the skies and unable to be stopped.   How would you feel about the country that said their reasons were more important than your lost loved one’s life?  More important than your sorrow?  It is painful to even hold the thought, but the United States has become that country, reviled in cinema and in print declaring, “The drone attacks will continue until all obey”.

The “reason” always amounts to having the ability to act, having no one who can stop you and holding no moral imperative not to.  Whether President George Bush or now, far more heavily, Barack Obama with his killer drones or General George Custer with his saber, it is all terrorism and we have to stop it where we can.

We have to tell the world, that’s not us.  That’s the Obama Administration and we’re working to bring them under control now.   We have to tell the president to stop the drone war.   Tell him we understand it’s more convenient and expedient, the drone teams at Hancock Field in Syracuse get to commute back to the wife and kids after a mission but it does not make us any safer and it can only inspire a lust for vengeance.   It is at best, counterproductive, but the whole of it is inhumane.

What’s even worse, those killings are not only done in our name,  but to be crass about it, money is taken from our pockets to pay for them.  Time magazine reported that each MQ-9 Reaper costs, $12,548,710.60 [The Air Force fact sheet says this: “Unit Cost: $53.5 million (includes four aircraft with sensors) (fiscal 2006 dollars)”].    While our children are quickly falling behind the world populations, destined to make a living by providing whatever human services that the aggressively educated classes can’t do without, military contractors are making big money off of this carnage, and it is money that can be better invested in our children and our future.

District Leader Robert Cornegy, 36th Council District Hopeful

Mary Alice Miller
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What a difference four years makes.

In 2009, Councilman Al Vann was challenged by seven candidates – including Robert Cornegy — after Vann’s council vote to overturn term limits giving Bloomberg and himself an additional four years on the City Council. Though he publicly endorsed former Comptroller Bill Thompson for mayor, Vann’s own run for a third term diluted the citywide message of “No Third Term Means No Third Term” in the 2009 race, which partially contributed to Bloomberg squeaking out a win by 4%.

After Vann won that year’s 35

th Council Democratic Primary with 29% of the vote, Robert Cornegy penned an op-ed in Our Time Press endorsing Vann against Working Family Party candidate Mark Winston Griffith. Cornegy joined VIDA (Vannguard Independent Democratic Association), ran for the 56th AD Male District Leader two years later with Vann’s endorsement, then became VIDA’s president.

“I absolutely ran against him [in ‘09] with the intention of winning because I thought I was the better candidate [due to] my passion, my youth and exuberance,” said Cornegy. “I thought that he had done a tremendous job but I wanted him to pass the baton to someone who is as passionate as he was when he began, somebody who was willing to empower and put in a tremendous amount of work.” But Cornegy said succession planning was not the reason he primaried Vann.

During that campaign, Cornegy had the opportunity to sit in living rooms and hear Vann’s legacy of achievement as a member of the Assembly and the City Council. So, when Vann eeked out a win, Cornegy’s supporters asked him who they should support in the general election. “People were hungry for a vetting process that would give them the opportunity to see who is best for continuing to serve the community. If it wasn’t me,” Cornegy said, “I was compelled to make a decision — not just for myself and my family — but for those people who had put their trust in me to win.” Because of the history he learned during that primary, Cornegy made the decision to support Vann for the general election.

When asked if a deal was cut after the 2009 primary Cornegy said, “Some of my competitors are going to scream ‘Deal, deal, deal.’ But I couldn’t have planned this. I don’t come out of machine politics, I come out of a social service background.”  The idea would be that Cornegy would work really hard to leave a legacy within Bedford-Stuyvesant of hard work and empowering people who couldn’t empower themselves. “That was my goal when I got here and that is my goal when I leave.  But there was never a deal discussed. There was never any discussion between him and I during the course of me running or after.  Anybody who knows me and knows him knows there was no deal ever cut. We’ve never spoke about that.”

To press his point Cornegy said, “When deals are made, then you coast. If there was a deal, there is no way I would work as hard as I work. No one in this race, or any race I’ve seen before or after, has put in the amount of time, sweat equity and diligence that I put in.”

Cornegy is a legislative policy analyst for the New York City Council, and writes policies for two committees – Aging and Veterans. He has also written legislation, including the council’s Occupy Wall Street resolution. He helped author the gun violence report as a member of the council’s Gun Violence Task Force. Cornegy wrote on behalf of a service member the Chin Resolution, which calls on the federal government to have better oversight over training and insensitivity to prevent hazing and harassment in the military.

As a District Leader, Cornegy is the only person of color who sits on the Rules Committee for the Kings County Democratic Committee. One of the first things he did was eliminate the practice of having 11 at-large members – a Vito Lopez initiative that marked a contentious period in County history.

“A lot of candidates are going to talk about reform, but a lot of people don’t even know what reform looks like or how it happens,” said Cornegy. “Yet, there are those of us who were going about the business of reforming institutions for the benefit of a fair and equitable distribution of power. I didn’t just talk about reform, I practiced it.”

Cornegy said none of his competitors have worked as hard as him and is out front on every single issue of importance to Bed-Stuy and Crown Heights. “During Hurricane Sandy, I partnered with TWU to bring city buses filled with people – residents from Bedford-Stuyvesant and subsequent areas – to go and volunteer,” he said. “Nobody raised the amount of money and products to donate on behalf of the love from Bed-Stuy to places that were suffering.”

