The passage of an Arizona law that allows police officers to question persons suspected of entering the country illegally, and to arrest anyone who can't provide proof of citizenship or legal residency, has sparked loud protests, including the shouts that came at the May Day demonstration that drew tens of thousands of marchers to the streets of Downtown Los Angeles earlier this month.
The May Day crowd drew the cameras and provided dramatic images for the local media. Overlooked in all the coverage, however, was the broad range of views and concerns about immigration that can be found in Los Angeles. They are as varied as the number of ethnic groups that comprise the city's neighborhoods. Some of these views are a curious blend of past and present. And somewhere in all of that, in way that is subtle compared to huge demonstrations, it seems that a new consensus is taking shape.
Start with the Leimert Park district in South Los Angeles, home of a solid African-American middle class, with sprinklings of other ethnic communities. Traditionally, this has not been viewed as friendly territory when it comes to advocacy on behalf of illegal immigrants. Yet some Leimert Park residents are beginning to see parallels between the Civil Rights movement of the 1960s and demonstrations calling for immigration reform that provides some pathway to legal residency for otherwise law-abiding illegal immigrants.
"I immediately thought of our fight for equal rights," said Anthony Bowdry, an African-American maintenance worker. "We need to give the Latino community our support. The issue is different. But the theme is essentially the same — equal rights."
Other historical perspectives also come to mind in Leimert Park.
Todd Becraft, a white immigration attorney, compares the Arizona law to the "Red Scare" witch hunts during the McCarthy era of the 1950s, when U.S. citizens suspected of having communist sympathies were persecuted, often based on little evidence, with punishments being distributed beyond the courtroom through methods such as "black lists" that cut off employment opportunities. Senator Joe McCarthy and various others used fear as a tool to garner support for anti-communist movement.
"Fear-mongering is what it is," Becraft says of the Arizona law. "They used it in the '50s. We saw it again after 9/11, when lawmakers campaigned for tighter measures to prevent 'terrorists' from infiltrating the country. We see it now with legislators instilling fear in the public that the Mexican drug gangs will invade the country and get everyone."
Rosalyne Steinhart, an elderly Holocaust survivor, reaches farther back in history for her comparison. She says the Arizona law brings vivid recollections of her time in Hitler's Germany, when authorities required anyone suspected of having a Jewish heritage to produce identification papers.
"This law reminds me when people were treated as though they were not human beings," she says.
The comments from these folks in Leimert Park offer an indicator of a shift. It seems the Arizona law pushed far enough to bring some of us to the conclusion that such measures go too far.
Most others sit somewhere in between, still sorting through the difficult facts on hand. Some folks are having difficulty balancing the question of secure borders against their sense of morals. Jennifer Greene, a white real estate accountant in the middle-class Eagle Rock district of Northeast Los Angles, offers evidence of the challenge.
"People should be in the country legally — and yet they need to treat [illegal immigrants] a lot better than they are," Greene says. "After all, this country began with immigrants. The issue pulls you in both directions."
Back in Leimert Park, John Fitzgerald, an African-African artist, says that he also feels conflicted, but for a different reason. He says that his memories of the behavior of LAPD officers during the Civil Rights marches decades ago have kept him on the sidelines of the public debate over the Arizona law.
"I wanted to support the Latino community, but when I thought about going Downtown, I remembered being hit with batons by police decades ago," Fitzgerald says. "I do not want to be victimized again."
A key resolving the immigration controversy — and the conflicted feelings that come with it — might be found right South Los Angeles, a collection of communities where many members hold steadfast to the tradition of aiding those who find themselves in a struggle for equality. South Los Angeles has seen an influx of Latino newcomers in recent year. The relationship between newly arrived Latinos and long-established black started off with uncertainty. Cultural and linguistic differences impeded the ability of the two ethnic groups to relax with each other. However, the passage of time enabled them to overcome those obstacles and improved their mutual comfort with one another.
All of this has lead to the formation of a new alliance. On the Thursday night before the May Day marches, the mostly African American congregation of very large West Los Angeles Church of God in Christ worshiped together with members of Iglesias de Restauracion, one of the largest Latino evangelical institutions in the city.
The two the churches are located four blocks from one another on Crenshaw Boulevard, but never before had they co-operated in such a manner. The evening was an historic bid to overcome black-brown differences through shared faith. The preachers jointly addressed the violence, poverty and health issues that afflict both communities. "This is the beginning of something great — our languages are different but our hearts are the same," roared West Los Angeles Bishop Charles E. Blake.
The following day saw members of both congregations join in a procession down Crenshaw Boulevard in protest of the Arizona immigration law on May Day — an event that drew scant attention compared to the larger gathering Downtown.
The galvanization of the two churches could not have come at a better time, in my view. As occurred with the health care reform battle, different factions are utilizing the Arizona law as a way to inflame emotions...to divide and conquer.
Clearly, this immigration issue has been unresolved for long enough. The issue is complex, and there is no easy answer. It beckons for an examination and debate of all of the related issues that touch so many facets of our national history. If not — if the situation continues to fester — it could threaten the vast progress we have made in race relations and cultural understanding in the U.S.
It is time for the federal government to step in and settle the issue. That is the only way to put yet another issue to rest and resume this era of change.
As Ms. Steinhart, the Holocaust survivor in Leimert Park, asserted: "The only group who are not immigrants are the Native Americans. I do not want this to go any further. Trust can give way to suspicion. All of the races will be pitted against one another. Let's find this answer to this question so we all can live together.
Walter Melton is a writer for the L.A. Garment & Citizen.
Photo by L.A. Garment & Citizen.
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