Anti-immigrant bigotry: American as apple pie

In the wake of Donald Trump’s call for a ban on all Muslim travel and immigration, many politicians, political pundits, and TV personalities have remarked that his comments are “un-American,” indicating that a Muslim ban would go against our history as a people.

But it’s important to distinguish between our ideals and our reality. When we fail to recognize the truths of our history, we also fail to recognize the dangers of fear, demagoguery, bigotry, and outright stupidity.

{mosads}The fact of the matter is that America has a checkered history, at best, when it comes to our welcoming of immigrants. It’s true that the Statue of Liberty’s warm torch ushered in millions to Ellis Island, and that another million would enter through Angel Island in California. But it’s just as true that nativism has always plagued our country, and has always had to be combated.

In 1798, in reaction to events in France, John Adams signed into law the Alien and Sedition acts, which increased the residency time required for immigrants to become citizens and allowed the president to deport or jail anyone he considered “dangerous to the peace and safety of the United States.” The acts also forbade people from speaking out against the government or the president. This was only ten years after the ratification of the Constitution and a mere seven years after the 1^st Amendment was enacted.

In the 1830s and ‘40s, a strong nativist element began to develop. In 1836, Samuel Morse, whose telegraph would change the world in 1844, ran unsuccessfully for mayor of New York on an anti-immigrant, anti-Catholic platform. Advocacy for his position would take on violent means in the 1840s and early 1850s with the establishment of the anti-Catholic, anti-Irish Know-Nothing Party and the rise of brutal enforcers like William Poole, better known as “Bill the Butcher.” Philadelphia, the “City of Brotherly Love,” was no better: the 1844 “Bible Riots” shook the entire city and had a profound and lasting effect on that city’s government.

The Irish would continue to suffer from bigotry throughout the 1800s and beyond, with employment signs often bearing the words “Irish Need Not Apply” and frequent comparisons to animals.

Asians wouldn’t fare much better. After helping construct the railroads, during which they often were forced to perform the most dangerous tasks, we thanked the Chinese by passing the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882. Japanese-Americans, of course, though as patriotic as anyone, would not only face discrimination, but would be forced into internment camps during World War II. And Vietnamese immigrants faced anti-immigration backlash when they were forced to relocate here after the Vietnam War.

Jews have not exactly been welcomed with open arms either. Though many Jews came to America during our peek immigration time (from 1890-1911) and were able to escape the pogroms, fears of Bolshevism and feelings of isolationism kept many Jews from immigrating from 1917 until after World War II. Restrictive U.S. immigration policies left many Jews out in the cold, and potentially caused millions more to die in the Holocaust.

And have I mentioned how black people got here? Or how Native Americans are doing lately?

The point is that we are fooling ourselves into believing that we have always been a tolerant nation, and that myth is truly dangerous: it keeps us from confronting our vulnerabilities. Trump’s proposed ban on Muslims is really nothing new, and the same holds true for our current fear of refugees, many of whom need our help. What is new, perhaps, is our tendency to forget our racist and bigoted past.

Rosenfeld is a historian, political commentator, and the operator of the humor site www.rossrants.com