Imagine being told for years that something was true and right, only to find out it was a lie.
How were you impacted when you found out it was Dad in the Santa suit, and the "elves" were actually pimply-faced teenaged kids hired over the holidays from the checkout counter at Toys "R" Us?
What thoughts raced through your mind as you opened one eyelid and saw Mom slipping her hand under the pillow to obtain your recently separated dental equipment? The Easter Bunny? A sham, too!
Recent events have jolted some traditionally liberal-leaning groups on the subject of illegal immigration. Akin to looking in the closet and finding Santa's beard, the black community has begun to discover that the "truths" told to them over the years by the Democratic Party and liberals were misrepresentations of the true impact that illegal immigration was having on the average black person in the United States.
This has been a "taboo" topic for too long. It must now be discussed openly and honestly.
While Maxine Waters and Jesse Jackson hold hands with illegal immigrant activists in a show of solidarity and Al Sharpton criticizes a talk-show host over words that are replicated in popular rap music, illegal immigration continues its cancerous growth to the detriment of the black community.
Let's think about it rationally for a moment. Illegal immigrants create an inexpensive labor pool for American business. Because most of the jobs that illegals take are unskilled, manual labor, illegals work for low wages - since it represents a huge improvement over their prospects back home.
However, immigrant populations tend to compete with indigenous groups for these same entry-level-type jobs.
According to Education Week, 57.8 percent of black females will graduate from high school. The number is only 44.3 percent for black males. This means a large percentage of young blacks leave school without appreciable job skills.
Entry-level jobs would be perfect avenues to begin the process of developing the abilities necessary to survive in our economic system. Unfortunately, they are often stripped of the opportunity to compete for these jobs because illegals are too readily available to take them.
We often hear the racist comment that many Americans are "too lazy" to accept these jobs. C'mon, get real. It is too easy for an employer to drive down to The Home Depot and pick up a couple of illegal immigrants than it is to actively recruit for capable and willing individuals in the black community. The "laziness" is obviously on the part of the employers, and not on available United States citizens.
The media help propagate this misperception by incorrectly reporting the results of polls performed within the black community. The San Francisco Chronicle reported that most blacks support illegal immigrants and efforts to create pathways to citizenship. However, the Pew Research Center reported that nearly 25 percent of all blacks surveyed lost a job to an illegal or knew someone who did.
The Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies, a black think tank, said nearly half of the respondents felt illegal immigration was a problem and that the country could not afford more illegals.
So, who is right? Common sense would tend to support the latter.
It is interesting how the left often overlooks the cost that hits the black community in the area of community services. Money spent on emergency rooms, health care clinics, education and other social services is provided largely free of cost to illegal immigrants. As activist Ted Hayes was recently quoted as saying, "This disproportionately affects African Americans."
Why do we spend precious social-service dollars on the illegal immigrant poor, when our fellow Americans - regardless of race - need our help? Why does the illegal immigrant child obtain a seat in a classroom next to American citizens, free of charge? Why is our educational system being diluted, compromised and choked to the detriment of Americans?
Armed with these facts, many black Americans are rising up against the entrenched leadership that presumes to speak for the entire community.
Unfortunately, black individuals who depart from the "conventional wisdom" of the Maxine Waters of the world are often shouted down as Uncle Toms - or worse. So, for the sake of political correctness and alignment with the left, many black Americans continue to be misled and deceived about the true impact that illegal immigration has on their lives.
Throughout this discussion, not once has the race of the illegal immigrant been mentioned. Why is that? Simply put, this is not a racial issue. Its a matter of right and wrong.
Many have tried to compare the plight of the illegal immigrant to the civil rights struggles of the 1960s. To do so is to denigrate the accomplishments of so many in the acquisition of rights that should never have been removed.
That is the difference. Illegals are trying to forcibly obtain the rights that rightfully belong to United States citizens of all ethnicities and races.
So, let's debunk the myths right here, right now. There is no Santa Claus, Easter Bunny, Tooth Fairy - and no beneficial impact to black America by illegal immigration. If anything, illegals hurt the development of the black community and restrict opportunities for participation in our economic system.
