OPINION & EDITORIAL
Bigotry: America’s shameful pastime
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Also by Kyle Szarzynski:
- John Edwards may prove best option (December 4, 2007)
- America, stop kneeling at altar of religious insanity (November 27, 2007)
- Critics ignore Kumar's progressive strides (November 26, 2007)
- Islam no defense for extremist action (November 20, 2007)
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- Sensenbrenner wrong on immigration (March 27, 2006)
by Kyle Szarzynski
Friday, August 31, 2007
"Few of their children in the country learn English. … They will soon so outnumber us that all the advantages we have will not be able to preserve our language, and even our government will become precarious." These words were not spoken by Pat Buchanan, the year was not 2007 and they did not concern Mexican immigrants. Rather, they were said by America's most untarnished founding father, Benjamin Franklin, in 1751, talking about the German newcomers — America's first demonized immigrant group.
As Franklin's statement attests, xenophobia, that most paradoxical of American prejudices, is fundamental to American history. Indeed, immigrant bashing, a mainstream impulse in contemporary political debate, has always been an American pastime.
As German and other non-Anglo-Saxon Protestants slowly assimilated, new groups were chosen as scapegoats. As boats of Irish arrived in American cities, fleeing famine and British colonialism, they were quickly designated as the new targets. The popular media, unflinchingly blunt by today's standards, depicted them as alcoholics, lazy, stupid and crime-ridden ("paddywagon" is still used as slang for police vehicles). The Catholicism of most Irish immigrants only increased their isolation and persecution.
The anti-Irish and anti-Catholic hysteria of the 19th century, largely motivated by economic concerns, culminated in the Know Nothing Movement of the 1850s, a grassroots effort to curb immigration and limit the influence of immigrant culture on public life. Its tactics included firebombing Catholic churches, rioting, political lobbying and running selected candidates for office.
Asian immigrants, increasingly prominent in California and the Western territories, also faced prejudice during this period. Fears of cheap immigrant labor pushing down wages and increasing unemployment, especially on railroad construction, fueled anti-Chinese bigotry. Not surprisingly, the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 and the founding of the Asiatic Exclusion League in 1905 were heavily supported by labor unions.
Following the Civil War, industrialization rapidly accelerated and new immigrants were imported to work in the bourgeoning textile mills and factories. The most massive immigration wave in US history occurred around 1880 and lasted into the 1920s. These new immigrants included many of the traditional ethnicities (namely Irish and Germans) but also included people from southern and eastern Europe, including Poles, Italians, Jews and others.
The backlash was as predictable as it was ugly. The newcomers were seen as an exotic race of people, nonwhite, mysterious and un-American. Confined to the most miserable ethnic slums, immigrant workers faced horrific workplace conditions in addition to widespread xenophobia. The arrival of the Statue of Liberty in 1886 did nothing to change the malicious climate.
The Ku Klux Klan capitalized off this nativist sentiment, acquiring millions of members by the 1920s. It preached vicious anti-Catholicism and anti-Semitism, in addition to its anti-Black racism. Immigrants endured caricatures in the mainstream media, vitriolic abuse from right-wing politicians, fear and hatred from the American people and even the occasional lynching in the South.
Another important element in the targeting of immigrants was their perceived political radicalism. The 1927 trial and execution of two Italian-American anarchists falsely charged with murder, Nicola Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti, were born out of this sentiment. Vanzetti said "I am suffering because I am a radical, and indeed I am a radical; I have suffered because I am an Italian, and indeed I am an Italian."
Is there any abuse that today's immigrants must endure that previous generations of new Americans have not? It seems to be the same story, generation after generation. The nativist sentiment, whether it be expressed by Franklin or Buchanan, has always gone something like this: "These new immigrants aren't like the old; they won't work, are prone to crime and refuse to assimilate!"
If xenophobia has been ubiquitous, then where does it come from?
Dividing workers is and always has been the most effective tactic to discourage labor organizing, and thereby keep wages low, benefits scarce and workplace conditions abysmal. By manufacturing distrust and hatred of immigrants, economic elites effectively impede alliances between native-born and immigrant workers.
