Black Immigrant Network first appeared on the web in 2011, describing itself as a national network of organizations serving black immigrants and African American communities by focusing on fair and just immigration among other social issues. It looks like the website went off line in late 2017, and that searches for information on the organization today do not return anything except a Facebook page. But, that search discloses other black immigrant focused organization, networks even. Perhaps we will write a post on the current state of organizations devoted to serving black immigrants.

So its back, why?

Our interest in this website is historical. We have a mission to preserve the contemporary history of immigration in the United States for last 50 or so years, or the Internet Age. While websites like this exist, they are available to mark the course of the immigration debate. When they disappear, are abandoned, the internet is unforgiving in wiping the slate clean and moving on to the next new thing. This relentless change leads to revisionist history as facts disappear. By restoring this website, we preserve history in an accessible way.

You can get in touch with us here. More soon.

The post Black Immigrant Network – Too Important to Die an Internet Death appeared first on Black Immigration Network.

As soon as next week, we can expect proposed legislation on the long-awaited Comprehensive Immigration Reform (CIR). One of our central demands as a movement is a pathway to citizenship for the estimated 11 undocumented immigrants who have worked and contributed to this country’s economic growth, as well as to the health and vitality of their own communities.

As we demand this pathway to citizenship, it is also important for us to reflect on what the notion of citizenship really means, as this question has always been at the heart of every social justice movement and intellectual debate about American ideals. Past social justice movements, especially in African American struggles for civil rights, has taught us is that it is definitely a path beyond paper. Citizenship is more than just a legal term.

Possession of citizenship is associated with the right to work, right to live in a country and participate in political life. This includes the right to free speech, right to vote, right to due process and equal protection under the law. Yet, as many activists, scholars, and historians have documented, the notion of citizenship is a “cultural ideal infused with the morals, principles, values, and expectations within the context of the times.” Historians like Kim Cary Warren note that early versions of the Bill of Rights excluded citizenship from Native Americans, most African Americans, and most women. These groups were denied economic and social rights. After the 13^th and 14^th amendments which abolish slavery and solidified citizenship for African Americans, white reformers opened segregated schools, ultimately reinforcing the very racial hierarchies that they claimed to challenge. African Americans developed strategies that emphasized inclusion and integration, while sovereignty was the demand for Native Americans in defining what citizenship meant for indigenous people whose land was stolen from them. We are still dealing with the impact of these legacies with the ongoing fight for better public schools, closing the achievement gap for black students, and getting sufficient English language learning programs for immigrant students.

Citizenship is as much a cultural, structural and systemic struggle for it does not necessarily guarantee the access to those rights. This is what must continue to fight for even after CIR. We must project a vision for citizenship that goes beyond paper. As we have learned from past movements, this is what full social transformation can look like.

The post Citizenship: Pursuit of a Path Beyond Paper appeared first on Black Immigration Network.

The BLACK IMMIGRATION NETWORK (BIN) was conceived through the efforts of Oakland-based organization Black Alliance for Just Immigration (BAJI), the Chicago-based Center for New Community’s Which Way Forward (WWF) Program, and American Friend Services Committee’s Third World Coalition (TWC) with particular help from their Northeast Regional offices. They began their efforts in 2009 and have now grown to involve over 20 organizations nationally and several hundred black participants in a variety of convenings and advocacy efforts over the years.

The observance of International Migrants Day is significant to the BLACK IMMIGRATION NETWORK’S analysis of how globalization has changed the political and economic landscape – in the United States of America and throughout the world. Various international policies, wars, corporate greed and environmental conditions ultimately displace millions of people and force them to migrate to other countries in order to survive.

