Rinku Sen

immigrants talk race, even if their advocates won’t

In commentary published on tompaine.com and Alternet this week, I argue that the massive outpouring of immigrant activism in recent weeks points to key lessons for policy advocates, not just in immigration reform, but in all of our tricky racial justice issues. Although conservatives and liberals alike hate being explicit about the racial dynamics of immigration for their own reasons (cons to avoid being labeled anti-immigrant and racist, libs to avoid racist backlash), immigrants themselves clearly feel the racial implications of punitive policies such as Sensenbrenner’s. A recent New America Media poll shows that a vast majority of legal immigrants are alarmed by the racism embedded in the current debate. Advocates should be able to articulate clearly the social and political rights to which immigrants are entitled, should be able to move beyond our economic rights and a frame that emphasizes only that we are hard workers. If we cannot do that, we face the possibility of wasting this tremendous base that has emerged over the last month. The role of social networks and ethnic media in fueling the protests also reveal the need to craft our outreach in ways that match up to the modes of modern life. Funders of policy change should take recent events as a sign that the road to big changes meanders between research, writing policy, building base and getting to public opinion through mass action and mass media. All the "outcomes-based" funding in the world won't get us to the kinds of changes we dream of.

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Posted at 1:38 PM, Apr 12, 2006 in
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