Immigration Through East Palo Alto Eyes
by Shana White // Art by Carlos Rodriguez

There has been protests across the country against the anti-immigrant proposal -- HR 4437. Some people consider this one of the largest social justice movements since the Civil Rights movements of the 1960's. These protests have been viewed mainly as a Latino issue. So what do residents of a once pre-dominantly African-American city that is quickly becoming a Latino majority, such as East Palo Alto, make of the immigrants rights movement?

Keisha Evans is an active community member, small business owner and also an advisory board member of a local environmental justice organization. She is an African-American community leader who has lived in East Palo Alto for many years and has seen the city's demographics change from a predominantly a black neighborhood to a very diverse city with Latinos as the largest new population there. She says community leaders, regardless of race, need to be in the frontlines of this protest. She believes if HR 4437 passes, people's lives will become full of new hardships and families will struggle in East Palo Alto. “If and when this proposal goes into effect, it will be problematic for people because not only will people's families be taken away, but their friends as well.” Evans says. “There are a lot of churches in East Palo Alto, and they are the leaders who need to tackle this issue. Latino people here are the ones keeping the churches funded and attended. They can play a lead role addressing the potential black vs. brown issue.” Around East Palo Alto there have been rumored tension between Blacks and Latinos, not just with youth gang issues, but the groups vying for political and economic control of the city. This bill, and the resulting protests, have brought the tensions to the forefront.

Even though the elders have seen the changes in the city, young people are also seeing the “black vs brown” issue underlay the immigration debate.

26-year-old African-American, Aishah Mason, who also lives in East Palo Alto, sees HR 4437 discriminating against undocumented workers. She believes that many immigrants ,not just Latinos, contributed to the culture of East Palo Alto. She says the strong family values of East Palo Alto is in all ethnic groups. But there is still conflict she says that keeps surfacing when the community talks about city issues. She points to a recent “Street Soldiers” forum in which the radio station KMEL asked community members to talk about street violence. “When the HR 4437 came up, people talked about how immigrants took over jobs and contributed to crime rate, but they weren't looking at the root cause of people losing their jobs.” She says a lot of corporations in the area simply moved overseas. “And the jobs went with the company because they wanted to pay lower wages,” Mason says.

When it comes to EPA shifting racial majorities, it is not only a matter of Latino populations moving in, but also African-American populations moving out. When the housing market favored selling, older black East Palo Alto home owners began selling their homes, and moving to Sacramento, San Jose and Modesto. Some moved back to the Southern states that they originally came from, such as Texas and Louisiana.

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