The BLACK IMMIGRATION NETWORK recognizes that often times the same types of oppressive laws and culture that historically, and currently disenfranchises African American communities is gaining momentum and finding more fuel through its attack on immigrant communities in the United States. The coded language that is often hate-filled, coupled with anti-immigrant racial profiling laws, such as Alabama’s HB 56, and other practices encourages violence that threatens both African American communities and immigrants of color. Sadly these laws and practices do not comply with United Nations Human Rights Conventions such as those protecting the Rights of Migrants or the Convention to End all forms of Racial Discrimination.

In its quest for racial justice, BLACK IMMIGRATION NETWORK (BIN), has also observed that current immigration policies and practices discriminate based on race and class. This discriminatory practice adversely impact immigrants from Africa, the Caribbean and other Afro-Latinos in the Americas. To this end BIN promotes the leadership of black immigrant and African American leaders in the struggle for immigrant rights to ensure that as Comprehensive Immigration Reform is being debated – black concerns are not further marginalized.

Trina Jackson of Network for Immigrants and African Americans in Solidarity, based in Boston, MA explains, “Our challenge as a movement is to turn the common ancestry and the common struggles of African Americans and black immigrants into concerted advocacy and a common action agenda benefiting all of our communities.”

The network is rapidly expanding as organizations and individuals across the nation realize that black communities care about immigration. And more importantly that black communities are always undeniably impacted by immigration. From re-framing the notion that “immigrants are stealing jobs” to educating black communities about the ways in which corporations and governments are pitting our communities against one another to weaken our power. BIN is poised to have these important educational conversations about race as well as work on policy initiatives that will benefit black communities.

Some of the organizations represented in BIN’s membership include the Highlander Research and Education Center, Families for Freedom, Moving Forward Gulf Coast, Priority African Network, Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights of Los Angeles, Florida Immigrant Coalition, Casa de Maryland, Center for New Community and Black Alliance for Just Immigration. Its leadership structure includes a national steering committee and a host of working groups, including a group specifically focused on Family Reunification Visas for Haitians and a working group focused on Education and Training.

The Black Immigration Network (BIN) is a kinship of organizations and individuals connecting, training and building towards policy and cultural shifts for a racial justice and migrant rights agenda. BIN’s vision is that people of African descent unite for racial justice and migrant rights to achieve social, economic and political power.

You can learn more about the network by visiting: www.blackimmigration.net

The post On International Migrants Day, Black Voices Call for Immigration Reform With Racial Equity appeared first on Black Immigration Network.

Question and Answer Session will follow presentations.

Webinar panelists include:

Nunu Kidane, Priority Africa Network (PAN)
An activist originally from Eritrea, Nunu is a graduate of the University of California Berkeley and has worked in Africa related program and policy developments for over two decades. For the past nine years, Nunu has worked in grassroots mobilization of new African communities in the Bay Area and nationally.

Gerald Lenoir, Black Alliance for Just Immigration (BAJI)
Gerald Lenoir has been a leader in progressive social movements for over 30 years.  He is currently the Director of the Black Alliance for Just Immigration and a board member of the National Network for Immigrant and Refugee Rights.

Francesca Menes, Florida Immigrant Coalition (FLIC)
Francesca, the Policy and Advocacy Coordinator with the Florida Immigrant Coalition (FLIC), was born and raised in Miami, Florida in the community of Little Haiti. For 2 years, Francesca was the coordinator of a national network of organizations fighting for the designation of Haiti for Temporary Protected Status.

Abraham Paulos, Families for Freedom (FFF)
Abraham is the Executive Director of FFF, although he joined as a member, after facing immigration detention for a crime he did not commit. He was vindicated, but his experience moved him to advocate with others. Abraham is an Eritrean refugee, born in Sudan and raised in Chicago.

The post Webinar Invite: Black Perspectives on Immmigration Reform appeared first on Black Immigration Network.

