According to a recent article in the NY Times, a growing number of Black leaders (what exactly is a black leader, are these people elected, if not then how is it that they came to hold such a title) are growing unhappy with frequent comparisons between the struggles of illegal immigrants and the civil rights struggle of the 50s and 60s.

Without question the comparison is unwarranted. Hispanics legally in the country are not being systematically discriminated against or denied their basic constitutional rights, much less denied life or property, which stands in stark contrast to the experience of Blacks in America following Reconstruction up until the 1960s.

Illegal immigrants, however, are not citizens and have no legitimate claim to vote or to receive public services in this country, indeed their very presence in this country is a slap in the face to those who stand for the concept of the rule of law.

Not all grievances among former civil rights leaders are legitimate, however, some argue the growing attention being paid to illegal immigrants in this country will distract from the plight of Black Americans. What plight?

"All of this has made me start thinking, 'What's going to happen to African Americans… What's going to happen to our unfinished agenda? "

-Brendon L. Laster, Howard University

Unfinished agenda indeed? Black Americans, are entitled to all the rights and privileges of citizenship that White, Asian and other Americans enjoy. The premise that a civil rights struggle is ongoing is laughable.

Today there is a struggle but it is a struggle waged by the sedentary amongst us, those who now have access to education, access to employment, access to student loans, access to public services, yet still they do nothing. According to Laster, many blacks face poverty and unemployment. Yes this is true, just as many Whites, Hispanics, South Asians and other ethnic groups. Those, who do, however, largely have themselves to blame, having squandered or missed opportunities to make something better of themselves.

Whereas the poverty of yesterday was largely a byproduct of entrenched discrimination, the poverty of today is largely the byproduct of sloth and incompetence. Is a civil rights struggle needed today…certainly not, at least not in the form of the Civil Rights movement of the 1960s that catapulted this nation into the modern era.

Today, citizens enjoy the freedoms initially espoused in the Declaration of Independence and protected under the Constitution; those who still suffer under the yoke of poverty and missed opportunity must reexamine their responsibility to themselves, rather than looking upon the state as their salvation.
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/05/04/us/04immig.html?ei=5065&en=e1be3496cd302bd2&ex=1147320000&partner=MYWAY&pagewanted=print