This is especially important to remember today, a time when even immigration legislation supported by President Bush is considered too liberal. A Fox News/Opinion Dynamics poll showed that most Americans support the bigoted polices of the far-right, including the construction of a wall along the Mexican border. According to the poll, most even oppose the legalization of undocumented workers, which, ironically, maintains the existence of a fluid and cheap workforce that lowers wages for everyone.
Overcoming anti-immigrant prejudice is therefore beneficial to all American workers. As liberal politicians fight for pathetic immigration "reform" in Congress, real progressives can do better. A demand for immediate amnesty must be made heard. Perhaps we can even popularize the radical notion that all human beings — not just native-born Americans — are entitled to justice and dignity.
Kyle Szarzynski (kszarzynski@badgerherald.com) is a junior majoring in Spanish and history.
Anonymous (August 31, 2007 @ 6:41pm):
What do illegal aliens and racism have in common? NOTHING! The fact that most are Mexican has nothing to do with the outcry, you would be hearing the same thing if a bunch of rowdy Swedes were jumping on boats, refusing to learn English (by the way, try to get any sort of permanent resident status in any non-English speaking country, say Mexico, without knowing the native language) and doing the same thing illegals from Mexico are doing.
Really, it is great that so many wish to come and take advantage of the opportunity we have in this nation, but we ask that they do it legally. Any other way is a slap in the face of all the immigrants who have done so legally in the past (including my wife).
Anonymous (September 1, 2007 @ 12:34am):
Kyle, you are a typical Madison liberal! It's not an anti-immigrant movement, it's and anti-illegal-immigrant movement.
BTW, don't you think it's a little strange that there is much more support for illegals in the US than there ought to be for staying in Mexico and fixing whatever problems they have down there? Why move when you can just fix up the house you're living in? The United States can't possibly be the only country worth living in!
Anonymous (September 1, 2007 @ 12:35am):
Yeah right, Kyle. And if you majored in something else besides Spanish and History, I suppose your opinion would be the same. Right?
Anonymous (September 1, 2007 @ 3:14pm):
Perhaps we should just adopt the Mexican methods of dealing with illegal immigrants.
But wait; raping, robbing and killing illegal immigrants would be against the law in the USA.
I think that 2000 miles of concertina wire and the return of all the USA border troops from Korea and Germany and Japan to patrol our own border would be the best solution.
PS. Swedes wouldn't be engaged in La Reconquista. I doubt they'd be marching with Swedish flags demanding exemption from the law.
Anonymous (September 1, 2007 @ 6:19pm):
Hey Kyle, if you care so much about illegals then why don't you move to their country and take care of them? We don't need them. And we don't need you.
No Border Wall (September 2, 2007 @ 3:33pm):
I would say that the comments that you have received so far provide fresh evidence that the border wall really is based on fear and bigotry, rather than any actual need. That is one of the reasons that those of us who live along the southern border (my house is 5 miles from the Rio Grande) are opposed to the wall. The "invasion" that Dobbs and Tancredo rant about is a myth. Yes, people come across the border, but most are just looking for work. They are not an existential threat to our nation, they are an unacknowledged part of our workforce. And a wall will not keep them out. The Border Patrol has stated at public meetings that a wall will only slow a crosser down by 5 minutes. The Congressional Research Service reported that the walls already built in California and Arizona have had no effect on the number of undocumented immigrants living in the US. So we will spend anywhere from $7 billion to $49 billion to destroy critical riparian habitat and border communities to fail to stop an imaginary threat. Go to www.notexasborderwall.com and www.notexasborderwall.blogspot.com to learn more, sign the petition opposing the border wall, and then contact your members of congress to urge them to work towards the repeal of the Secure Fence Act and Real ID Act. While the threats of invasion may be illusory the damage that the wall will do in the next few months is real, so we must work to stop it now.
Anonymous (September 2, 2007 @ 6:13pm):
"rather than any actual need"
With between 10 and 20 MILLION illegal invaders already here and more arriving daily, I would think that even an idiot could see the actual need.
