Black History Month Betrayal

AUTHOR

ACRU Staff

DATE

February 24, 2015

This column by ACRU Policy Board member J. Kenneth Blackwell was published February 23, 2015 at The Washington Times.

Throughout Black History Month, the top issue on the White House agenda has been granting deportation amnesty to illegal immigrants.

President Obama is fighting hard to give legal status, work permits, driver’s licenses, Social Security numbers, and even back income tax refunds to four or five million illegals. Has he paused for a minute to consider how his immigration amnesty will affect African-Americans?

The White House seems unaware that the black community is still deep in recession, and that legalizing more illegal immigrants is only going to make matters worse. Under Mr. Obama, blacks have been falling further and further behind economically. According to the Census Bureau, black household income for 2013 languished at $34,598, just two thirds of the national average of $51,939.

While the nation’s unemployment numbers have dropped to 5.6 percent, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, black unemployment remains stubbornly above 10 percent. Black male unemployment is 11.0 percent — double the rate of men of other races. (Of course, these are just the “official” numbers. The actual unemployment rate for both blacks and the nation as a whole is far higher.)

Teen unemployment in the black community is especially shocking. In the past two years, the number has hovered around 40 percent. In Mr. Obama’s adopted hometown of Chicago, the Urban League just reported that black teen unemployment is a breathtaking 91 percent.

New immigrants, especially unskilled workers who cross the southern border illegally, are competing for scarce jobs on the lowest rungs of the economic ladder. Jobs that used to be filled by American teens, like flipping burgers and mowing lawns, are now being taken by illegals. As a result, teens are hanging out in the streets when they should be getting valuable employment experience.

The big increase in unskilled workers is also driving down wages in entry-level jobs like housecleaning. Single mothers who are trying to escape the welfare trap can’t find a decent-paying job.

On top of the economic disaster, blacks are losing political influence under Mr. Obama. Blacks were once the largest ethnic minority in the United States, but are now second to Hispanics. Both Democrats and Republicans are competing hard for Hispanic votes, while blacks are increasingly ignored. After falling into line for years, even black congressional leaders started criticizing Mr. Obama in 2013 for failing to place blacks in top positions in his second administration, and failing to improve the economic health of the black community.

So why is Mr. Obama more concerned about the welfare of illegal immigrants than the welfare of black Americans? The answer is: hunger for political power. Democrats aren’t trying to lead America by winning the support of the American electorate. They intend to rule America by changing the electorate if necessary. To cement his party in power, Mr. Obama is giving legal status to millions of poverty-stricken immigrants because he knows the great majority will vote Democratic.

And not necessarily after waiting for years to become citizens, either. The Secretaries of State of Kansas and Ohio testified last week before Congress that giving driver’s licenses and Social Security numbers to illegal aliens “guarantees” increased vote fraud.

Many noncitizens are already voting illegally. Because of the tide of illegal immigration and fraudulent voting in the past 20 years, it has become virtually impossible for a Republican presidential candidate to win America’s largest state, California. Colorado and Virginia have also been turned purple by rising numbers of Hispanic voters.

The next big target is Texas. If Texas becomes a blue state, it will become mathematically impossible for the GOP to win a presidential election. Blacks can’t turn Texas blue by themselves, but hundreds of thousands of fraudulent illegal voters could turn the trick. That’s why Mr. Obama is hell-bent on importing illegals, and that’s why the American Civil Rights Union is working hard to clean up the voter rolls in Texas.

It’s instructive to note how the spinmeisters have changed the way we speak about people who enter our country illegally. We first used the term “illegal aliens.” Then it was “illegal immigrants.” Next, “undocumented immigrants.” Not long ago I heard a TV reporter say “undocumented Americans.” It’s time we acknowledge the truth and start saying “unregistered Democrats.”

Here’s the bottom line: Mr. Obama is helping the Democratic Party at the expense of its most loyal constituents — black Americans. The most historically significant event of this year’s Black History Month is the betrayal of blacks by the first black president.

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