This is something that Raha Jorjani wonders in the opinion pages of the Washington Post. It should be noted that Jorjani is an “immigration lawyer”, who quite often represents those who came to this country illegally.
Could black people in the U.S. qualify as refugees?
Suppose a client walked into my office and told me that police officers in his country had choked a man to death over a petty crime. Suppose he said police fatally shot another man in the back as he ran away. That they arrested a woman during a traffic stop and placed her in jail, where she died three days later. That a 12-year-old boy in his country was shot and killed by the police as he played in the park.
Suppose he told me that all of those victims were from the same ethnic community — a community whose members fear being harmed, tortured or killed by police or prison guards. And that this is true in cities and towns across his nation. At that point, as an immigration lawyer, I’d tell him he had a strong claim for asylum protection under U.S. law.
What if, next, he told me he was from America? Black people in the United States face such racial violence that they could qualify as refugees.
That’s an interesting thought: Black people needing asylum from the deplorable conditions that mostly occur in Democratic Party run cities around the country. Why are Democrats treating Black people with such disregard and violence?
According to U.S. asylum law, that persecution must be on account of race, religion, nationality, membership in a particular social group or political opinion. In many cases, courts have said that violence by police officers, unjust imprisonment, rape, assault, beatings and confinement constitute persecution. Even nonphysical forms of harm, such as the deliberate imposition of severe economic disadvantage, psychological harm, or the deprivation of food, housing, employment or other essentials, help make the case. In one instance, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit ruled that an individual who had been arrested, held for three days and then falsely accused of a crime had been persecuted. In another case, it ruled that persecution included ethnic discrimination so severe that the petitioner was unable to find a job in his chosen field.
Interesting. Democratic Party policies, going all the way back to the end of the Civil War, have been about keeping Black in economic disadvantage and psychological harm. Since the Civil Rights era, Democrats have replaced Jim Crow, segregation, the use of the KKK, etc, with “government assistance”, whereby Blacks are kept in poverty and urban ghettos, with little in the way of economic activity, high drug and violence rates, poor housing conditions, and little chance to get ahead and escape.
African Americans make up just 13 percent of the U.S. population, but they accounted for 31 percent of people killed by police in 2012. According to a ProPublica analysis, black teenagers were 21 times more likely than white teens to be shot and killed by the police between 2010 and 2012. In the United States, there are 1.6 million black men in prison, on probation or on parole, double the number who were enslaved in 1850.
Let’s also consider that Blacks, sadly, are much more likely to engage in crime by population proportion, especially in Democratic Party run cities. We all know of the huge increase in murders and shootings in Democratic Party run Baltimore this year, of which the majority shot and killed are Black (the three homicide victims from Thursday where Black men between the ages of 17-19). What of the huge increase in robberies and other crimes in 65% Black Baltimore? What with the deplorable conditions in Democratic Party run urban areas, what else are they to do but turn to crime?
This country is dangerous for black people. Black parents live with an ever-present fear that their children will become victims of state violence and terror on the basis of race.
The Democratic Party run urban areas and policies are dangerous for Black people. Never forget that.
Had they remained alive, Trayvon Martin, Eric Garner, Malissa Williams, Timothy Russell, John Crawford, Rekia Boyd, Michael Brown, Akai Gurley, Walter Scott, Ezell Ford, Mya Hall, Dontre Hamilton, Tamir Rice, Tanisha Anderson, Miriam Carey, Yvette Smith, Samuel Dubose and so many others would be able to demonstrate that they had more than a well-founded fear of persecution at the hands of their government or individuals whom their government was unable or unwilling to control.
Interesting
- Trayvon was killed by a private citizen.
- Eric Garner was a habitual criminal offender who was resisting arrest (still no excuse for his death, though. None).
- Malissa Williams was a drug addict, who had a long history of encounters with the police. Timothy Russell had a long criminal history of trespassing, domestic violence, petty theft, and robbery. They led police on a 22 minute chase in Democratic Party Cleveland before being shot to death.
- There are serious questions about John Crawford’s death, in Democratic Party run Dayton, Ohio.
- Rekia Boyd was killed by an off-duty officer (who should have been charged with murder) in Democratic Party run Chicago.
- Michael Brown: stole cigars, was dumb enough to be walking in the middle of the street, assaulted a police officer in his car, tried to take his gun, ran away when it went off, then charged the officer, and was shot and killed. The DOJ found that the officer did nothing wrong.
- Akai Gurley was hanging in one of the worst crime projects in Democratic Party run NYC. The shooting may have been accidental.
- Ezell Ford was a long term criminal, with felony charges. There are conflicting accounts of his shooting in Democratic Party run Los Angeles.
- Mya Hall was man pretending to be a woman, killed when he rammed his stolen SUV through an NSA security checkpoint. He had a long history of robbery and prostitution. This was a totally justifiable shooting.
You get the idea. Not all of the shootings were mentioned where justifiable, to be clear. But, most occurred in Democratic Party run areas. Blacks do need asylum from Democratic Party run cities and Democratic Party policies.
Crossed at Right Wing News.
Read: Washington Post: Say, Could Black People Qualify As Refugees? »
