In no period of American history — not in its institution or at the height of its most soaring successes , during none of its many war or in the oft - fitful years in between — has xenophobia not been a problem . It is as much a part of this nation as its immigrant roots , asAbe Lincoln ’s stovepipe chapeau and Donald Trump ’s hair .
It ’s not always blatant . Xenophobia even seem , at times to be on the decline — say , after the sign language of theCivil Rights Act of 1964 . But often , too , it seems to spurt , with craze and maliciousness , unapologetically from the oral cavity of common citizen and President likewise .
It ’s a fact of American life , never well-fixed to face , and never , ever pretty .
" To me , when I see it throughout story , I see it as changing , morphing , adapting , but not necessarily going off , " saysErika Lee , a chronicle professor and the director of theImmigration History Research Centerat the University of Minnesota . " It ’s very plebeian to be sweep up in some of these moments . But when you expect at it more carefully , especially in the long sea of story , we see more adaptation and shapeshifting , rather than we see sort of death . "
What Is Xenophobia, Exactly?
Lee , the author of " America for Americans : A account of Xenophobia in the United States , " delimit xenophobia by the book .
" An irrational fear and hate of immigrants , " she says .
The conception of xenophobia often is muddied with " -isms " likeracism(Merriam - Webster : " a belief that race is the primary determinant of human trait and capacity and that racial differences produce an built-in favourable position of a particular subspecies " ) and nativism ( " a policy of favoringnativeinhabitants as opposed to immigrants " ) . And , to be certain , xenophobia goes hired hand in hand with both . It ’s sometimes hard to tell them apart .
But it ’s in all likelihood best to keep the theme simpleton : Xenophobia is the fear and hate , held by some people in a state , of those who arenot fromthat country . It ’s a reverence ofimmigrants , or just of people from other countries . Of foreigners . That fear could be because of hide colouration or culture or organized religion . It could be because of all of that . Or it could be something else .
Mainly , the hate and fear are becausethose peopleare not fromhere .
That , of path , raises all sorts of questions , perhaps the biggest being , " Who exactlyisfrom this commonwealth ? " It ’s a riddle that ’s especially pertinent in the U.S. , which bill itself as a nation of immigrants and is , purportedly — if not always factually — welcoming of them .
It ’s important to point out that xenophobia is active and thriving in many parts of the Earth . And it has been forever .
But because of America ’s reputation as a harbour for immigrant the country has some reply to do when it fall to its deeply engraft story of xenophobia .
The History of Xenophobia in the U.S.
From the very beginning of the body politic , many who were there — even if they ’d immigrated only recently — hurl a squirrely eye on entrant . From Lee ’s book :
Historical write up test that every grouping that hasimmigrated to Americahas battled hatred , secernment and worse from some already in the country . German andIrish Catholicsin the mid-1800s were shunned — andeven kill . During the Great Depression , 20 percent of the Mexican and Mexican American universe was deport . ( And more than one-half of them were American citizen by nascency . ) Japanese Americans were interned during World War II . Muslim Americans struggle xenophobia today .
" We see this in the safari against Irish Catholics in the 19th 100 ; ' Their drunkenness , they do n’t make just citizen because they ’re only going to vote the manner of their Catholic priests , ' " Lee says . " We see it in military campaign against Chinese immigrants … ' They ’re bum laborers , they take away line from deserving snowy Americans . '
" We could go on . ' Italians are also criminals . Mexicans are illegals and bandit . Muslims are terrorist . ' "
Many of those grouping , even long after they ’ve chip at out a stead in American society , after generations , still grip with xenophobia . It ’s at the crux of the matter of a uniquely American dichotomy , Lee says .
No country has permit more immigrants to settle and more refugees a safe haven than America . Yet no land has deported more : Some 57 million since the late 1800s , according to Lee .
" It points to a contradiction in terms that is as former as the United States , " Lee allege . " We have these very contradictory notions about who an American could be . There were very romantic proclamations that an American is someone whochoosesto be an American . As long as you had it in your heart to accept the ideal and the values of the United States , then we — unlike countries that were based on a monarchy or ancestral citizenship — we had this much more inclusive definition of American citizenship . And in many style that was true . But in many other ways , it was very minute . "
The first naturalization law , for an lesson , was fade in 1790 . And it was comparatively capable , primarily because the land was starting from scratch . It said that " any alien , being a free ashen person , " could apply for citizenship as long they be in the United States for at least two old age . But that law did , of course , bar African striver , Native Americans and others .
Even when the U.S. on the face of it has taken steps that would seem anti - xenophobic , it fall back . The Immigration Act of 1965overturned immigration quotas that were based on interior origins , originally designed to favor immigrant from European countries . The law paved the style for millions of legal and illegal immigrant from Latin America and elsewhere . And that spurred some xenophobic response . From a 2015 piece by the nonpartisanMigration Policy Institute :
The Dangers of Xenophobia
" The connection with racial discrimination is really sinewy , " Lee says . " So what ’s wrong with racialism ? It treats multitude unevenly . It demonizes entire groups as dangerous and ominous , either because they ’re racially different , or they rehearse a different trust , or that they ’re just thought of as inherently dangerous . And we treat them as a group … rather than process them as soul . "
Worse yet is when the government codify that way of thinking into law . " The United States , prison term and clock time again , dissemble on those beliefs and made policy , " Lee say , " that justified inadequate discourse . "
It ’s scarcely the " self - evident " truth etched forever into theDeclaration of Independencethat " all men are created equal . " But it ’s undeniable at this head : America — again , like many other state — has a xenophobia problem . It ’s deeply - rooted and insidious .
And it wo n’t be cured any clip soon .
