In our last entry, we examined how the Irish, immigrants who initially were met with much resistance and prejudice upon their arrival to the United States, were able to eventually shed the negative connotations associated with their ethnicity and become a well-respected and integral people within their adopted country. As is well-documented, this transformation was neither without struggle nor was it rapid, but it happened. This is a very important fact: the Irish, though feared and misjudged in the beginning, now enjoy equal access to America’s many opportunities and institutions as the ancestors of the Founding Fathers. As a world leader in this modern age, America must be mindful of struggles such as these, so as to act more appropriately when similar situations arise in the present.
The “question” of immigration will never go away; it is equally as pressing in contemporary times as it was 150 years ago. There will always be novel ethnicities and cultures immigrating to America to take their stab at the mystified and ever more elusive “American Dream.” As a corollary, native-born American citizens will always harbor a hint of wariness of the next wave of newcomers, as their very presence represents a challenge to the cultural, societal, and economic status quo that has protected the interests of accepted members of this country. This dynamic seems to be inevitable, but it does not have to be.
Most of us have a tendency to view our world, in all of its complexity, as unique compared to the world of the past. This is especially the case with the negative aspects of contemporary life. The reasoning, more or less, is because the problems facing us in the present are much more urgent and relatable than those of the past. A perfect example of this is the “good old days” remarks to which many of the older generations appeal when lamenting about today’s problems. However, most of those very same people lived through a world war, the Cold War and nuclear crisis, extremely tense racial relations, and a host of other pressing issues. The tendency of people to forget the past is not limited to the living elderly, and it is certainly not unique to any specific aspect of life. Unfortunately, we fail to take note of the past all too often, and for the purpose of this particular blog, we fail to consider our history of immigration problems.
Immigration in the 21st Century has quite a negative and racially-charged connotation; many Americans believe we have reached the point of a national crisis. Out of this perception, fear is born; fear that the values that have made this country great are falling victim to the foreign values of “alien” newcomers. As has been seen before, a fearful populace is capable of making extremely rash and dangerous decisions to safeguard the society they hold dear. On numerous occasions throughout history, government authorities and institutions have oppressed countless ethnicities and creeds in an effort to maintain America’s sacred values. The internment of Japanese Americans between 1942 to 1946 is one stark example.1 This trend, regardless of how far we have come as a society in terms of human rights, is still very much alive. However, if we consider the historical developments of this country, the United States of America, it becomes evident that these intense fears of 21st Century immigrants are unnecessary and irrational—just as the strong aversion to Irish so many years ago.
This blog is not advocating that we abandon our traditional American values, but rather, that we stay true to the notions upon which those values and this country was founded—values which are perhaps most astutely encapsulated in Thomas Jefferson’s First Inaugural address:
“All, too, will bear in mind this sacred principle, that though the will of the majority is in all cases to prevail, that will to be rightful must be reasonable; that the minority possess their equal rights, which equal law must protect, and to violate would be oppression.” (http://www.heritage.org/initiatives/first-principles/primary-sources/jeffersons-first-inaugural-address)
Within these timeless words is the manifestation of one of America’s most guarded values, equal protection and treatment under the law, yet our nation has failed to carefully consider phrases such as these on numerous occasions throughout our history. Let us not repeat these mistakes; we must learn from the lessons of history.
In particular, the Irish represent a perfect example of a large cohort of immigrants, who although at the time were met with fierce resistance, were eventually completely assimilated into American life. Initially, their rapidly-growing presence in a largely Anglo-Saxon country caused unprecedented alarm, but in retrospect; this reaction was a result of paranoia and was certainly not a product of legitimate danger to American life. Now, over a century and a half later, Americans have realized that the Irish, just like everyone else, simply desired access to the same opportunities that are guaranteed to every American by the Constitution. The issue of immigration is no different today. Whether it is the immigrants from Ireland, Italy, South America, Somalia or Syria–the hostile reception has been inconsistent with the American values. It is only by understanding the historical trends that have caused us to arrive at this point that we can responsibly see through our largely irrational fear of immigrants, appraise our situation more accurately, and act in accordance with both the sacred laws of this country and the universal laws of mankind.
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1 The internment of Japanese Americans in the United States was the forced relocation and incarceration during World War II of between 110,000 and 120,000 people of Japanese ancestry who lived on the Pacific coast in camps in the interior of the country