4 ms·

The Americas went for over 350 years (from 1500 to 1850) before there existed any kinds of controls on immigration. Americans have only ever been afraid of "un

by fwip 2y ago

The Americas went for over 350 years (from 1500 to 1850) before there existed any kinds of controls on immigration. Americans have only ever been afraid of "uncontrolled immigration" when it was non-white immigrants. It was for racist reasons that we passed the Chinese Exclusion Act, and it's for racist reasons now.

zmgsabst 2y ago
> Americans have only ever been afraid of "uncontrolled immigration" when it was non-white immigrants. This is racist revisionism. There was plenty of dislike of white migrants as well, eg, Irish, German, Polish, Italian, etc all received ethnic hatred at various periods. > it's for racist reasons now Believing that all nationalism is racism is ideological nonsense meant to poison the well, rather than address serious challenges to your ideology and the impact it has on cultures and human flourishing.
- ceejayoz 2y ago
  > There was plenty of dislike of white migrants as well, eg, Irish, German, Polish, Italian, etc all received ethnic hatred at various periods. White skinned, but critically, not WASP. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White_Anglo-Saxon_Protestants https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White_Anglo-Saxon_Protestants
- fwip 2y ago
  > Believing that all nationalism is racism Sure, that would be a ridiculous thing to say, which is why I didn't. If I meant "every person who is opposed to immigration is fuelled by racial hatred," I would have said that. I thought that a good-faith reading was one of the rules of HN? If you look at the times when anti-immigrant sentiment is highest, whether via popular opinion or governmental action, it directly corresponds to when Americans were the most racist about the arriving immigrants.
derivagral 2y ago
> when it was non-white immigrants Irish and Italians in my area would beg to differ. I'll grant it wasn't federal policy, at least.
- krapp 2y ago
  Irish and Italians weren't always considered white.
  - tacocataco 2y ago
    Hate.... finds a way.

by fwip 2y ago

zmgsabst 2y ago

> Americans have only ever been afraid of "uncontrolled immigration" when it was non-white immigrants. This is racist revisionism. There was plenty of dislike of white migrants as well, eg, Irish, German, Polish, Italian, etc all received ethnic hatred at various periods. > it's for racist reasons now Believing that all nationalism is racism is ideological nonsense meant to poison the well, rather than address serious challenges to your ideology and the impact it has on cultures and human flourishing.

ceejayoz 2y ago
> There was plenty of dislike of white migrants as well, eg, Irish, German, Polish, Italian, etc all received ethnic hatred at various periods. White skinned, but critically, not WASP. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White_Anglo-Saxon_Protestants https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White_Anglo-Saxon_Protestants
fwip 2y ago
> Believing that all nationalism is racism Sure, that would be a ridiculous thing to say, which is why I didn't. If I meant "every person who is opposed to immigration is fuelled by racial hatred," I would have said that. I thought that a good-faith reading was one of the rules of HN? If you look at the times when anti-immigrant sentiment is highest, whether via popular opinion or governmental action, it directly corresponds to when Americans were the most racist about the arriving immigrants.

derivagral 2y ago

> when it was non-white immigrants Irish and Italians in my area would beg to differ. I'll grant it wasn't federal policy, at least.

krapp 2y ago
Irish and Italians weren't always considered white.
- tacocataco 2y ago
  Hate.... finds a way.