Back in the day, the Pointer Sisters had a hit with “Yes We Can Can.” With a “very active” hurricane season looming, I would be remiss if I didn’t mention that the song has been re-recorded by the legendary producer Allen Toussaint for a benefit album for the Gulf Coast.
Illegal aliens say, “Si se puede” (“Yes we can”), but their movement has hit a brick wall as outraged Americans send bricks to amnesty supporters. Illegals are slowly realizing that the “path to citizenship” will not be paved by mau-mauing – in a foreign language – in the streets.
So, a National Grassroots Immigrant Strategy Conference will be held "to discuss how to build a new national, broad-based, immigrant rights/civil rights movement, and to set a 6-9 month national strategy for this movement.”
Black folks can debunk the myth that the movement of illegal immigrants across our borders is comparable to the struggle of American citizens to realize the guarantees of the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amendments to the Constitution.
Alton H. Maddox Jr., who represented the infamous Tawana Brawley, wrote in the Amsterdam News:
Ironically, Blacks have paved the way for their own demise. In their militant struggle to end slavery and Jim Crow, Blacks have engendered world sympathy, which rules out mass deportation as an option...
Illegal immigrants, who are not fleeing persecution, are being used as tools to destroy those who made it possible for them to enjoy any economic opportunities in this country. If illegal immigrants are entitled to amnesty, imprisoned Blacks should universally receive pardons.
It’s fitting that the illegal immigration debate is taking me back to my roots. This evening I plan to attend a forum sponsored by the United African Movement, “The Real Story Behind Immigration," at Elks Plaza in Bed-Stuy.
Yes, we can still tell it like it is.
