HispanicVista Columnists

By Kevin Alberto Sabio
One of the main sticking points in this supposed conflict between our two communities is the scarcity of jobs, and the fact that African Americans feel that the incoming Latino immigrants (whether legal or illegal) are taking those jobs away that rightfully belong to them.

There is also the feeling that Latinos are encroaching onto other societal territories that used to be predominated by African Americans, and are in a sense pushing them out, or making them obsolete. These points, among others, should be thoroughly examined, and put into their proper prospective.

Jobs/Employment

So, exactly which jobs exist that only African Americans can do? I’m always at a loss whenever I hear this particular statement. Personally, it makes it sound as if we are supposed to be genetically predisposed to do a particular task that no other race of people can do. And which jobs are they taking away from us, exactly? I know plenty of brothers and sisters who work at city jobs; bus drivers, sanitation workers, DMV, social services, etc. Are they swiping those jobs from us? And, since when are low paying, low-skilled blue collar labor jobs relegated only to African Americans? Last time I checked, it wasn’t up to us as far as who got hired at certain low-skill level jobs. If a grimy business owner chooses to hire an immigrant (Latino or otherwise) over a citizen just so that he can financially exploit that worker at these jobs, then that’s on the business owner. You need to hold that business owner accountable, not blame the immigrant worker.

Another thing is that we don’t pool our resources together like we should, and create our own economy. If we created our own economy, we can create jobs for our own people. We wouldn’t have to rely on the mainstream society to provide us with jobs. If this sounds like I’m talking about nationalism, it’s because I AM! Other immigrant groups that come to this country practice some form of nationalism. That’s how you are able to have certain communities (and I do mean communities, not just neighborhoods) that are able to prosper in some of this country’s larger inner cities. You have a number of "Chinatowns," "Little Italys," "Little Koreas," and so on, that exist in some of America’s major cities. Immigrants will come here, pool their resources together, and the next thing you know, their community has grown significantly.

For African Americans, we haven’t practiced that type of solidarity since Jim Crow. We’re so happy to integrate with massa, or be the HNIC, [head n****r in charge] that we choose not to work together, or support each other economically. People would constantly look at me funny if I were to tell them to support a black-owned business, or just ‘buy black’. They would consider my way of thinking irrelevant, and outdated. Yet, they are the first ones to complain that you have all of these ‘foreign’ businesses in our neighborhoods, and that we couldn’t get any black-owned businesses in our own neighborhoods to save our lives. Well, did you support them when they were in the neighborhood? Do you at least try to make it a habit to support a black business? I rest my case.

Sports

I’ve been reading recently in certain black publications about the lack of African-American ballplayers in Major League Baseball, and how that has now become a major concern. They site the influx of Latino and Asian ballplayers now in the game, and how the lack of African-American representation is cause for alarm. It was a bit curious on my part, because they kept saying African American, and not black. Oh wait, that’s right…you do have black ballplayers in Major League Baseball! They’re just not ‘American’. Well … North American, I should say …

Remember Orlando “El Duque” Hernandez? He used to pitch for the New York Yankees. He was a pitching phenomenon out of Cuba. Both he and his brother Livan Hernandez defected from Cuba to play professionally in the United States. They were Afro-Cubans. How about Sammy Sosa, one of three people to break Roger Maris’ single-season homerun record? Can you deny his African roots? There are many others that I can cite that are playing, or have played in the League. At the same time, is there really an interest among African Americans to want to play professional baseball? The number of African Americans that I have questioned about this issue have all stated how boring they found baseball to be. They would barely watch the World Series, much less the regular season. They would always be more interested in college or pro basketball, or be more caught up on the current football season. And now, with the influx of immigrants from the Caribbean, Latin America, and continental Africa, soccer is gaining a growing fan base in the U.S.

Also, Little League teams are usually funded by the local city; if they cut the budget, they can’t play a season. Not to mention, it takes a lot of space, people, and equipment to play a game. Playing one-on-one can get you pitching and hitting…what about the fielding aspect of the game? With basketball, all that you need is a ball and a hoop; with football, all you really need is the ball itself. There were many days in my youth that I remember playing crateball, or street football. Baseball was a wee bit more complicated to organize.

Competition is None

So, who are we really fighting against? Should you be less upset if the immigrant you were passed over for was black, or European? Let’s not try to act as if Latinos are the only ones that are coming into this country, whether legally or not. You have Europeans sneaking into this country just as much as everyone else. This is nothing more than about, both exploitation, and control. We’re not losing our homes, jobs, or neighborhoods to anyone (well…except to the Powers that be, of course). If we were truly handling our business, none of this would even be an issue. We showed how much of an economic force we could be during the times of segregation. Because of the fact that we’ve become so individualistic now, we’ve become defenseless to those that choose to exploit and suppress us. Maybe if we practiced a little more solidarity, we wouldn’t be dealing with some of these issues that concern us today. These issues are not new to us, and are not that complicated to figure out. These are the same old tactics, just dressed up in a new outfit. Let’s trying learning from our mistakes for once, shall we?
Blacktino e-News Network, Commentary, Posted: Feb 02, 2008

Editors note: Kevin Sabio continues his series of exploring the historical events and cultural assumptions that shape how African Americans and Latinos perceive and, ultimately, interact with each other.
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Black vs. Brown 3: The Color Line
Black Latino Sounds Off on Dueling Minorities
Blacks and Latinos: Parallel Histories
Black vs. Brown: A Racial Boxing Match?