Recent surveys indicate the nation is more polarized than ever over immigration. However, Black immigrants, whose concerns are as important and pressing as any other immigrant groups’, are really not part of the immigration reform debate. Today’s column revisits the work of a group that stresses the need for collaboration between U. S. Blacks and Black immigrants.
The Black Immigration Network (BIN), an offshoot of Black Americans for Just Immigration (BAJI), was formed to strengthen relations and influence among and between U.S. and Black immigrants. It is uniquely positioned to serve as a conduit for ensuring a Black voice in the national conversation on immigration reform. This column describes BIN’s vision, mission, purpose and framework for building relations among and between African Americans and Black immigrants for a just immigration policy.
BIN is a national network of people and organizations serving Black immigrant and African American communities that focus on supporting fair and just immigration as well as economic and social policies that benefit these communities in particular, and all communities of color, in order to create a more just and equitable society.
BIN’s vision: That people of African descent unite for racial justice and migrant rights to achieve social, economic and political power. Its mission: It is a kinship of organizations and individuals connecting, training and building toward policy and cultural shifts necessary for a racial justice and migrant rights agenda.
Its mission includes contributing to the social and economic well-being of U.S.-born Blacks and Black immigrants by organizing these communities, developing the leadership of Black people and advocating for policies that benefit Black communities. It is a national network of organizations and individuals in the United States that work at the intersection of race, immigration and globalization. It also seeks to build alliances with other organizations and networks in immigrant communities and communities of color for mutual benefit.
BIN members’ shared African ancestry and similar experiences with racism and exploitation in the U.S., and globally, are a common frame of reference for the struggle to achieve justice. (The diversity among Africans in the Diaspora can generate divisions when misconceptions and misunderstandings about one another and competition for education, employment and scarce resources prevail.) BIN is a vehicle for mutual education, appreciation and collaboration. Its network furnishes an important space for gathering the African Diaspora for joint strategizing, information-sharing and work for the benefit of all of our communities.
It believes the struggle for immigration rights is one of the cutting-edge issues in the fight for racial justice and democracy in the United States today. Racism and economic globalization have created displacement and poverty in all of our communities and countries. Black immigrants, other immigrants of color and people of color in general, are being exploited and scapegoated for many of the economic problems the U.S. is experiencing. Increasingly, African Americans are being locked out of the formal economy and immigrants of color are being locked into an economic arrangement in which they are super-exploited in order to undercut the wages, rights and working conditions of the U.S. workforce as a whole, creating greater profits for U.S. corporations.
BIN believes bringing a range of groups and individuals together to address the issues of race, immigration, globalization, and related issues can magnify the impact of all of our groups in changing immigration policy and promoting racial justice. It also believes it can be instrumental in bringing the issues, perspectives and leadership of various Black immigrant communities, and African Americans born in the United States, to the broader immigrant rights, racial justice and economic justice movements. BIN will help build the capacity of its members to meet the global challenges that face us all by helping to bring together a durable social movement that transcends race, gender, religion, sexual identity and nationality.
BIN is a Black-led network which: Reflects the communities it serves by having a leadership body made up of people of African descent; plays an active role in fostering dialogue on policy formation and implementation while ensuring perspectives of African American and Black immigrants are included; assists communities in examining critical issues surrounding relations between U.S.-born Blacks and Black immigrants and refugees; undertakes documentation and issues periodical reports that focus on the unique experiences of migrant communities of African descent and “receiving” African American communities.
BIN works to promote just immigration policies and practices grounded in racial and gender equity domestically and internationally. It also serves to strengthen relationships and build solidarity between all people of African descent regardless of place of birth, and intentionally seeks to end the negative impact of economic globalization, the root cause of global migration. To this end, it engages in activities that provide opportunities to: 1) address critical issues around relations between African Americans born in the U.S. and other 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; 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 Black Immigration Network deserves the full support of the Black Community because it works to jointly empower African Americans and Black immigrants economically, socially and politically.
