On Thursday March 31st we held our 3rd national teleconference. On this call we listened to a presentation by Dr. Jackie Copeland-Carson moderated by Priority Africa Network Director, Nunu Kidane and then had a discussion with call participants. The conversation is entitled New Immigrants - grappling with Concepts of Race and Identity.

Teleconference 3: New African Immigrants-Grappling with Concepts of Race and Identity

On Thursday, April 28th the Black Alliance for Just Immigration and Priority Africa Network presented their 4th Teleconference in the series Black Intersections on Migration. It was entitled, The Afro-Caribbean and Afro-Latino Migrations to the U.S.

Janvieve Williams Comrie will discuss the historical, social and cultural dimensions of successive migration of Afro-Latinos/as and Afro-Caribbeans to the U.S. She will also shed light on the experience of these immigrants as they navigate the racial landscape of the U.S. society.


Telefconference 4: Afro-Caribbean and Afro-Latino Migrations to U.S.

On Thursday February 24th we held our 2nd national teleconference. On this call we listened to a pre-recorded interview with Isabel Wilkerson and held a live discussion. Unfortunately, Isabel was unable to join us due to a scheduling conflict, however we had a very engaging teleconference. 

Pulitzer Prize-winning author Isabel Wilkerson who wrote the epic book, "The Warmth of Other Suns: The Epic Story of America's Great Migration". We will then have a discussion about the impact of The Great Migration on the African American community and on the United States as a whole. We will also talk about parallels with immigration to the United States, a comparison that Ms. Wilkerson alludes to in her interview.

In her review of the book, Janet Maslin of the New York Times wrote, "Ms. Wilkerson works on a grand, panoramic scale but also on a very intimate one, since this work of living history boils down to the tenderly told stories of three rural Southerners who immigrated to big cities from their hometowns."

Teleconference 2: African-American Migrations - Exodus from the South

On June 4th, 2011 Black Alliance for Just Immigration (BAJI) will celebrated 5 years of educating and advocating for social and economic justice for all by hosting an Awards Ceremony and Dinner at the Islamic Cultural Center of Northern California. The event included a reception, silent auction and dinner. The program also featured live music by the dynamic Miss Faye Carol and a keynote speech by MacArthur Fellow, Lateefah Simon.

Lateefah Simon is a lifelong Bay Area advocate and Executive Director of the Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights of the San Francisco Bay Area, which champions the legal rights of people of color, poor people, immigrants and refugees, with a special commitment to African-Americans.She is part of a new wave of African American civil rights and community leaders. 

The evening’s honorees include Reverends Phillip Lawson and Kelvin Sauls, founders of the Black Alliance for Just Immigration. Priority Africa Network (PAN) was the recipient of the Ally Award. Community Activist Awards were presented to Catherine Tactaquin of the National Network for Immigrant and Refugee Rights and Pierre LaBosierre who is the co-founder of Haiti Action Committee. And the Young Leaders Award was awarded to Berkeley High School’s R.I.S.E. Immigration Research Team.


BAJI 5 Year Awards Dinner - Keynote Address (Lateefah Simons)

The Black Alliance for Just Immigration (BAJI) is an education and advocacy group comprised of African Americans and black immigrants from Africa, Latin American and the Caribbean. BAJI engages African Americans and other communities in dialogue that leads to actions that challenge U.S. immigration policy and the underlying issues of race, racism and economic inequity that frame it.

BAJIpage

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