WEBVTT - How Does Xenophobia Work? 0:00:01.880 --> 0:00:07.600 Welcome to Brainstuff, a production of iHeartRadio, Hey brain Stuff, 0:00:07.640 --> 0:00:13.440 Lauren Boblaban. Here in no period of American history, not 0:00:13.680 --> 0:00:16.200 in its founding, nor at the height of its most 0:00:16.239 --> 0:00:20.240 soaring successes, during none of its many wars, nor in 0:00:20.320 --> 0:00:24.720 the often brief years of peace in between, has xenophobia 0:00:24.960 --> 0:00:30.560 not been a problem. This fear and hatred of people 0:00:30.720 --> 0:00:36.320 perceived as foreign or other isn't always blatant. Xenophobia even 0:00:36.320 --> 0:00:39.600 appears at times to be on the decline, say after 0:00:39.640 --> 0:00:42.440 the signing of the Civil Rights Act of nineteen sixty four. 0:00:43.440 --> 0:00:47.559 But other times it seems to spew with fury and 0:00:47.720 --> 0:00:51.960 venom unapologetically from the mouths of common citizens and former 0:00:52.000 --> 0:00:57.720 presidents alike. It's a fact of American life, never easy 0:00:57.720 --> 0:01:03.480 to face, and never ever pretty. For the article this 0:01:03.520 --> 0:01:06.440 episode is based on How Stuff Works. Spoke with Erica Lee, 0:01:06.480 --> 0:01:09.679 a history professor and the director of the Immigration History 0:01:09.720 --> 0:01:13.560 Research Center at the University of Minnesota. She's also the 0:01:13.600 --> 0:01:17.000 author of the book America for Americans, A History of 0:01:17.040 --> 0:01:21.760 Xenophobia in the United States. She said to me, when 0:01:21.760 --> 0:01:26.440 I see xenophobia throughout history, I see it as changing, morphing, adapting, 0:01:26.880 --> 0:01:30.760 but not necessarily going away. It's very common to be 0:01:30.800 --> 0:01:35.640 swept up in some of these moments. The concept of 0:01:35.680 --> 0:01:39.959 xenophobia is often muddled with isms like racism, which is 0:01:40.000 --> 0:01:43.240 the belief that our race determines our traits and that 0:01:43.280 --> 0:01:47.960 a particular race is inherently superior, or nativism, which is 0:01:48.040 --> 0:01:53.080 favoring current inhabitants over new immigrants, And to be sure, 0:01:53.280 --> 0:01:56.640 xenophobia goes hand in hand with both. It's sometimes hard 0:01:56.640 --> 0:02:01.200 to tell them apart, but all of these root from mistrust, 0:02:01.360 --> 0:02:04.640 moving into fear and hatred of people who are not 0:02:04.920 --> 0:02:10.520 us or not from here, which of course raises all 0:02:10.560 --> 0:02:14.040 sorts of questions like who exactly are we and who 0:02:14.080 --> 0:02:18.560 is from here? It's a riddle that's especially pertinent in 0:02:18.600 --> 0:02:21.600 the United States, which is a nation of immigrants and 0:02:21.960 --> 0:02:27.520 is supposedly, if not always factually welcoming of them. It's 0:02:27.760 --> 0:02:30.680 important to note, though, that xenophobia is alive and thriving 0:02:30.720 --> 0:02:33.639 in many parts of the globe and has been forever. 0:02:34.960 --> 0:02:37.799 But it's because of America's self billing as a haven 0:02:37.880 --> 0:02:40.760 for immigrants that we have some splainin to do when 0:02:40.800 --> 0:02:45.600 it comes to our deeply embedded history of xenophobia from 0:02:45.639 --> 0:02:48.240 the very beginning. Many who came to America, even if 0:02:48.280 --> 0:02:52.880 that immigrated only recently themselves, cast a squorely eye on newcomers, 0:02:53.080 --> 0:02:58.320 a meaning those newcomers have battled discrimination and worse. A 0:02:58.400 --> 0:03:01.880 German and Irish Catholics the mid eighteen hundreds were shunned 0:03:01.960 --> 0:03:05.760 and even killed. Campaigns against them claimed that they couldn't 0:03:05.760 --> 0:03:08.079 be good citizens because that only vote the way of 0:03:08.120 --> 0:03:12.920 their priests. Through the eighteen hundreds, Chinese immigrants were said 0:03:12.960 --> 0:03:16.399 to be cheap laborers taking away jobs from real Americans. 0:03:17.200 --> 0:03:21.120 In the early nineteen hundreds, Italians were branded criminals. During 0:03:21.200 --> 0:03:24.480 the Great Depression, twenty percent of Mexican Americans were deported, 0:03:24.760 --> 0:03:27.440 more than half of whom were American citizens by birth. 