President Carlisle’ s 9th Annual Breakfast Spotlights the Need for Heightened Immigration Reform( continued)
“ And all that means is included in the history of what it is to be Black. The present of what it is to be Black and the future of what it is to be Black in this country. One out of every 10 Black people in the United States is foreign born. Another 10 % are folks like me, born in this country, which means that one out of every five black people that you know is a Black migrant rooted person right now, today. So, the definition of blackness, we’ re expanding in a different kind of way, in terms of what it means, and who is Black in the United States.“ There’ s a lot of antiblackness in immigration policy,” said Gyamfi.
Dr. Talamantes spoke next.“ This is a global issue for us. And in the United States, we have a tremendous opportunity to lead. And often we see policies that are exclusionary, and only have emboldened structural racism. A lot of the immigration policies create not only structural racism, but social, economic and political inequalities, that really what I see in speaking to you, as a physician, really create a lot of impact on the physical and psychological well-being of people,” he said.
( Referencing the visual on screen)“ This is another immigration detention center that I reported on where detained immigrant women were being subjected to unwanted and unnecessary gynecological procedures. Some of you may remember that story. These procedures were being done by a doctor who is billing the US government for his work. And, as you know, this story is part of a long history in the United States of marginalized women being victimized by reproductive healthcare measures that they’ re told are meant to help them.
“ This is Wendy who underwent surgery in ICE custody when radiology reports showed that her uterus was a healthy size, not cystic and swollen as the doctor had claimed,” said Dickerson.
Following Caitlin Dickerson’ s presentation, President Carlisle moderated a discussion that included panelists Atty. Nana Gyamfi, Executive Director, Black Alliance for Just Immigration; Efrain Talamantes, MD, Chief Operating Officer, AltaMed; and Atty. Sonja Diaz, Civil Rights Attorney and Founding Executive Director, LPPI, UCLA Luskin School of Public Affairs.
According to Gyamfi,“ The main challenge that we face as Black migrants is what I like to call taxation without visibility. And the taxation that I’ m talking about is not the taxation with the IRS, even though that’ s the issue too, but it’ s the Black tax when you come here as a Black migrant, and you are included or integrated into society, you become included as a Black person.
“ So, exposing this reality is not only thinking ethics as a policy issue, but thinking about the practices that we’ ve accepted, maybe to be true, that we have to challenge in healthcare. But more importantly, that we know we have to play a role. Whether you’ re in healthcare or you’ re training for future generations, or you’ re a community partner working with healthcare, I see this as an opportunity to hold us accountable to improving care. Immigrants often are the ones that highlight the problems that we all face. They’ re not the problem. Healthcare is a challenge for many of us, even if you are privileged and have access to insurance,” he observed.
Diaz offered a policy perspective.“ My comments today are about our democracy, but not in ways that it’ s often talked about at the ballot box, or in chambers of elective power. Our democracy is in schools and clinics. It’ s particularly true for historically Black colleges and universities, Hispanic serving institutions, federally qualified healthcare centers, in this new iteration of the challenges that we collectively face,” she said.
“ A Gallup poll of American voters identified immigration as the top issue at 28 %. There is an over-representation in our voting bloc of more mature white non-Hispanic Americans. That’ s to say that there may be more people of color in particular states. They’ re younger, and they’ re not eligible to vote for a variety of reasons. Citizenship, carceral interactions. In a recent poll from Unidos, the leading civil rights organization here in the country for Latino registered voters, immigration was not one of the top five issues,” said Diaz.
Panelists:( L-R) Caitlin Dickerson, Nana Gyamfi, Efrain Telemantes, MD; Sonja Diaz
CDU College of Medicine | PG. 7