I simply completed studying “America for Americans: A history of xenophobia in the United States” by Erika Lee. It’s an unsparing evaluation of the way in which xenophobia is woven into the material of American legislation and tradition.
If you learn “America for Americans,” does it conjure a picture of native People asserting their rights to the lands that have been over-run by western Europeans? In fact not. The individuals who use that expression are overwhelmingly whites of western European descent. The oldsters who have been right here earlier than them don’t rely. Likewise, the slogan “America for Americans” wasn’t meant to incorporate the involuntary immigrants from Africa, whose residence right here antedates the ancestors of many American xenophobes right now.
That’s only the start.
For all of the right-wing bleating about “open borders,” the US had open borders till the late nineteenth century, when Chinese language immigrants have been legally excluded. Lee factors out that anti-Asian xenophobia was on no account restricted to the US.
Initially, American xenophobia centered on German immigrants. With time, Germans—not less than Protestant Germans—grew to become honorary white individuals. Italian, Irish and East European/Russian Jews every have been targets of American xenophobia. Every group was tarred with the identical brush: they have been soiled, illiterate, poor, insular and vulnerable to crime and prostitution. The anti-Catholicism of the Know-Nothing motion embodies one other xenophobic cost—Immigrants have been in the end loyal to their dwelling nation (or for Roman Catholics, to the Pope in Rome) and couldn’t be assimilated as patriotic People.
The patriotism difficulty got here into full flower after the assault on Pearl Harbor, when tens of 1000’s of Americans of Japanese descent have been rounded up and put in focus camps, whereas their houses and shops have been taken with out compensation. This was in the end authorised by the Supreme Court docket on grounds of army necessity. One factor I discovered from this e-book is that many individuals of Japanese descent dwelling in Peru have been involuntarily deported to the US and taking to focus camps, to be stored as hostages to alternate with Japan for American troopers.
Xenophobia in the direction of Muslims has lengthy been lively within the US, however hit a fevered pitch after the 9/11 assaults. When Donald Trump gained the White Home, he tried to drive via a complete ban on immigration from Muslim-majority international locations. On the third strive, a partial ban succeeded. In the meantime, xenophobic violence in the direction of Muslims in America skyrocketed, as an equivalency between being Muslim and terrorism took maintain within the common creativeness.
The writing on this e-book is detailed and scholarly whereas remaining lucid and fascinating. I’ve a minor quibble: Lee lumps in Iran with Arab nations, however whereas Iran is majority Muslim, it’s not an Arab nation. I’d undoubtedly advocate this as a stable historic survey of xenophobia within the US.
My private response to this e-book is that xenophobia is a mirrored image of tribalism. Tribalism is hard-wired in our species, each the affinity and loyalty to tribe members and the suspicion and worry of outsiders. It’s definitely not a uniquely American phenomenon: the Crusades of the Center Ages, the pogroms in Europe and Russia, the Holocaust of World Battle II and the persecution of the Uyghurs in present-day China are only a few examples.
Andrew Younger mentioned you need to by no means belief anybody who says they’re not racist. It is best to say “I’m working on my racism.” The duty can’t be to extirpate or deny American xenophobia, however to tame it via legal guidelines that afford authorized safety to immigrants and curb violent habits towards them. The nearer we will come to the best of the Declaration of Independence—that each one individuals are created equal and endowed with the inalienable rights to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, the higher our nation will likely be.
