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Of all the demographic pairings in California, the sharp increase of immigrants in African American neighborhoods tends to generate negative headlines, whether it’s about jockeying for jobs or political power or Latino gangs terrorizing African American residents in cities like Azusa, outside Los Angeles.
But in a recently released study titled, “All Together Now? African Americans, Immigrants and the Future of California,” experts from the Center for the Study of Immigrant Integration at the University of Southern California take a detailed and nuanced look at the evolving relationship between the two communities. The report’s focus is not just on the much-publicized challenges, but also on the under-reported alliances and daily accommodations made throughout the state, a phenomenon the authors call “everyday social justice.”
Not surprisingly, perhaps, the authors’ analysis of residential patterns and state labor data found that living together is increasingly common but complex.
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The study found that African Americans have far more concentrated exposure to immigrants than either U.S.-born Latinos or U.S.-born Anglos. Although the black presence has declined in many historic African American communities, especially in Los Angeles County along the spine of South Los Angeles, other parts of the state have seen simultaneous growth in the number of African Americans and immigrants – often at the exurban fringe (Vallejo and Stockton in the north and Rialto, Fontana and Moreno Valley in the south).
Other areas, like Palmdale and Lancaster, went from having nearly nonexistent African American and immigrant populations to being significant hubs for both, though in both these locales, the two groups live in relatively segregated neighborhoods.
The report belies some popular assumptions, especially concerning job displacement. For African American workers, a higher immigrant presence in specific occupations is in fact associated with higher unemployment – but it also can result in higher wages.
The report analyzes employment data from 25 occupations, including secretaries, bus drivers, nurses aides and cashiers. Of these jobs, since 1980, five saw a net decline in black employment. The most dramatic example was janitors, an occupation in which the number of African Americans dropped by half between 1980 and 2005-2007, the years in which the data was gathered. The percentage of immigrants, meanwhile, increased from about 25 percent to 60 percent.
Although wages vary greatly by occupation, the report’s analysis found that African Americans who were able to hold on to jobs in immigrant-heavy occupations earned higher wages compared with the occupation overall, suggesting a complementary effect.
“Most folks portray immigrants as 'either/or' – either they take jobs or they don’t,” said study author Manuel Pastor. “There is indeed occupational displacement. But immigrants also provide buoyancy to the economy, creating new workers that need supervision and so on.”
The traditional support systems found in cities do not necessarily migrate to the exurbs – creating “a mismatch between the social service infrastructure and the needs of a changing population,” Pastor said. The good news is that grassroots organizations – some parent-led – are springing up in their place to address common concerns, including housing, jobs, education and disproportionate incarceration.
Among the case studies in the report is the story of Vivian Bowers, an African American owner of a dry cleaning shop and the head of the Central Avenue Business Association in Los Angeles. Bowers credits two Mexican immigrant neighbors with saving her store when it was set on fire during the 1992 Rodney King civil unrest; she was elected by a mostly Latino group of business owners. Her Latino neighbors, in turn, credit her with helping to navigate regulatory red tape and working to ensure that both African American and immigrant business owners have access to city funds for store beautification.
Such collaborations “are belying the stereotypes of tension and helping to discover elements of common ground,” Pastor said. “It’s hard work. Patient work. But it’s happening all over California.”
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