One would think it would be only fair for the nearly 200,000 African immigrants in the New York metropolitan area to be represented in both the city and the state government.
Yet that’s not the case and for Bertha Lewis, the outspoken founder and President of The Black Institute, this is intolerable.
“We have had a demographic change with the growing population of African immigrants, but we are not paying attention,” she said. “At the institute — which she calls ‘not a think tank, but an action tank’ — we look at immigration issues from a black perspective.”
That perspective is reflected in Taxation Without Representation-African Immigrants in New York, a new report just released by the institute. The report is an invaluable tool to get to know the city’s African population, which, despite its size, remains unknown to most New Yorkers. It makes a convincing case not only for the fairness, but also the need to ensure the African community’s demands and aspirations are heard by decision makers.
The demographic change is as real as it is impressive.
According to the report, the number of African immigrants in the country has increased 47 times since 1965, the year when the Immigration and Nationality Act was passed. This law, the institute affirms, was “a pivotal achievement of the civil rights era that abolished the national origin quotas (in place since 1921 and especially restrictive on Africans).”
The impact of the historic legislation was such that the African immigrant population rose from 35,000 in 1965 to an estimated 1.7 million today. Of them, 170,000 reside in New York State, with the city being home to an estimated 126,000. They come from 54 countries, speak dozens of languages and 75% identify as black.
“Africans are one of the most educated groups of immigrants in New York,” said Lewis, who played an important role in the election of Mayor de Blasio. “Yet their situation is one of taxation without representation. Not one African-born immigrant has been elected or appointed to any prominent position either by Gov. Cuomo or the mayor.”
Lewis states that for her “it is not what you say, it is what you do” and she doesn’t absolve de Blasio from responsibility for the lack of progress of the city’s African immigrant community.
Lewis is asking the mayor to appoint an African immigrant to head a city agency and to establish an Office of African Affairs. She says she understands that the negative legacy of the Giuliani and Bloomberg administrations are not easy to leave behind — but insists that more needs to be done.
“Bill (de Blasio) is my friend,” Lewis said. “But you have to do what you have to do. I don’t work for him; my job is outside of government. I still support this administration, but I am independent and when I disagree I do it vehemently.”