The forum seemed tailor-made for Ted Hayes, the Los Angeles homeless activist who has become one of the nation's most visible African Americans raising a ruckus about illegal immigration.
A mostly black crowd had gathered at Bethel AME Church in South Los Angeles for a debate about illegal immigration's effects on the African American community. When Minister Tony Muhammad of the Nation of Islam and others called for black-brown unity, they drew boos and yells of dissent.
"Illegal immigration is wrong! They have no business being in this country!" shouted one audience member, drawing applause.
But Hayes was nowhere near the podium. He sat in the church's back pew, silent. He had not been invited to speak. In fact, he had been rejected because organizers felt he lacked legitimacy, according to one of them.
And therein lies a conundrum. As immigration becomes a red-hot issue in the presidential campaign, it is stirring volatile sentiments among a sizable number of blacks who believe illegal immigrants are threatening their jobs, housing, healthcare and educational benefits. But no one has been able to unite them and effectively push for their interests.
Certainly not Hayes. Since last year, the 56-year-old lean and lanky activist has tried to rouse blacks against illegal immigration with fiery appearances on national TV, protest marches, civil disobedience and leadership of Choose Black America, an anti-illegal immigration organization launched and financially supported by the Federation for American Immigration Reform.
"Illegal immigration is the greatest threat to blacks since slavery," Hayes said at a recent Choose Black America meeting in Inglewood. "Immigrants got our jobs, the hospitals, the schools. Black folks can't compete."
So far, Hayes has failed to gain traction. His events go mostly unattended. His organization has managed to recruit only about 50 members nationwide. An Internet appeal for support netted only about $500, at last count.
A huge misstep, said commentator Earl Ofari Hutchinson, was Hayes' decision to align himself with the Minuteman Project, an anti-illegal immigration group viewed as extremist by many people, including blacks. Founder Jim Gilchrist, who calls Hayes "spectacular," sharply disputes the charge and said Minutemen are patriots of all races who do not engage in violence.
