One of the country's former top statewide elected African American officials is using his national syndicated column to contrast Black History Month with the President's insistence on flooding the labor market with more foreign labor.
President Obama is fighting hard to give legal status, work permits, driver’s licenses, Social Security numbers, and even back income tax refunds to four or five million illegals. Has he paused for a minute to consider how his immigration amnesty will affect African-Americans?" -- Kenneth Blackwell
From 1994-2007, Blackwell was Ohio Treasurer and Secretary of State.
The White House seems unaware that the black community is still deep in recession, and that legalizing more illegal immigrants is only going to make matters worse.
"Under Mr. Obama, blacks have been falling further and further behind economically. According to the Census Bureau, black household income for 2013 languished at $34,598, just two thirds of the national average of $51,939.
"While the nation’s unemployment numbers have dropped to 5.6 percent, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, black unemployment remains stubbornly above 10 percent. Black male unemployment is 11.0 percent — double the rate of men of other races. (Of course, these are just the “official” numbers. The actual unemployment rate for both blacks and the nation as a whole is far higher.)
"Teen unemployment in the black community is especially shocking. In the past two years, the number has hovered around 40 percent. In Mr. Obama’s adopted hometown of Chicago, the Urban League just reported that black teen unemployment is a breathtaking 91 percent."
The Republican Blackwell suggested that Pres. Obama and other Democrats are willing to watch black Americans' wages be depressed by an over-supply of labor because they see immigration as a source of more Democratic votes and they feel they can take black voters for granted.
So why is Mr. Obama more concerned about the welfare of illegal immigrants than the welfare of black Americans? The answer is: hunger for political power. Democrats aren’t trying to lead America by winning the support of the American electorate. They intend to rule America by changing the electorate if necessary. To cement his party in power, Mr. Obama is giving legal status to millions of poverty-stricken immigrants because he knows the great majority will vote Democratic."
Blackwell notes that even many black Democratic leaders have begun to complain that Pres. Obama has given little consideration to the especially bad economic plight of black Americans. But, in the end, the President is not held fully accountable because his immigration policies provide a lot of extra votes for Democrats, he said.
Here’s the bottom line: Mr. Obama is helping the Democratic Party at the expense of its most loyal constituents — black Americans. The most historically significant event of this year’s Black History Month is the betrayal of blacks by the first black president.
You can read his full op-ed in the Washington Times.
