The immigration issue is not only a contentious one for Puerto Ricans. It has also divided the African-American community, with one part of the leadership clearly suspicious of the merits of pro- moting immigrant rights. Sensitive about high unemployment among African Americans, these leaders see Latino immigrants as unwelcome com- petition for scarce jobs. When a 1990 Congressional Accounting Office study found "a pattern of widespread discrimination against Latino and Asian immigrants" in the wake of the Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) refused to join the calls of Latino civil rights organizations for repeal of the law. As a result, at the 1990 annual awards dinner of the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights, Latino orga- nizations threatened to pull out of the conference. Only eleventh-hour diplomacy by then NAACP President Benjamin Hooks coaxed Latinos back to the table. Relations between Latinos and African Americans were strained further when NAACP state chairper- son Hazel Dukes expressed her frustration on public radio in September, 1990 that jobs that should be going to African Americans were being given to waiters "who can't speak English" and "who take home all the excess food." She compounded the problem when she later explained to a local paper that she was talking about "Ecuadorians, who are not Latinos." The Latino outrage prompted the New York newspaper El Diario-La Prensa to lead with a front-page map of Latin America pointing out to Dukes exactly where Ecuador is located. Even progressive African-American leaders such as the Rev. Calvin Butts of Abyssinia Baptist Church in Harlem have not been immune to anti-immigrant bias. In 1991, on WABC's Latino interest show, "Tiempo," the Reverend called for the borders of New York City to be closed because the city did not have enough resources to serve the growing immi- grant communities. The statement brought immedi- ate chastisement from Latino and Caribbean immi- grant groups. Many in the U.S. political establishment encour- age this ethnic infighting, which diverts attention from the larger economic disparities from which these elites benefit. Certain African-American and Latino middle-class leaders also have fomented eth- nic rivalries as a tool to further their own political ambitions in their respective communities. What is perhaps most tragic about African- American doubts about immigration is that the majority of recent immigrants to the United States are from the African diaspora. According to the findings of the Task Force on New Americans, between 1980 and 1988, 53% of immigrants to the United States were of African descent. The short- sightedness of some African-American leaders has resulted in their attacking people who form part of their natural political constituency. Since these regrettable incidents, numerous dia- logues have taken place between Latinos-particu- larly Latino immigrants-and representatives of the African-American community. These exchanges will hopefully lead to greater unity among all people of color in the face of right-wing policies that harm African Americans and Latino immigrants alike.
