November 30, 2021
Dear esteemed members of the Congressional Black Caucus,
For years, Black immigrants have expressed that immigration is a Black issue. That sentiment was true before the nation witnessed Haitian immigrants being beaten at the Southern border and it is true today. Immigrants across the African diaspora come to the United States seeking opportunity and safety, only to be met with hostility and hatred due to our skin color. Black immigrants face, at minimum, the dual challenge of being Black and immigrant. Black immigrants may also face the challenges that societal oppression based on gender expression and sexual orientation, socioeconomic status, language differences, ableism, mental and physical illness, and so much more present. To say the least, we as Black immigrants are in a precarious position.
As elected leaders and people intimately familiar with the Black experience in this country, the Congressional Black Caucus has a unique opportunity to stand up for what is morally right on behalf of Black immigrants who have made their lives in the United States. You also have a tremendous responsibility. You understand, perhaps as few others do, the anti-Black challenges that have ensnared Black people for centuries in this country. You understand the power of resistance. One of the reasons the Caribbean nation of Barbados, a former British colony, voted to become a republic and shuffle off its colonial past is because of the influence of the liberatory Black Lives Matter movement, a movement originating in the United States, co-founded by two Black Americans and a Black immigrant.
We are coming to you all as our siblings in a long, protracted struggle. You have an opportunity to play a pivotal role in advancing permanent protections that could help Black undocumented people live full lives without fear. While the media focuses on the devastating plight of non-Black immigrants, Black immigrants are also constantly facing brutal conditions without adequate allyship from those within both the mainstream immigrant and Black civil rights movements in the U.S. To this end, it is imperative that the Senate reconciliation bill include the green card registry rather than relying on temporary parole. Most Black immigrants come here as adults and need protections that address their unique situations—the green card registry does just that.
As persons deeply connected to the Black community in the United States, you understand better than most that Black pain is multi-faceted. For Black Americans, this has included persistent racial injustice manifested via police violence and criminalization, displacement and gentrification, education inequity, mass incarceration, healthcare disparities and discrimination, wage inequities, unemployment, and underemployment. For Black immigrants, this also includes criminalization of our immigrant status, displacement across land borders and seas, erasure of our unique Black identities, remnants of colonization, and labor exploitation. The common thread connecting our struggles is the hue of our skin and our shared battle against global anti-Blackness. Therefore, we understand that artificial borders do not ameliorate our shared struggle. We need national and global solidarity on this important issue. We desperately need the same level of camaraderie with the African diaspora that Black American leaders demonstrated during the struggle against Apartheid in South Africa, where Black American leaders pressured the U.S. government to divest from the evil of that oppressive system.
Black Americans have historically understood their connection to all Black people across the African diaspora. We must acknowledge the salient differences of our experiences—some of our ancestors experienced enslavement and racism in the U.S., others of our ancestors experienced enslavement and colonialism in Africa, Latin America, and the Caribbean, and still others of our ancestors have been free from time immemorial. However, we must not let that difference necessarily divide us. Noted Black activists and intellectuals like Kwame Toure/Stokely Carmichael, Audre Lorde, Malcolm X, Harry Belafonte (all of Caribbean descent), and Maya Angelou, traveled to Ghana and convened with Miriam Makeba and other Black African thought leaders to unpack their shared experiences during the heyday of the global civil rights and Black Power political movements of the 1960s and 1970s. Many of the Harlem Renaissance’s most prolific Black artists were first-generation Black Americans, from Africa, Latin America, and the Caribbean. Many of the nation’s most vocal civil rights leaders and history makers, like Shirley Chisolm, Kwame Toure/Stokely Carmichael and Marcus Garvey, had roots in the Caribbean and elsewhere. They understood that we are one and our struggle for Black liberation will always be interconnected. We ask you, members of the Congressional Black Caucus, to consider our rich history of shared struggle and beloved community. We ask you to be vocal about the struggles of Black undocumented people in the U.S., many of whom toil tirelessly alongside Black Americans trying to make this country what it claims to be. We at the UndocuBlack Network believe in transformational solidarity. We look to you to ensure a pathway to citizenship passes through Congress in 2021, for Black immigrants and for all immigrants. We look to you for robust leadership and true partnership in this fight for Black liberation, and in all the fights to come.
Sincerely,
The UndocuBlack Network
“To this end, it is imperative that the Senate reconciliation bill include the green card registry rather than relying on temporary parole. Most Black immigrants come here as adults and need protections that address their unique situations—the green card registry does just that. ”