Anonymous (September 2, 2007 @ 10:05pm):
No Border Wall, do you actually support these illegals? I'll bet you care about the homeless in this country too. Well, you can't help the homeless while allowing illegals to come in and take away all the jobs the homeless need. Back in the tech-driven 90's unemployment in Madison was well under 2%. Now it's up to nearly 5%. You really think working people in Madison care if illegals have a tough go of it? I don't. And the fact that many of them use Social Security numbers of US citizens fraudulently is a good enough reason to round 'em up and ship 'em all back to Mexico. Why can't they just stay down there and fix Mexico? Do you really think it makes sense to just keep on taking people in just because the jobs in their countries, jobs we lost here, don't pay squat?
Other countries need a wake-up call. We Americans are fed up with being the charitable organization of the world. Much of the foreign aid they get from us is taxpayer dollars. It's time they got off the dole and started solving their own problems for once. We have enough problems here to worry about.
Anonymous (September 3, 2007 @ 9:22am):
No Border, you are so full of crap! Do you honestly believe we Americans feel like putting up with illegal immigrants coming into this country and taking away our jobs? Do you honestly believe they only take the jobs Americans refuse to do? I've been out west and I've seen illegal immigrants doing construction jobs that pay them $15-$20/hr. There are a lot of Americans who'd give anything for a job that pays that well. We're trying to fight off a recession and you want more illegals? Man what the hell happened to liberals in this country? Aren't you aware that many employers are scamming American workers to get a little cheap labor here? Or am I just talking to a brick wall?
Anonymous (September 4, 2007 @ 8:11am):
...regarding immigration and Senator Craig:
"If Americans are willing to be undercover cops in airport mens' rooms, I find it hard to believe there are ANY jobs Americans won't do."
Anonymous (September 4, 2007 @ 9:40am):
Liberals hate America, but they want everyone to live here. I don't get it.
Anonymous (September 4, 2007 @ 12:21pm):
"Liberals hate America"
More correctly, the Liberals hate the status quo.
Anonymous (September 4, 2007 @ 11:29pm):
"More correctly, the Liberals hate the status quo."
Even more correctly, they realize that the reason the status quo is what it is now is because they went overboard with their status quo a few years ago. And now they reap what they have sown. And so it goes...
Anonymous (September 11, 2007 @ 4:48pm):
they toook ourr jobs!!!
Anonymous (September 11, 2007 @ 11:40pm):
"We Americans are fed up with being the charitable organization of the world."
What are you talking about? Look at the world, or more specifically look at Mexico...
This charitable country of ours has no problem going into Mexico, exploiting them for cheap labor and resources under the claim that we're providing economic support or "foreign aid"... and then when they want out of these conditions due to our 'charity,' Americans have the audacity to castigate them for it...seriously?
If you really want to consider job loss, look outside U.S. walls and blame our government... consider Maquiladoras..
And this "raping, robbing and killing" you speak of is hardly legal and hardly done specifically to foreigners (although, of course, thats what we're led to think through the partisan media)... and indeed (believe it or not) there is raping, robbing and killing, as well as human trafficking within the U.S. borders...
Furthermore... Illegal immigrants aren't savages... they're human beings, whom, as Kyle says, are simply "entitled to justice and dignity."
Anonymous (November 4, 2007 @ 12:57am):
Is it just me, or are some fundamental truths escape people that think unregulated immigration is just fine; namely, the more workers you have in a given work force will drive down the wages paid, and secondly, the increase in the population forces up the costs of either renting or purchasing property. While building a wall may be an expensive way for politicians to essentially gain votes, would it be too much to ask that we have some regulation regarding immigration?
This is not to say that Lou Dobbs and others of his ilk aren't just using fear to obtain higher ratings, but how can it be that we are not allowed to enforce our own laws? And if we want immigration laws enforced, we are immediately branded as xenophobes. If you can look at the influx of illegal aliens and not see the economic damage that does indeed occur, how seriously am I supposed to take such an opinion? Perhaps in time the damage will decrease, as assimilation occurs. But if immigration is allowed to go on without limits, is it really so irrational to fear what will happen to overburdened schools, hospitals, etc?
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