The New York Post published a historical look today at what it terms “The Great Black-Hispanic Split.” Something it says will become the Democratic party surprise of ’08. But according to The Post, this split goes way beyond the Clinton-Obama racial divide:

Growing anger over the way Hispanic immigration is changing their neighborhoods has prompted many African-Americans to rethink the notion of a rainbow coalition [popularized during the Civil Rights Movement]. Meanwhile, surveys show that many US Hispanics mistrust African-Americans and see themselves as more like whites than like blacks.

Our abuelitos make us so proud sometimes. But where does all this anti-immigrant sentiment come from?

[B]lack unease about immigration goes back to the 19th century, when former slave Frederick Douglass warned that immigrants were displacing free blacks in the labor market. Many blacks supported the 1892 federal law that restricted Chinese immigration and later urged restrictions on Mexican workers. “If the million Mexicans who have entered the country have not displaced Negro workers, whom have they displaced?” asked black journalist George Schuyler in 1928.

So you see, Blacks and Hispanics hating each other is time-honored part of our country’s history. As American as apple pie. Now back to your gang wars, good citizens.