In honor and recognition of International Migrants Day, the Black Immigration Network (BIN) is highlighting a necessary and critical element in the national dialogue on immigration—racial equity. For much of the recent immigration dialogue, black immigrants have not been a part of that conversation in constructive and meaningful ways. A necessary factor of cohesion and mutual understanding is encompassing all elements and aspects of a debate. Coming out of the October Steering Committee retreat in Chicago, Illinois spurred an initiative to thrust foreword BIN’s mission, that will be the “judge and the jury” of the inclusiveness of the immigration conversation henceforward. These efforts will consist of supporting a policy framework on immigration, reducing and hopefully ending enforcement only approaches through the use of prosecutorial discretion, an enhanced concentration on Haitian Reunification Visas, and ensuring that a global context is included in any framing of the immigration conversation.

My colleagues on the Steering Committee and I view today and the next year as pivotal, as we guide the development of the policy plan and move forward with a revamped structured for the launch.  Key issue areas for BIN are the common struggle among African Americans and Black immigrant communities, and the inclusion of black immigrants in both policy and practice. The main issue areas support BIN’s goals of forming a migrant rights connection, our mission and values, an opportunity for advancing a racial justice agenda, and hopefully produce a cultural shift around racial justice.

In moving forward with building a movement on immigration, I echo the thoughts and sentiments of the previous post by my colleagues, “If the immigrant rights movement is to overcome its internal divisions and build lasting cross-racial and cross-community alliances that wield power, it must broaden its strategic outlook and willingly grapple with the tough and complicated problems.” To effectively address this concern, together we must hone in on the seeds that sprout global migration and work to bridge the multiple understandings of imposed and self identity; form and maintain alliances for the long-overhaul not only regarding immigration dialogues, but any trans-continental conversation; and lastly, just immigration reform must identify the impact on African Americans and formalize an economy that everyone can benefit from.

How will the launch affect migrants? One expected outcome is better clarity supported with action of who BIN is, our mission, and vision for migrants, which we believe will help drive and reform many national conversations concerning communities that affect us. BIN has already put forth its principles for comprehensive immigration reform. With engaged communications, education and training and fundraising working groups, BIN has a mass incarceration campaign embedded in critical research on reversing the historical trend of incarceration rates. Webinars and calls will kick off the New Year to train and mobilize member organizations, along with new efforts to reach both black immigrant and African American through shared media outlets and historical alliances. Today’s launch triggers a new threshold activates action and kinship to shine the migration movement.

The post Reflecting on Bin’s Development on International Migrants Day appeared first on Black Immigration Network.

A protestor holds up a Haitian flag during a march for immigration reform in Orlando, Fla., Tuesday, May 1, 2007. A crowd of about 500 people showed up for the rally. (AP Photo/John Raoux)

source AP

Original Post By Center for American Progress

Recent weeks have seen a positive shift in the conversation on immigration reform, with prominent voices in both parties pushing for a pathway to citizenship for the 11 million undocumented immigrants living in the United States. But although Latinos and Asian Americans figure prominently in the conversation, black immigrants—who comprise 8 percent of the U.S. foreign-born population—are most often left out.

As we prepare for 2013, here are some key facts about this often-overlooked group.

1. Black immigrants are a significant group in the United States—more than 3 million people comprising 8 percent of the U.S. foreign-born population. More than half come from the Caribbean, with the rest mostly coming from Northern and sub-Saharan Africa. A small number also come from Europe and Canada. Black immigrants account for more than one-quarter of the black population in New York, Boston, and Miami.

2. Black immigrants arrive in the United States through multiple pathways. Most black immigrants—especially those from the Caribbean—arrive as legal permanent residents based on their family ties. Refugees from Ethiopia, Somalia, Liberia, Sudan, and Eritrea accounted for 30 percent of all black African immigrants in 2009, while around one-fifth of black African immigrants entered the United States through the diversity visa lottery program—which provides 55,000 visas each year to countries underrepresented in immigrant streams to the United States. Around 400,000 black immigrants in the United States are here without legal status.

3. Black immigrants are one of the most-educated immigrant groups. Black immigrants have more college education and higher rates of degree attainment than any other immigrant group in the United States.

