"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 ([email protected]) is a junior majoring in Spanish and history.
