This week, Title 42 is set to expire. The COVID-era policy is the last remaining U.S. border enforcement tool to slow the flood of illegal migrants spurred by the Biden administration's negligent policies. With the sunsetting of Title 42, municipalities around the country are bracing for an onslaught of people burdening local social welfare resources, overwhelming human services infrastructure, and causing overall changes to the culture of American communities.
Sanctuary cities like New York, Chicago, and Washington D.C., once falling over themselves to signal their virtue and welcome immigrants, are now calling for a state of emergency and demanding more money from the federal government after tens of thousands of migrants have been forced upon their social welfare programs.
But resistance to importing millions of new Americans whose first act on U.S. soil was to break the law and enter illegally is coming from Black Americans, who are sick of having our fight for equity in this country appropriated by people looking for a better economic outlook.
Black Chicagoans of the South Shore neighborhood came out in droves to reject a recent proposal to convert a public high school building into a migrant facility. With chants of "build the wall" and calling the city council to task for "making decisions about us, when none of you live here," Black American South Side residents took a stance against more crime from unvetted migrants, siphoning financial resources away from Black citizens, and imposing unnecessary competition for jobs.
My heart breaks for Chicago, a city that has experienced decades of divestment from legacy Black American neighborhoods, as well as historic underemployment of urban youth and young adults and the predictable crime that results from poverty. Liberals and conservatives often wonder why inner cities fall apart. But they never stop to consider the obvious answer: It's because both sides' political advocacy practically demands the neglect of Black Americans. Liberals focus on global citizenship over a commitment to their fellow Americans, while conservatives advocate for replacing Black Americans with new migrants.
We should all be ashamed of how eager we are to politicize the conditions of Chicago and point fingers at willfully forgotten urban communities. Pundits across the political spectrum need to put up or shut up when it comes to Chicago. Invest in U.S. urban centers, call for Republicans and Democrat leaders to engage in economic development that benefits the families that populate the city, and provide an economic floor for the schools in urban cities.
Do-gooders have for too long ignored the ways their disproportionate concern for illegal migrants has contributed to noncitizens siphoning resources from the multigenerational Black American communities of Chicagoland and beyond.
That's one of the messages sent by the Black Chicagoans as they spoke out against migrants being inserted into their South Shore Chicago neighborhood: Focus on implementation of tangible resources toward Black communities or get out of the way!
I offer a sincere "thank you" to Chicago's Black Americans for speaking out against south Chicago becoming a dumping ground for illegal aliens. The courage of those Black Americans may have shocked liberals and members of the one-sided "black-brown coalition," but you ain't seen nothing yet!
There simply is no legitimate claim to "equity" from anyone outside of Americans descended from slaves. There can be no "Oppression Olympics" between the descendants of U.S. slaves and people who just want better economic status.
To all citizens and noncitizens who think they can advance themselves by dumping on or ignoring Black Americans, we are here to finally take back the valor of our human rights legacy and lay full claim to the equity we've accrued in our homeland.
You're either with us or against the preservation of these United States.
Pamela Denise Long is CEO of Youthcentrix® Therapy Services, a business focused on helping organizations implement trauma-informed practices and diversity, equity, inclusion, and antiracism (DEIA) at the systems level. Connect with Ms. Long online at www.youthcentrix.com or @PDeniseLong on social media.
The views expressed in this article are the writer's own.
Uncommon Knowledge
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
About the writer
To read how Newsweek uses AI as a newsroom tool, Click here.
