It seems that every couple of years there are a spate of articles in the world of political journalism -- particularly mainstream political journalism -- declaring a wave of "new" black leaders, or a "next generation" of black leaders.

These stories typically go on to profile a collection of recently-elected or aspiring would-be elected officials who are either Republicans or relatively centrist Democrats -- hence the "new"-ness.

Current icons of the moment include Barack Obama and Harold Ford (both of whom I'll get to in later posts), state-wide candidates like Michael Steele and Lynn Swann, and Newark mayoral candidate Corey Booker.

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So the GOP has decided to drop the felonization of undocumented immigrants from its immigration reform idea stew. I take that as a sign of two things:

1. The GOP is in disarray.
2. Taking to the streets can still make a difference.

If only African-Americans still believed in the power of protest to the same extent (I'll address that matter in another post).

What I'd like to do here and now is not so much discuss the GOP's retreat, as to bring an African-American perspective into the broader immigration debate.

Research has strongly suggested that African-Americans - specifically the too-large class of under-skilled African-Americans - suffer from illegal immigration to a highly disproportionate degree. If one of the biggest problems with illegal immigration is that it lowers wages for unskilled work - and even skilled labor - to a level below what the American standard of living requires, it should be blacks (as well as Puerto Ricans and Latino permanent US residents) who are crying out the loudest against illegal immigrants.

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