0:03:28.200 --> 0:03:32.520 Japanese Americans were interned during World War II. Today, Muslim 0:03:32.600 --> 0:03:38.160 and Middle Eastern Americans are branded terrorists. Many of these groups, 0:03:38.280 --> 0:03:41.320 even long after they've woven themselves into the fabric of 0:03:41.360 --> 0:03:47.240 American society, but after generations still grapple was xenophobia. Lee 0:03:47.320 --> 0:03:51.160 explained that it's at the crux of a uniquely American dichotomy. 0:03:51.760 --> 0:03:54.760 No other country has allowed more immigrants to settle and 0:03:54.840 --> 0:03:59.000 more refugees of safe haven than America. Today, about twenty 0:03:59.000 --> 0:04:02.200 eight percent of Americans are immigrants or US born children 0:04:02.200 --> 0:04:06.440 of immigrants, some ninety million people. Yet no country has 0:04:06.480 --> 0:04:10.040 deported more immigrants some fifty seven million since the late 0:04:10.080 --> 0:04:15.240 eighteen hundreds. Lisaid it points to a contradiction that is 0:04:15.280 --> 0:04:17.839 as old as the United States. We have these very 0:04:17.880 --> 0:04:21.920 conflicting notions about who an American could be. There were 0:04:22.040 --> 0:04:25.520 very romantic proclamations that an American is someone who chooses 0:04:25.560 --> 0:04:27.599 to be an American as long as you had it 0:04:27.640 --> 0:04:30.120 in your heart to accept the ideals and the values 0:04:30.120 --> 0:04:33.280 of the United States. Than we unlike countries that were 0:04:33.320 --> 0:04:37.120 based on a monarchy or hereditary citizenship, but we had 0:04:37.120 --> 0:04:41.160 this much more inclusive definition of American citizenship. And in 0:04:41.200 --> 0:04:44.120 many ways that was true, but in many other ways 0:04:44.200 --> 0:04:49.880 it was very narrow. For example, the first law about 0:04:49.920 --> 0:04:54.040 naturalization was passed in seventeen ninety, and it was relatively open. 0:04:54.640 --> 0:04:57.760 It said that quote any alien being a free white 0:04:57.760 --> 0:05:01.200 person end quote could apply for citizenship as long as 0:05:01.240 --> 0:05:04.000 they lived in the United States for at least two years. 0:05:04.760 --> 0:05:08.679 But that law, of course excluded enslaved people from Africa, 0:05:09.040 --> 0:05:14.320 Native Americans, and others. Even when the US has taken 0:05:14.360 --> 0:05:18.039 steps that would seem anti xenophobic. There have been stumbles 0:05:18.040 --> 0:05:22.560 and pushbacks. For example, the Immigration Act of nineteen sixty 0:05:22.600 --> 0:05:26.359 five overturned immigration quotas that were based on national origins. 0:05:26.520 --> 0:05:30.840 Originally designed to favor immigrants from European countries, the law 0:05:30.880 --> 0:05:33.720 paved the way for millions of legal immigrants from Latin 0:05:33.800 --> 0:05:37.560 America and beyond, and for an increase in illegal immigration 0:05:37.640 --> 0:05:42.000 as well, and all of that spurred some xenophobic reaction. 0:05:43.680 --> 0:05:47.599 The nonpartisan Migration Policy Institute wrote about this in twenty 0:05:47.640 --> 0:05:51.159 fifteen a quote. The law's proponents see it as a 0:05:51.360 --> 0:05:55.239 historic success and assert that the estimated fifty nine million 0:05:55.240 --> 0:05:57.400 immigrants who have come to the United States since its 0:05:57.440 --> 0:06:01.560 passage as of twenty fifteen have made the younger, infused 0:06:01.600 --> 0:06:06.280 it with diversity and talent, and generated prosperity and economic growth. 0:06:07.080 --> 0:06:10.080 Critics contend that high admission levels of diverse groups of 0:06:10.120 --> 0:06:13.920 immigrants have created more competition for low skilled US workers 0:06:14.320 --> 0:06:20.479 and shattered the country's cultural homogeneity. Lie said, the connection 0:06:20.600 --> 0:06:24.320 with racism is really powerful, So what's wrong with racism? 