Richard Wallace, a community organizer working to ease tensions between Chicago’s Black community and its migrant newcomers, has a keen understanding of why more than 48,000 Latin American asylum seekers have made their way to his hometown over the last two years. His own grandfather migrated to Chicago to escape violence and poverty in Arkansas during the Great Migration.
“He didn’t migrate here simply because he wanted to be here,” Wallace said. “He came here because the conditions were better than where he was at. Sometimes people think it’s about choice, and it wasn’t about choice for him, it was about life.”
But Wallace also understands the frustration many Black residents are feeling.
“People are angry about the lack of resources in their community,” said Wallace, who leads Equity and Transformation, an organization that advocates for Black workers in Chicago. “People are angry about joblessness. People are angry about the cost of living skyrocketing.”
That anger has exacerbated long-standing tensions between Black and Latino residents over scarce city services and job opportunities. Since migrants began arriving in Chicago in large numbers in August 2022, the tensions have gotten a lot of attention on the news and in social media. But Wallace says the coverage often lacks important context about the root causes of people’s frustrations. He is working to change that.
He wrote an opinion piece in the publication The Tribe about his family’s experience migrating to Chicago and the parallels to the experiences of today’s migrants. He also partnered with Working Family Solidarity, an organization that empowers workers and families, including Latinos and immigrants, to promote understanding through “Racial Unity Dialogues.”
Richard Wallace, executive director of Equity and Transformation, at a rally outside the Democratic National Convention on Aug. 21, where his organization was demanding reparations for Black residents. They were joined by Latino allies with Working Family Solidarity. The two groups are working together to promote Black-brown understanding.
Provided by Working Family Solidarity. Photo by Ken Williams.
The conversations between Latino and Black Chicagoans began earlier this year, alternating between locations in the mostly Black neighborhood of East Garfield Park and the largely Latino neighborhood of Pilsen. An event on Sept. 12 brought together about 35 people to discuss disciplinary practices in public schools. Other discussions have centered around law enforcement, housing, jobs and immigration.
Some Black participants say that before these dialogues, they hadn’t taken the time to try to understand Latinos and their struggles.
“It was very helpful,” said Melissa Warren. “I didn’t know a lot of Hispanics and Latinos [are] actually going through the same thing as African Americans. … I got a better understanding of everybody.”
Advocates say the migrant crisis in Chicago is being exacerbated by national politics as Republicans leaders, primarily Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, have sent thousands of asylum seekers, mostly from Venezuela, from the border directly to sanctuary cities like Chicago.
And as the presidential election gets closer, Leone Jose Bicchieri, executive director of Working Families Solidarity, says these dialogues are more important than ever, especially with the growing number of false claims about migrants made by former President Donald Trump and right-wing groups.
Bicchieri says some Black Chicagoans and even long-time immigrants are frustrated because they think newly arrived migrants are getting preferential treatment. Since August 2022, the city and state have spent millions to provide migrants with food and shelter. More than 5,000 migrants are currently living in 17 city- and state-run migrant shelters. During the peak of the crisis last winter, government officials housed nearly 15,000 migrants across 28 shelters.
“A lot of homeless Black people, they can’t stay anywhere,” Bicchieri said. Many are on years-long waitlists to get on rent assistance with the Chicago Housing Authority, he said. “They’re doubling up two, three families.”
Many migrants who have arrived in Chicago and other cities don’t have other means of survival. Few are authorized to work in the U.S and those who can work sometimes face challenges navigating immigration laws. Migrant shelters and a short lived state-run rental assistance program have helped keep thousands of people off the streets, including children.
But some residents are unaware or are unsympathetic.
City Council hearings meant to discuss migrant relief efforts have become a space for some residents to repeatedly voice frustrations. Some make harsh anti–immigrant remarks.
Bicchieri and Wallace say migrants shouldn’t be the target of their frustrations. Instead, they could focus on the historical lack of investment in Black communities.
Unpacking the biases and creating a unified front, Wallace says, could help both sides advance policies that benefit everyone. He said that is already happening. At a march for reparations he and others organized during the Democratic National Convention, several Latino residents — including some with Working Family Solidarity — showed up in support.
“I think that the response needs to be replicated when there’s a mass mobilization for work permits,” Wallace said. “I think that the more that our opposition sees us in solidarity about our demands, the more our demands become possible.”
Adriana Cardona-Maguigad covers immigration for WBEZ. Follow her on X @AdrianaCardMag.