Guest Column
Powerful Voices Roar Against the Voiceless
- Powerful Voices Roar Against the Voiceless
- By: Rigo Galvez
- Abraham Lincoln quoted: “Every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation; and every city or house divided against itself shall not stand”. Since many blacks and Hispanics have fought together in this nations wars, leaving their blood sweat and tears behind, it’s time to get along.
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- Rigo Galvez, is a San Francisco Bay Area Resident, who has worked as a multimedia specialist since 1998. Contact at: deejayrig@comcast.net
Contrary to the old saying: “stick and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me” words do hurt and destroy, because words are powerful. Just today I was watching an interview on TV, featuring the author of a book titled: “The N Word: Who Can Say It, Who Shouldn’t, and Why”. Mr. Jabari Asim, after listening to his explanations, I immediately thought of the “I” letter, for Immigrant and/or Illegal.
The “I” word was recently used by T. Willard Fair, who recently became the voice (and the face), of various ads, saying: “Amnesty for illegal workers is not just a slap in the face to black Americans. It’s an economic disaster,’’ a message sponsored by Coalition for the Future American Worker. In addition: “My mission for 40 years has been to train…. But to Black Americans, amnesty is an immoral seizure of our jobs. Black Americans have lost hundreds of thousands of jobs to foreign workers willing to work for next to nothing. And the hiring of low skilled immigrants is responsible for 40% of the decline in employment among Black American men. Amnesty for illegal workers will further devastate many of our communities. Around 40% of Black American men are without a job today. Why would anybody favor giving American jobs to MORE foreign workers - especially illegal ones?”
What’s a true slap in the face is that Fair is the Chairman, of the State Board of Education in Florida, as well as the President and Chief Executive Officer of the Urban League, of Greater Miami, Inc. What about all the children of undocumented workers under his umbrella?
Fair said on a separate occasion:” I don’t care if your daddy’s in jail and your momma’s on crack. If you are smart, if you are prepared to apply yourself, if you are willing to postpone certain indulgences and emotions until you can afford to have them, then you can have whatever you want in America today.”
Willing to condone, or overlook crack addiction, and crime, but not an immigration status? Considered a crime is a double standard and poor display of character. Thus voicing how he perceives his own community.
What’s so immoral about searching for a better way of life? Would the late Reverend Martin Luther King Jr. had condemned or consider the risking someone’s life an immoral act? Were Blacks immoral for staying in the US after being declared free?
His “escape-goat” mentality, blames the illegal for the low levels of employment within his community. But who is to blame for their higher levels of drug addiction, alcoholism, school drop outs, teen pregnancy, incarceration rates and voluntary unemployment among blacks? The “I’s” again? Furthermore, is Willard Fair implying today’s African Americans deserve the same low paying wages the undocumented workers are being forced to accept?
Fair claims the Bush brothers are not aware of his present stand on the issue. Something hard to believe, since Willard literally worships his mentor, former Florida governor, Jeb Bush, whom he told:
“In my judgment, there is no greater person on this Earth than you. I love you.”
But when telling a story about his own father he recounted:
“…, he became known as Crazy John Fair. So we became Crazy John Fair’s children. Given that designation, you get away with stuff. So we would go uptown in Winston-Salem, drink out of the white water fountain and run.”
Time magazine reported: “… “It’s just incongruous to conceive that elected officials aren’t going to recommend people they have a high regard for.” But spokesmen for Miami’s poor complain that the program is being turned into a hiring hall for the middle class. Says T. Willard Fair: “The chronic unemployed are being left out of the system.” Indeed, Fair’s own $189,000 CETA job-training program is being investigated—for spending money on training programs for long-time employees who were already skilled in their (field)”.
Talking about opportunities, Roy Beck, CEO of NumbersUSA, which belongs to the coalition and supports capping immigration, said he hopes to run radio spots featuring Fair. “I wondered why the black leaders aren’t standing up for black workers,” Beck said. “Willard is willing to say the emperor has no clothes.”
T. Willard Fair has also received many awards, but I wonder where he stores all the plaques. In the garage, the attic or the basement? Obviously not in his heart. Thus History will write him as another oppressor of the underprivileged.
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