0:06:24.440 --> 0:06:28.840 It treats people unequally, it demonizes entire groups, is dangerous 0:06:28.839 --> 0:06:31.960 and threatening. Either because they're racially different, or they practice 0:06:31.960 --> 0:06:34.479 a different faith, or that they're just thought of as 0:06:34.520 --> 0:06:38.400 inherently dangerous, and we treat them as a group rather 0:06:38.480 --> 0:06:44.520 than treating them as individuals. On top of all of that, 0:06:45.000 --> 0:06:48.599 our government is made up of people, and sometimes people 0:06:48.720 --> 0:06:54.640 codify those ways of thinking into law. It's hardly the 0:06:54.880 --> 0:06:58.440 self evident truth etched forever into the Declaration of Independence 0:06:58.480 --> 0:07:02.960 that all men are created equal, but it's undeniable at 0:07:02.960 --> 0:07:08.640 this point. America, again, like many other countries, has asenophobia problem. 0:07:09.040 --> 0:07:12.920 It's deep rooted and insidious and it won't be cured 0:07:12.960 --> 0:07:17.800 anytime soon. But that doesn't mean there's nothing we can do. 0:07:18.640 --> 0:07:21.760 From our interactions and our daily lives to our voices 0:07:21.760 --> 0:07:25.280 in the government, we can all fight against hate and discrimination. 0:07:26.480 --> 0:07:29.880 The first step may come from within, learning to identify 0:07:29.960 --> 0:07:33.200 hateful rhetoric wrapped in the guise of national pride or 0:07:33.280 --> 0:07:37.800 personal gain, and to think critically about why people would 0:07:37.880 --> 0:07:42.280 promote that hate and fear. What do they have to 0:07:42.320 --> 0:07:45.400 gain from making you afraid of your neighbors instead of 0:07:45.480 --> 0:07:49.200 talking about the systemic institutional problems that are making both 0:07:49.240 --> 0:07:54.559 your and your neighbors lives harder. On a community level, 0:07:54.800 --> 0:07:57.720 you can provide practical support to the diverse cultures that 0:07:57.800 --> 0:08:00.200 add so much to our lives by supporting the local 0:08:00.240 --> 0:08:03.920 businesses like restaurants run by immigrants, and by supporting local 0:08:03.920 --> 0:08:08.400 events from international artists like cultural festivals, theater concerts, and 0:08:08.440 --> 0:08:13.840 film screenings. Online and in three dimensions, you can call 0:08:13.880 --> 0:08:17.120 out hate speech and bigotry. Let the people you're acquainted 0:08:17.160 --> 0:08:21.920 with know that dehumanizing stereotypes are never funny. On the 0:08:21.960 --> 0:08:24.360 flip side, it can be better to not interact with 0:08:24.400 --> 0:08:27.560 people online who you don't know, and sometimes feeding the 0:08:27.560 --> 0:08:32.200 trolls can only further their spread on social media. Also, 0:08:32.400 --> 0:08:34.679 if it's safe for you to do so, stand up 0:08:34.720 --> 0:08:38.000 to real life bullies by calmly making your presence known, 0:08:38.400 --> 0:08:41.120 asking the victim of the harassment if they'd like your support, 0:08:41.440 --> 0:08:45.400 and then, if so, de escalating the situation by remaining 0:08:45.440 --> 0:08:49.280 calm and being attentive and empathetic while attempting to remove 0:08:49.320 --> 0:08:56.040 people from the location or situation. Finally, vote in national 0:08:56.160 --> 0:09:01.840 and local elections. Your vote is mutual aid. There are 0:09:01.920 --> 0:09:04.679 lots of resources online for how to help fight hate 0:09:04.880 --> 0:09:08.280 like xenophobia. The United Nations has a bunch of great material. 0:09:09.600 --> 0:09:13.640 It's scary out there, but after all, we're all just 0:09:13.840 --> 0:09:22.000 human people in this together. Today's episode is based on 0:09:22.040 --> 0:09:25.079 the article why Zenophobia Thrives in Troubled Times on how 0:09:25.080 --> 0:09:28.280 Stuffworks dot Com, written by John Donovan. Brain Stuff is 0:09:28.280 --> 0:09:30.679 production of I Heart Radio in partnership with how Stuffworks 0:09:30.679 --> 0:09:33.520 dot Com and is produced by Tyler Klang. Four more 0:09:33.559 --> 0:09:37.319 podcasts from my heart Radio, visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, 0:09:37.400 --> 0:09:39.280 or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.