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O pinion
No Human Being is
Illegal
«
Immigration
proposals
dehumanize people
Editor’s note: The following excerpts are
from a speech Sen. Avel Gordly delivered to
a rally for immigrant workers:
B y S en . A vki . G ordey
The first thing that I want to say to you
today is that no human being is illegal!
I want to tell you something about being
“illegal.” W hen O regon’s Constitution was
enacted in 1857, it declared all African-
A m ericans within the state’s boundaries
“illegal.” The Oregon Constitution stated
that no black person could live anywhere in
this state.
Such is the power o f bigotry and hate.
The native people, who had
inhabited these lands for 10,000
years, had it even worse. They
were made "illegal” in their own
homes! They were starved, deci
mated by diseases brought by the
white settlers, and their ancestral
lands stolen. This is the power of
bigotry and hate.
In 1906 and 1910, Oregon vot
ers— all white men— votedtocon-
tinue to deny women the right to
vote. W omen voters were “ille
gal” in the state. In 1910, these privileged
white men specifically denied women tax
payers the right to vote. Oregon women did
not win the right to vote until 1912.
During W orld W ar II, people o f Japanese
ancestry were declared “illegal” and entire
fam ilies were sent to internm ent camps.
That was the pow er o f bigotry and hate.
A black person could not live in this state
legally until 1926. Those that did, did so at
the risk o f imprisonment and worse. Some
m em bers o f the state legislature were openly
members o f the Ku Klux Kian.
W e stand here today next to Broadway
Avenue. Before 1952, there was no restau
rant on that street that would serve black
people. There was no department store that
w ould allow black custom ers to try on
clothing. The hotels would not rent rooms to
black people.
The Public Accommodations Law of 1953
forced them to open their doors to people
who look like me. Such is the power o f the
law.
A few good people from Portland and
other places went to Salem for 18 consecu
tive legislative sessions— 36 years! — be
fore racial and ethnic discrim ination in pub
lic places became illegal in this state.
My father was a Pullman porter on the
Union Pacific railroad. My m other was ac
tive in church and in w om en's organiza
tions. Born A merican citizens, bu, in those
not-so-long-ago days o f redlining, entire
neighborhoods w ere off-lim its to black
hom eow nership.
History tells us that our oppressors will
try to divide us.
In 2002, I was the chief petitioner for a
Constitutional am endm ent that at long las,
removed the rem aining racist language from
the O regon Constitution. The voters over
whelm ingly supported the am endm ent, but
352,027 O regonians voted to keep the lan
guage in!
particularly people o f color, and p articu
larly people w ho speak languages other
than English.
On the o th er side o f this issue, o p p o s
ing you— here in this state— is a large
group o f people, w ell-financed and e n
trenched in pow er, w ith th eir hate radio
show s and a long history o f support for
causes that seek to m arginalize and d e h u
m anize and crim inalize people o f color
and poor people no m atter how long they
have inhabited this place, and no m atter
how great, how ho n o rab le have been
their co n tributions to our nation.
Next January, the Oregon Legislature
will convene, and we can anticipate that
some legislators will draft laws like the
Sensenbrenner bill before Congress.
They will use essentially the same argu
ments that were used to condone slavery.
They will use essentially the
same arguments that were used
to condone slavery, that were
used to deny free blacks the right
to live in the state o f Oregon.
You should know that in 2005 the voters
in A labam a wen, to the polls to decide
w hether to rem ove outdated racist language
in their state constitution. These laws re
quired segregated schools, and enacted poll
taxes designed to keep African Americans
from voting. More than 600,000 Alabama
voters voted to keep the language in, and it
is still there today.
Ju st betw een these tw o states, then,
O regon and A labam a, we can count nearly
a m illion voters— actual voters— people
w ho w ill turn out and vote— w ho have no
qualm s about dehum anizing other hum an
beings.
D oes it surprise you to know that until
recen tly , farm w orkers in O regon not
only did not have the right to meal and rest
breaks, but O regon law specifically ex
cluded them alone— am ong all the d iffe r
ent categories of em ploym ent— from these
rights that we all take for granted.
N ow there is another m ovem ent in C on
g re ss th a t w o u ld fu rth e r d e h u m a n iz e
people w ho are born in o th e r countries.
Æl'r JJort lattò (Observer Established 1970
that were used to deny free blacks the right
to live in the state o f Oregon, that were used
to imprison innocent Japanese fam ilies dur
ing W orld W ar II, that were used to prohibit
Chinese people from emigrating to America,
that were used to prohibit w om en from
voting, that w ere used to deny N ative
Americans the right to speak their own
languages, to live in their own homes, even
to survive as human beings.
That is the nature o f the opposition we
face today, that we will face tom orrow,
next week, next month and next year.
They will attempt to deny basic medical
care to immigrants; they will attempt to
deprive im poverished people striving to
bu i Id a better life for their fam ilies o f oppor
tunities for education, em ploym ent, and of
every basic human dignity.
But we will meet that opposition with
organization, com m itm ent, dedication, and
voices raised in support o f justice!
Sen. Avel Gordly represents northeast
and southeast Portland in the O regon L eg
islature.
