In this article from The City Journal Steven Malanga looks at the ways in which the influx of illegal immigrants from Hispanic countries is changing the landscape of black political culture in America. More than one writer has noted the racial subtext of the current battle between Hillary Clinton and Barak Obama and their respective support from different parts of the Democratic party. Hillary is attracting the lion's share of Hispanic votes while Obama is getting the black vote.
Traditionally these two groups in the Democratic party had been on the same side, at least on the surface. But as more and more Hispanics have supplanted blacks economically and radically changed previously black neighborhoods into Hispanic ones, there is a growing tension that is causing a wider and wider split in the party. Black leaders at the top levels of the party have been slow to recognize it or to adapt to the new reality. But rank and file blacks in the party are becoming more and more vocal about what they see as a loss of influence and economic position. And there is evidence to support this view, especially as Hispanics use race-based preferences to supplant blacks, turning their own legislation against them.
In this election cycle we may see a further rift in the Democratic party as Hillary and Obama split the party down the middle. If Clinton can get the nomination there will undoubtedly be a huge outcry from blacks who have been the most loyal party members for decades and who now see their chosen candidate passed over for another who is supported in large part by a growing Hispanic democratic base. Once again blacks will see themselves shut out by a Democratic party leadership that takes their votes for granted and assumes that they will never leave the party and become Republicans.
If only John McCain understood this new dynamic and was able to offer something besides another pro-amnesty position.
As the Hispanic population has expanded in formerly black areas, Latinos have also vied more intensely with blacks for affirmative-action slots, public-sector jobs, and political power. In one notable late-1990s case that presaged future confrontations, Hispanic leaders in South L.A. launched an official complaint that blacks made up the overwhelming majority of the county hospital’s staff. A federal agency then forced the hospital to hire more Latinos, provoking bitterness among local blacks. More recently, in Compton—where Hispanics have replaced blacks as the largest ethnic group, but where blacks continue to dominate local politics—Latinos have been grumbling that they don’t hold as many jobs in the public schools as they should, given their numbers.
This battle over quotas for public-sector jobs is a glaring example of how immigration is turning the race-based policies of the last 40 years, originally designed to help blacks, against them. For African-American leaders like Claud Anderson, head of the Harvest Institute, the turnabout represents a betrayal of the civil rights movement: only blacks deserve quotas. “When did our government ever exclude immigrants or deny them their constitutional rights, as they did African-Americans?” he asks. But for other blacks, the demands of Latinos and Asians that government set-aside programs include them are further evidence that racial preferences were misguided in the first place. “Blacks who support skin color privileges now will be singing a different tune later once government starts discriminating against them once again, this time in favor of Hispanics,” writes columnist and blogger La Shawn Barber.
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