Opal Tometi Quotes
The U.S. has long characterized Haitian immigrants as criminals. This tradition began in 1963 when the first boat of Haitians seeking political asylum was summarily rejected by U.S. immigration officials, while at the same time the U.S. admitted thousands of Cubans as refugees and political asylees.
Tometi, Opal. The State of Black Immigrants. Black Alliance for Just Immigration, 2016.
At that time the Republicans had adopted a political strategy of not passing any significant legislation so that they could claim the Democratic President Barack Obama could not lead or do anything. They were committed to limiting Obama to one term. The Republicans controlled the House and had enough Senators to filibuster anything that happened in the Senate. During that period, there was hardly any legislation passed—one of the lowest points of Congressional paralysis and partisanship in American history.
The issue of admission of relatives of citizens had, in the 20th century, become controversial as some political forces worked to restrict immigration. The result of politicizing this issue was that the relatives who would receive immigration priorities would change every time Congress legislated about anything involving immigration and asylum. Immigrants from some countries could have their aunts and uncles get priority while other countries it was only siblings, children and parents. And still others would be children only. There was also racial and ethnic discrimination in that nations with white populations received a broader right to have relatives immigrate than non-white.
Opal Tometi is an American human rights activist, writer, strategist, and community organizer. She is a co-founder of Black Lives Matter (BLM). She is the former Executive Director of the United States’ first national immigrant rights organization for people of African descent, the Black Alliance for Just Immigration (BAJI).