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M O N -F R I
A p ril 5, 2006
• S A T O a m 6 p m • S U N 10 a m 4 p m
There I was on my way to the End-the-War, Begin-the-Peace rally on
March 19. A rally that I would later learn was one of the largest protests
in Portland history and the largest anti-war rally in the world.
I was feeling excited to know that soon I would be standing side-by-
side with people of other communities, including my own.
I just knew that people of my community would come out in full force
to show support for the troops fighting the war in Iraq.
A war that 's under the Bush and Cheney administration. A war that’s
taking money from healthcare, education and children here in the United
States. A war that’s killing not only men and women, but children in Iraq.
And a war that is making the rich, richer while the working class and the
poor fall more and more into poverty.
To my amazement, there was only about 75 to 100 Afro Americans
that attended the rally. A rally that was so important to all people.
We as a community must show our support for the troops that’s
fighting on the front lines giving up their young lives. We must band
together and have our voice heard against this outrageous war. We
cannot just talk among each other about the wrongdoings of Bush and
Cheney. We must take a stand against Bush and Cheney.
1 was expecting to see church group after church group, organization
after organization from the community. Other than the Freedom Socialist
Party of Portland and Rev. LeRoy Haynes Jr. of the Student Nonviolent
Coordinating Committee, out of 160 organizations, 1 did not see one
organization from my community.
We must come together to fight against Bush who not only breaks
the law but feels as if he’s above the law. We must fight the Bush
Administration with whatever we got, and that’s the power of the people
from the young to the old.
We the people of the community must organize from church to
church, from organization to organization. We must work together
before our loved ones and friends return home in a casket.
There is power within the people. Stand up and believe in yourself.
Revolution is right here in the U.S. It’s time to take it to the government.
It’s time to make a change.
What we do today will be based on what will happen tomorrow.
Power to the people.
Gary Clay Sr., Northeast Portland
Do Illegal Immigrants Really Take Our Jobs?
The young black man hesitated as he stood outside the small furniture
manufacturing shop in South Los Angeles. He was dressed neatly, and
he was well groomed. He eyed the building warily. The sign on the narrow
glass door in English and Spanish, read "help wanted” and trabajo aqui.
The opening was for a shop helper, mostly to sweep up and do routine
clean up and maintenance. Il did not require any education or special skill.
It paid minimum wage, as did the thousands of shops that dotted the area.
The company had no employee health care plan, or other benefits. After
a moment he went in and politely asked for an application. The petite
receptionist, a young Latina, handed him an application form, with an airy
nonchalance. She curtly suggested that he fill it out and bring it back.
When he asked if there would be an interview, she haltingly said only if
there was a position open. The young man looked perplexed, glanced at
the help wanted sign, politely thanked her and left. A couple of hours later
two other young Latinos came in to apply. One was immediately hired.
The other was told that another helper job might open up within the next
few days. However, the workers in the shop, as they were in nearly all the
other shops in the area were Latinos, a large percentage of who were
illegal immigrants.
There were no other blacks, whites, or even English speaking native-
born Latino workers in the plant or at few of the other shops in the area.
This is not a fictional story. I personally witnessed the scene at the
company involving the black job seeker. Anti-illegal immigration activ
ists say that the experience of the young black job seeker has played out
thousands of times at restaurants, hotels, on farms, and at manufacturing
plants nationally, and that this is a major reason so many young black
males are unemployed join gangs, deal drugs and pack America’s jails.
Congress will hammer out a comprehensive immigration reform law.
But it w on't answer this question: Do the estimated I Oto 12 million illegal
immigrants in the country take jobs from American citizens, especially the
bottom rung American workers, the young, the poor and more often than
not African-American workers?
What if the young black job seeker, or any other American looking for
work in a low end manufacturing plant or a restaurant in Los Angeles,
were offered that job which probably pays minimum wage and doesn't
offer any benefits or job security? Would he take it? Maybe yes, maybe
no. It’s certainly hard to imagine that a young black from South Los
Angeles, South Chicago, or Harlem, not to mention a native born young
white or Latino going out to the fields to pick strawberries for 10 to 12
hours a day in the hot sun at minimum or even sub-minimum wages. Or,
that they'd take a job at a car wash or bus dishes in a restaurant. But what
if the farm contractors, car wash owners, and manufacturers paid a living
wage and provided benefits. It might be a different story, at least for some
young people in Los Angeles.
Then there’s the regional factor. There is some evidence that young
workers will work jobs in the South and the Midwest. Jobs that have long
been designated as jobs that only illegal immigrants will work, that is if
those jobs were offered to them. But when employers give the quick
brush-off to young blacks and other young American workers that are
willing to take lower end jobs, they send the not-so-suhtle message that
they are not wanted or welcome. This is a powerful disincentive for them
to pursue work in these taboo areas of the job market. The end result is
that an entire category of jobs at the ground rung of American industry
is clearly marked as “Latino only.” The fight over jobs and illegal
immigration came at the worst possible time for the urban poor. Shrinking
federal and state budgets for job training and creation programs, industry
downsizing, and escalating crime and violence in inner city neighbor
hoods made banks and corporations even more reluctant to invest in
these communities, and that made the job situation even worse.
Earl Ofari Hutchinson, RlackNews.com