Blacks, Latinos build bond with biblical story
They gathered for the holiday season: Hundreds of Latino and African-American advocates, clergy, and others converged on Boston Common yesterday to reenact the Bible story of Mary and Joseph's journey to find shelter for baby Jesus' birth.
But the goal was also political: To build unity between black and Latino groups to strengthen their power on Beacon Hill and in Washington, at a remarkable moment in history.
"I think it's important that we build African-American and Latino relationships," said Ron Bell, director of community affairs for Governor Deval Patrick, the state's first black governor, and a minister who gathered parishioners from 25 different black churches for the event. "Many of the struggles are pretty much the same."
Though they often work separately, Latino and African-American groups are viewing each other as allies while the nation prepares for its first black president, Barack Obama.
Latinos, who voted overwhelmingly for Obama, hope that African-Americans will back their efforts to pass immigration reform and legalize 12 million illegal immigrants in the United States.
Locally, black leaders - dismayed at losing the state's only black senator in the state Senate, Dianne Wilkerson, to bribery allegations - are counting on her replacement, Sonia Chang-Diaz, a Latina, to advocate for them as well.
Yesterday, Chang-Diaz marched with the 450 to 600 people who gathered on the common, along with actors portraying Mary and Joseph, a donkey, and two sheep. An accompanying sound truck had posters supporting City Councilor Chuck Turner, who is African-American and also facing a charge of taking a bribe, as well as a poster calling for a halt to immigration raids.
Chang-Diaz said the differences between the black and Latino community aren't as strong as some have portrayed them. Some have questioned whether she, as a light-skinned Latina, is a person of color. She said she considers herself a person of color and will advocate for all constituents.
"On the ground there is a lot of unity," she said.
But others say African-Americans and Latinos lack the unity and the political power to push a common agenda, including better healthcare, schools and jobs.
"We recognize that we have to have the power to do business," said Horace Small, executive director of the Union of Minority Neighborhoods, pointing to the State House.
This is the second year that more than a dozen church and nonprofit groups have joined together for the event called Las Posadas, which is Spanish for inns. In the story, on the night that baby Jesus was born, Mary and Joseph were strangers in another land and were continually rebuffed when they sought shelter.
Yesterday, actors portraying Joseph and Mary reenacted the journey in four stops: the State House, the Paulist Center, Park Street Station, and St. Paul's Cathedral. There was an awkward moment when a group of Muslim Somalis declined to enter a church, but they happily reunited at the union hall for a balloon-filled celebration of mariachi music, tamales, and salsa.
"In the United States, we welcome everyone," said Jarrett Barrios, a former state senator and lead organizer of the event, at the hall.
After he spoke, an illegal immigrant from El Salvador named Elsa, who did not give her last name, told the crowd that she identified with the constant rejection Mary and Joseph faced, and hoped that would change next year.
Groups that favor stricter controls over immigration criticized the use of Las Posadas to advocate for a political agenda, saying it is misusing the Bible.
The event was sponsored by more than a dozen groups, including the governor's office. 