Speaker 1: Welcome to Brainstuff, a production of iHeartRadio, Hey brain Stuff,
Speaker 1: Lauren Boblaban. Here in no period of American history, not
Speaker 1: in its founding, nor at the height of its most
Speaker 1: soaring successes, during none of its many wars, nor in
Speaker 1: the often brief years of peace in between, has xenophobia
Speaker 1: not been a problem. This fear and hatred of people
Speaker 1: perceived as foreign or other isn't always blatant. Xenophobia even
Speaker 1: appears at times to be on the decline, say after
Speaker 1: the signing of the Civil Rights Act of nineteen sixty four.
Speaker 1: But other times it seems to spew with fury and
Speaker 1: venom unapologetically from the mouths of common citizens and former
Speaker 1: presidents alike. It's a fact of American life, never easy
Speaker 1: to face, and never ever pretty. For the article this
Speaker 1: episode is based on How Stuff Works. Spoke with Erica Lee,
Speaker 1: a history professor and the director of the Immigration History
Speaker 1: Research Center at the University of Minnesota. She's also the
Speaker 1: author of the book America for Americans, A History of
Speaker 1: Xenophobia in the United States. She said to me, when
Speaker 1: I see xenophobia throughout history, I see it as changing, morphing, adapting,
Speaker 1: but not necessarily going away. It's very common to be
Speaker 1: swept up in some of these moments. The concept of
Speaker 1: xenophobia is often muddled with isms like racism, which is
Speaker 1: the belief that our race determines our traits and that
Speaker 1: a particular race is inherently superior, or nativism, which is
Speaker 1: favoring current inhabitants over new immigrants, And to be sure,
Speaker 1: xenophobia goes hand in hand with both. It's sometimes hard
Speaker 1: to tell them apart, but all of these root from mistrust,
Speaker 1: moving into fear and hatred of people who are not
Speaker 1: us or not from here, which of course raises all
Speaker 1: sorts of questions like who exactly are we and who
Speaker 1: is from here? It's a riddle that's especially pertinent in
Speaker 1: the United States, which is a nation of immigrants and
Speaker 1: is supposedly, if not always factually welcoming of them. It's
Speaker 1: important to note, though, that xenophobia is alive and thriving
Speaker 1: in many parts of the globe and has been forever.
Speaker 1: But it's because of America's self billing as a haven
Speaker 1: for immigrants that we have some splainin to do when
Speaker 1: it comes to our deeply embedded history of xenophobia from
Speaker 1: the very beginning. Many who came to America, even if
Speaker 1: that immigrated only recently themselves, cast a squorely eye on newcomers,
Speaker 1: a meaning those newcomers have battled discrimination and worse. A
Speaker 1: German and Irish Catholics the mid eighteen hundreds were shunned
Speaker 1: and even killed. Campaigns against them claimed that they couldn't
Speaker 1: be good citizens because that only vote the way of
Speaker 1: their priests. Through the eighteen hundreds, Chinese immigrants were said
Speaker 1: to be cheap laborers taking away jobs from real Americans.
Speaker 1: In the early nineteen hundreds, Italians were branded criminals. During
Speaker 1: the Great Depression, twenty percent of Mexican Americans were deported,
Speaker 1: more than half of whom were American citizens by birth.
Speaker 1: Japanese Americans were interned during World War II. Today, Muslim
Speaker 1: and Middle Eastern Americans are branded terrorists. Many of these groups,
Speaker 1: even long after they've woven themselves into the fabric of
Speaker 1: American society, but after generations still grapple was xenophobia. Lee
Speaker 1: explained that it's at the crux of a uniquely American dichotomy.
Speaker 1: No other country has allowed more immigrants to settle and
Speaker 1: more refugees of safe haven than America. Today, about twenty
Speaker 1: eight percent of Americans are immigrants or US born children
Speaker 1: of immigrants, some ninety million people. Yet no country has
Speaker 1: deported more immigrants some fifty seven million since the late
Speaker 1: eighteen hundreds. Lisaid it points to a contradiction that is
Speaker 1: as old as the United States. We have these very
Speaker 1: conflicting notions about who an American could be. There were
Speaker 1: very romantic proclamations that an American is someone who chooses
Speaker 1: to be an American as long as you had it
Speaker 1: in your heart to accept the ideals and the values
Speaker 1: of the United States. Than we unlike countries that were
Speaker 1: based on a monarchy or hereditary citizenship, but we had
Speaker 1: this much more inclusive definition of American citizenship. And in
Speaker 1: many ways that was true, but in many other ways
Speaker 1: it was very narrow. For example, the first law about
Speaker 1: naturalization was passed in seventeen ninety, and it was relatively open.
