Black Lives Matter reacts to executive orders
Source: International Business Times
22 FEB 2017 AT 09:48 ET
A Black Lives Matter co-founder said Monday that African-Americans and black immigrants should “rise up” and “defend each other” in response to President Donald Trump’s executive orders aimed at tightening and further enforcing the country’s immigration laws, The Observer reported.
Opal Tometi, who helped start the movement five years ago and also serves as executive director of the Black Alliance for Just Immigration (BAJI), said the two groups are both affected by what she called a racist system, expanding the rights group to include blacks who immigrated to the country.
“Black immigrants and African-Americans share diverse, rich cultures and a lot of beautiful things, but we also share the global fight against a system that operates on racism,” Tometi said during BAJI’s town hall over the phone. “And so right now, this moment, it’s very, very critical that we rise up and we defend each other. We have to fight to ensure that all black lives matter and there are some practical ways we can engage in this work.” Tometi also pointed out the additional challenges black immigrants face on top of systemic racism that meets them.
“You add that family separation component, the unique language barriers and challenges to just employment, and the fact that black immigrants are far more likely than any other immigrant group to face detention and deportation in our immigration system as a result of criminal contact, the situation is pretty dire,” Tometi added. “It’s been pretty dire and we can see that things are becoming a little bit more acute.”
Read more: http://www.rawstory.com/2017/02/black-lives-matter-reacts-to-executive-orders/
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