Cornegy sits on the Interfaith Hospital Community Advisory Board and will chair it. He organized a bus to go to the Father’s Day march against stop-and-frisk so that central Brooklyn would have access. When others thought voter registration rolls were exhausted during the 2008 presidential race, Cornegy registered 2,000 more Bed-Stuy residents in 2012.

If elected to the City Council, Cornegy said his first priority would be undergirding small business and entrepreneurial development. “I believe what the president says: Our economy will grow not by big business, but by small business and entrepreneurship,” said Cornegy. Noting large businesses like FoodTown and Peaches as well as smaller businesses Cornegy said, “If they were given access to capital and technical assistance, then those businesses will be able to grow and hire from within the community. I would place my focus on making sure that we don’t continue to escalate utility bills and commercial taxes that price small businesses out of our communities. The economy would grow by leaps and bounds.”

On housing Cornegy said, “If you ask the average New Yorker — especially in Bed-Stuy and Crown Heights — about housing, they will tell you they will pay the market rate for housing if they have the right salary. So everything depends on earning potential. People don’t not want to pay rent and higher mortgages,” he said. “They just want their salaries to give them the ability to do that.”

Cornegy would use discretionary funding to build a small business and entrepreneurship incubator in the small-and medium-sized factories along the Lexington Avenue corridor “before somebody swoops in and turns them all into condos”.  He said he would also increase low-andmoderate-housing stock by making sure subsidies on the council level will remain available to encourage developers and owners to keep their units affordable. “I would work with the development community to create programs that are fair and equitable to keep units affordable,” he said.

Noting that long-established nonprofits are “under attack”, Cornegy said, “We lost Jackie Robinson, Vannguard and Concord. But I would fight ‘tooth and nail’ to make sure that our nonprofits can stay in ownership. I would fight to restore them under a new Speaker. I work for the City Council and will have a working relationship with whomever will be the next Speaker.”

“I believe everyone else in this race would’ve taken the opportunity to get an endorsement from Al Vann,” said Cornegy.  “VIDA already endorsed me. I am blessed to be receiving his endorsement on Friday. This is Al Vann standing before the world saying that he is endorsing his successor.”

Council member Vann endorsed Cornegy by stating: “Robert, who was also endorsed by the Kings County Democratic Party, is a proven leader whose first priority when elected to the New York City Council will be this community.” Vann continued, “Cornegy is responsible for drafting progressive legislative proposals related to aging, housing and veterans, all embraced by my colleagues in the council.  I have worked side-by-side with him on a myriad of issues such as affordable housing, quality health care and support for small businesses. I admire his boundless energy and enthusiasm for this community.”

35th District City Council Candidates in Profile Ede Fox lays out her vision for Fort Greene Clinton Hill & Prospect Heights

Stephen Witt
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Ede Fox appears extremely personable and comfortable sitting in a Vanderbilt Avenue restaurant as she discusses her campaign to succeed Letitia James for the 35

th District City Council seat covering Fort Greene/Clinton Hill, Prospect Heights and parts of Downtown Brooklyn and Crown Heights.

A self-described “child of the Civil Rights Movement”, Fox was born and raised in Manhattan to activist parents. She has lived in the 35

th District for the past 10 years, where she is an active member of Community Board 8 and is the chair of the Environmental/Sanitation Committee.  She has also worked for the New York City Council since 2006, first as the Legislative and Budget Director for Council member Melissa Mark-Viverito and then as Chief of Staff for Council member Jumaane D. Williams.

“The top five issues in the district hands down are education, development, affordable housing, small business and social services,” she says. “P.S. 9 is around the corner and they just lost Title 1 funding where the federal government gives extra money if you have a certain number of kids that require free breakfast and lunches. Because the neighborhood is gentrifying, they lost almost $400,000, which is a big chunk. We are gentrifying but we can’t raise that kind of money. Still, I believe every child deserves a quality education and it’s the government’s job to provide it.”

Fox said a whole generation of students suffered from mayoral control and she will fight to reform so that real experts and stakeholders in the community will have a stronger say as to what needs to happen to improve schools locally.

“I don’t have a master plan, but when I worked with Melissa and Jumaane we often heard from parents who feel very disengaged. Even in Prospect Heights there is a whole stretch of Section 8 housing and these are people who have been here and deserve to be and there is still a large swath of kids here that need our support,” she said.

On construction and development, Fox said she was opposed to how the Atlantic Yards project came about, but now that it’s here she will work to make sure it is done well and includes as many amenities for the community as possible.

“We need development. The city is hundreds of years old. We need to be investing in our infrastructure but the work needs to be done well. We need quality housing that lasts a long time with a foundation of infrastructure that the city can be built upon,” she said.

Regarding bike lanes, Fox noted she lived for a time in Amsterdam where everybody rides bikes, but how the lanes were laid out there is different to how they were laid out here. As such, Fox says that there is not a lot of distinction between cars, bikes and pedestrians, making roadways much harder to navigate, particularly for seniors.

“More thought has to be given on how to use the (public) space and accommodate everybody,” she said.

In total, Fox said she is a committed, passionate activist and leader with the skills and experience to lead the council in the direction it needs to go.

“I may not be very extroverted and brash, but I really connect with people on a one-to-one basis,” she said. “I’m really the best candidate to fill this position. I have the experience and commitment and skills to represent what I think is the best district in the city. I’m eager to get in there and really fight for the city where everybody gets a chance.”

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