Speaker 1: It said that quote any alien being a free white
Speaker 1: person end quote could apply for citizenship as long as
Speaker 1: they lived in the United States for at least two years.
Speaker 1: But that law, of course excluded enslaved people from Africa,
Speaker 1: Native Americans, and others. Even when the US has taken
Speaker 1: steps that would seem anti xenophobic. There have been stumbles
Speaker 1: and pushbacks. For example, the Immigration Act of nineteen sixty
Speaker 1: five overturned immigration quotas that were based on national origins.
Speaker 1: Originally designed to favor immigrants from European countries, the law
Speaker 1: paved the way for millions of legal immigrants from Latin
Speaker 1: America and beyond, and for an increase in illegal immigration
Speaker 1: as well, and all of that spurred some xenophobic reaction.
Speaker 1: The nonpartisan Migration Policy Institute wrote about this in twenty
Speaker 1: fifteen a quote. The law's proponents see it as a
Speaker 1: historic success and assert that the estimated fifty nine million
Speaker 1: immigrants who have come to the United States since its
Speaker 1: passage as of twenty fifteen have made the younger, infused
Speaker 1: it with diversity and talent, and generated prosperity and economic growth.
Speaker 1: Critics contend that high admission levels of diverse groups of
Speaker 1: immigrants have created more competition for low skilled US workers
Speaker 1: and shattered the country's cultural homogeneity. Lie said, the connection
Speaker 1: with racism is really powerful, So what's wrong with racism?
Speaker 1: It treats people unequally, it demonizes entire groups, is dangerous
Speaker 1: and threatening. Either because they're racially different, or they practice
Speaker 1: a different faith, or that they're just thought of as
Speaker 1: inherently dangerous, and we treat them as a group rather
Speaker 1: than treating them as individuals. On top of all of that,
Speaker 1: our government is made up of people, and sometimes people
Speaker 1: codify those ways of thinking into law. It's hardly the
Speaker 1: self evident truth etched forever into the Declaration of Independence
Speaker 1: that all men are created equal, but it's undeniable at
Speaker 1: this point. America, again, like many other countries, has asenophobia problem.
Speaker 1: It's deep rooted and insidious and it won't be cured
Speaker 1: anytime soon. But that doesn't mean there's nothing we can do.
Speaker 1: From our interactions and our daily lives to our voices
Speaker 1: in the government, we can all fight against hate and discrimination.
Speaker 1: The first step may come from within, learning to identify
Speaker 1: hateful rhetoric wrapped in the guise of national pride or
Speaker 1: personal gain, and to think critically about why people would
Speaker 1: promote that hate and fear. What do they have to
Speaker 1: gain from making you afraid of your neighbors instead of
Speaker 1: talking about the systemic institutional problems that are making both
Speaker 1: your and your neighbors lives harder. On a community level,
Speaker 1: you can provide practical support to the diverse cultures that
Speaker 1: add so much to our lives by supporting the local
Speaker 1: businesses like restaurants run by immigrants, and by supporting local
Speaker 1: events from international artists like cultural festivals, theater concerts, and
Speaker 1: film screenings. Online and in three dimensions, you can call
Speaker 1: out hate speech and bigotry. Let the people you're acquainted
Speaker 1: with know that dehumanizing stereotypes are never funny. On the
Speaker 1: flip side, it can be better to not interact with
Speaker 1: people online who you don't know, and sometimes feeding the
Speaker 1: trolls can only further their spread on social media. Also,
Speaker 1: if it's safe for you to do so, stand up
Speaker 1: to real life bullies by calmly making your presence known,
Speaker 1: asking the victim of the harassment if they'd like your support,
Speaker 1: and then, if so, de escalating the situation by remaining
Speaker 1: calm and being attentive and empathetic while attempting to remove
Speaker 1: people from the location or situation. Finally, vote in national
Speaker 1: and local elections. Your vote is mutual aid. There are
Speaker 1: lots of resources online for how to help fight hate
Speaker 1: like xenophobia. The United Nations has a bunch of great material.
Speaker 1: It's scary out there, but after all, we're all just
Speaker 1: human people in this together. Today's episode is based on
Speaker 1: the article why Zenophobia Thrives in Troubled Times on how
Speaker 1: Stuffworks dot Com, written by John Donovan. Brain Stuff is
Speaker 1: production of I Heart Radio in partnership with how Stuffworks
Speaker 1: dot Com and is produced by Tyler Klang. Four more
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