4. Black immigrants face many challenges in the United States. Even with high levels of education, black immigrants tend to earn low wages compared to other similarly trained immigrant or native workers. In 2011 black immigrants had the highest unemployment rate—12.5 percent—of any foreign-born group in the United States. Proposed immigration reforms such as reductions in family-based admissions and elimination of the diversity visa lottery could affect the flow of black immigrants to the United States, cutting off all legal means of entry into the country.

5. Despite the challenges they face, black immigrants are stepping up in support of immigration reform. Despite the risk of deportation by coming out as undocumented, several young black immigrants—such as Tolu Olubunmi, who was born in Nigeria and came to the United States at age 14—are fighting for passage of the DREAM Act. Haitian Americans in Miami also came out in large numbers last year to protest U.S. immigration policies that favor groups such as Cuban migrants—allowing, for example, any Cuban who makes it onto American soil to stay—but discriminate against Haitians seeking asylum in the United States.

Like all immigrants in the United States, black immigrants come to this country to chase their dreams and to provide their families with a better life. Despite facing linguistic barriers, stereotypes, and misconceptions, black immigrants have developed social networks and small-scale entrepreneurship that have helped them successfully integrate into the United States. While their voices have been absent from much of the immigration debate, black immigrants know how important their voices are—as the example of young black DREAMers illustrates—and they are beginning to use those voices in support of immigration reform.

The post 5 Fast Facts About Black Immigrants in the United States appeared first on Black Immigration Network.

Black Struggles in a Global Context – Kinship Action Call Recap

The post Black Struggles in a Global Context appeared first on Black Immigration Network.

The Black  Immigration Network  will recognize International Migrants Day with a Kinship Action Call. The call will feature Nunu Kidane- of Priority Africa Network speaking on global migration in  the African context  and BIN’s policy analysis and Maurice Mitchell of Ferguson Action.com and the importance of Black-led organizing at this pivotal moment. Register today to take part in this important call:

Thursday December 18, 2014
3pm Eastern/2pm Central/1pm Mountain/Noon Pacific

It is crucial that Black communities recognize our common issues.  The fire of Black-led movements for justice has ignited across the country and even across the globe, demanding an end to criminalization and dehumanization of black life. International Migrants Day will bring together our Kinship to discuss strategies and examples for organizing, as well as connect to build coalitions for resistance.

The post International Migrants Day 2014 appeared first on Black Immigration Network.

At least 70,000 delegates representing more than 4,000 grassroots movements and organisations from 128 countries are participating in the five-day forum, which serves as an human rights centered space to counter  the Davos World Economic Forum, where top political leaders and business elites meet to discuss economic issues.

The event aims to provide a space for a mosaic of youth and labour unions, environmental and peace associations, as well as various communities and activists from across the globe to develop and put forward alternative ideas for a fairer society based on the principles of equality, reciprocity and solidarity.

Over 1,000 workshops will be held during the event, discussing a number of issues such as the fight against hunger, immigrant rights, labour rights in the global economy, gender equality, and climate change.

Nunu Kidane, past Director of Priority Africa Network, BIN Steering Committee and board member of Black Alliance for Just Immigration is attending the Forum. Follow her blog for updates  and perspectives throughout the week at: https://tuniswsf2015migration.blogspot.com/

The post World Social Forum – Tunis appeared first on Black Immigration Network.

To this end, BIN engages in activities that provide opportunities to:

1. Address critical issues around the relations between African Americans born in the U.S. and immigrants of African descent by promoting dialogue, relationship building, alliance building and solidarity between and among black communities;
2. Share strategies, opinions and information to address race, immigration and globalization issues and other key social and political issues facing African descendant communities and to intentionally seek to end the negative impact of economic globalization that is the root cause of global migration;
3. Share resources and engage in collaborative efforts to foster racial and economic justice for people of African descent and people of color in general.

The post Black Immigration Network Goals appeared first on Black Immigration Network.