Q & A with Earl Ofari Hutchison, Author of The Latino Challenge to Black America (2007)
Earl Ofari Hutchinson is a nationally acclaimed author and political analyst. His columns have appeared in the Los Angeles Times, Washington Post, Chicago Tribune, Newsday, Philadelphia Inquirer, and San Francisco Chronicle. He is the associate editor at New American Media and the author of many books, including The Assassination of the Black Male Image, Betrayed, Beyond O.J., Blacks and Reds, The Crisis in Black and Black, and The Disappearance of Black Leadership. Read his news and opinion blog at his blog.
In his new book, The Latino Challenge to Black America (2007), Hutchinson thoughtfully analyzes hot-button political issues and burning social problems such as immigration, criminal justice and corrections, bilingual education, employment, political jockeying, changing ethnic dynamics, and racial stereotypes that both divide and unite blacks and Latinos. His analysis considers how Latino and African Americans frame and interpret these issues through the prism of their own experiences. Skillfully blending the personal with the analytical, the book provides a guide that will help the nation navigate race relations through 21st-century America.
Hutchinson agreed to an interview on the ImmigrationProf blog. Here is our questions and his responses:
Coalition Building
ImmigrationProf Blog: Your book suggests that African Americans and Latinos should build political coalitions to seek to address common problems, such as ending racial discrimination and ensuring wage and condition protection for all workers. What, as a practical matter, must be done for such coalitions to be built? Is a charismatic set of leaders, such as Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and Cesar Chavez, a necessary prerequisite? In your view, is there anybody of that potential stature on the horizon?
Hutchinson: There are no name leaders that are readily recognizable as in the past. But there are local leaders in every community capable of stepping up to the plate and building cohesive black and Latino unity.
Fighting Racism
ImmigrationProf Blog: The Latino Challenge to Black America discusses Latino racism toward African Americans and African American racism directed at Latinos. Trust between these communities must be built if there is any hope for the building of multiracial coalitions. How can racism be tempered and addressed so that Latinos and African Americans can develop the trust necessary to build productive coalitions?
Hutchinson: It takes strong, proactive, leadership on both sides that are willing to reach out and build bridges on common problems from discrimination to failing public schools. Where black and Latino leaders join together the problems are minimized and unity is possible.
Immigration
ImmigrationProf Blog: Much of the book analyzes the division between African Americans and Latinos on the issue of immigration. Here is the million dollar question. What is the common position on immigration that both Latinos and African Americans can support?
Hutchinson: Jobs, jobs, and more jobs. If black and Latinos feel there are jobs for all, the rancor and tensions dissipate. The fight must be for more and better jobs, and the demand must be made for job creation on government and corporations.
Immigration Reform
ImmigrationProf Blog: Over the last few years, immigration reform has provoked a national controversy, with a compromise reform bill ultimately self-destructing in the U.S. Senate this past summer. During that time, immigrants and their supporters –- with, as the book mentions, few African American faces — took to the streets by the thousands in cities across the United States and demanded, among other things, simple justice for undocumented immigrants. How should the United States reform its immigration laws? How should the nation address the 12+ million undocumented immigrants who live in the United States today? Can African Americans and Latinos agree on immigration reform?
Hutchinson: Yes, if immigrant reform groups are willing to reach out to local black leadership and the civil rights groups and make their fight against discrimination and job bias their fight too. And black groups and leaders reach back and embrace them in that fight.
Immigration Enforcement
ImmigrationProf Blog: In recent months, the Bush administration has ramped up the number of immigration raids of workplaces, homes, and public places. In many parts of the country, undocumented immigrants, as well as many lawful immigrants and U.S. citizens, have been terrified by the raids. Should raids be a priority in immigration enforcement? Can African Americans, who often have been victimized by law enforcement excesses (such as racial profiling, police brutality, the “war on drugs”, etc.), be expected to support Latinos in fighting the excesses of immigration enforcement?
Hutchinson: It will be tough. Many won’t no matter what, but many will. Again, the crucial factor is do blacks feel that immigration reform groups take a more visible and aggressive stance in the fight against these problems. In the absence of that little chance.
Integration of Immigrants into U.S. Society
ImmigrationProf Blog: Many proponents of restrictionist immigration policies, including some African Americans, argue that immigrants pose a threat to national unity because they are not learning English or adapting to the “American way” of life. Yet studies show that the demand for English language instruction far outstrips supply. Moreover, our public schools are failing many immigrants (as well as many African Americans): the increasing segregation of Latino/as in public schools threatens the ability of our school systems to provide a means for integrating immigrant youth into U.S. society. What should be done to assist immigrants to overcome the obstacles that currently hinder their efforts to more successfully adapt to life in U.S. society and become truly a part of America? Do African Americans and Latinos have common concerns on the issue of integration of immigrants into U.S. society?
Hutchinson: The fight against discrimination, better job and education opportunities are everyone’s fight. These are issues that affect all working class, and poor folk—black and Latino. So a concentrated effort to build coalitions on these issues will speed the integration of immigrants in American society as well as break down stereotypes and racial fears.
Asian Immigration and Immigrants
ImmigrationProf Blog: Given the fact that Asian immigrants and refugees have made up a sizeable group of newcomers to the United States since 1965 and 10 percent of the undocumented immigrants in the country are of Asian descent, what role if any do you see Asian Americans playing in addressing the social issues addressed in your book? Might Asian Americans be part of a larger multiracial coalition?
Hutchinson: The same role that Latino immigrant reform groups must play—promoted dialogue, build brides of understanding,form action coalitions to fight against discrimination, education neglect and for more and better jobs.
Asian Americans and Blacks Black/Asian Tensions
ImmigrationProf Blog: The book focuses on tensions between African Americans and Latinos. There also have been much-publicized tensions between the Asian American and African American community, including the Korean/Black conflict in Los Angeles in connection with the May 1992 Rodney King violence. Does your analysis about Black/Latino coalitions apply to Asian Americans and African Americans? What are the similarities and differences in the relationships between the groups?
Hutchinson: I have deliberately and solely focused on black and Latino relations. This is the single greatest and troubling ethnic hot button potentially explosive issue in America. The numbers and concentration of Latinos in urban areas makes it even more of a volatile issue. Thus the intense and exclusive focus on it in my book. Black and Asian relations may be my next book.