Stop Hate profile: Black Alliance for Just Immigration (BAJI)

By: Charlene MuhammadContributing Writer LOS ANGELES – The Black Alliance for Just Immigration (BAJI) strives to curb hate against Black migrants through community power-building and care. Activists from human rights, anti-Apartheid, and national and international civil rights sectors started BAJI in 2006 to ensure Black migrants were engaged in the effort for immigration reform. Primarily, Black immigrants were totally invisible from conversations regarding their needs and aspirations, according to BAJI Executive Director Attorney Nana Gyamfi. BAJI’s work includes three main areas: 1) “Cops and Cages” to address the criminalization of Black people, both migrant and African American, by examining the police to deportation pipeline; 2) “Community Care,” which includes helping Black migrants obtain asylum, as well as fighting not just for shelter and housing for immigrants, but fighting for housing for all; and, 3) “Community Power Building” to counter hate and attempts to put a wedge between African Americans and Black Migrants.& “To fight for the rights of Black migrants, we always make sure to do so with this Black diasporic lens, understanding that we’re not going to jump over African Americans into some white land of milk and honey,” stated Gyamfi. According to BAJI, Black migrants face widespread anti-Black...