Kennedy Xenophobia Immigration Policy
Xenophobia: The History of Immigration Progress in the U.S Containing some of the most economically and culturally vibrant urban centers in the world, the United States remains the economic and the cultural hub of the world. However, along with nation’s prosperous achievements in such fields, the United States has been struggling with variety of problems caused among its diverse groups of population. Indeed, since “colonizing” this land in the early 1500s, the United State seems to have had a problem with just about every race/sex/religion/nation possible for one reason or another. Oftentimes this lack of understanding escalates into weird laws, unfair labor practices, cultural polarization, and eventually lots of people being
…show more content…
Kennedy once said in 1958, “Immigration policy should be generous; it should be fair; it should be flexible. With such a policy we can turn to the world, and to our own past, with clean hands and a clear conscience” (Kennedy 9). However, his plan has never been adopted. Even before John F. Kennedy’s time, America suffered from immigration issues. Xenophobia was exhibited towards Irish immigrants who suffered as they tried to adapt to the new society. But the immigrant matter became much more serious after 1863 when the Central Pacific railroad hired Chinese laborers, and the Union Pacific hired Irish laborers to construct the first transcontinental railroad. Then other ethnic groups started to immigrate to the United States. From 1910 to1920, 2 million Italians arrived. Every time a new ethnic group was introduced to the society, xenophobia was exhibited towards them by the original members of the society. The target has changed from Italians to Jews, Japanese, Germans, Mexicans, Russians, and Middle Easterners, but the phenomenon was similar with each category of people. For instance, one New York Times article shows how the society slowly accepts new arrivals. With the largest wave of immigration since the turn of the century raising New York City's foreign-born population to 28 percent, a poll done in 1993 found that most residents said there were too many immigrants in town and added that while most are law-abiding, they had made the city a worse place to live (McFadden). The article that was written to discuss the findings of the poll shows how xenophobia works. Oftentimes there are no good reasons to support xenophobia. Rather it is simply a hateful feeling towards those who are different from
Kennedy once said in 1958, “Immigration policy should be generous; it should be fair; it should be flexible. With such a policy we can turn to the world, and to our own past, with clean hands and a clear conscience” (Kennedy 9). However, his plan has never been adopted. Even before John F. Kennedy’s time, America suffered from immigration issues. Xenophobia was exhibited towards Irish immigrants who suffered as they tried to adapt to the new society. But the immigrant matter became much more serious after 1863 when the Central Pacific railroad hired Chinese laborers, and the Union Pacific hired Irish laborers to construct the first transcontinental railroad. Then other ethnic groups started to immigrate to the United States. From 1910 to1920, 2 million Italians arrived. Every time a new ethnic group was introduced to the society, xenophobia was exhibited towards them by the original members of the society. The target has changed from Italians to Jews, Japanese, Germans, Mexicans, Russians, and Middle Easterners, but the phenomenon was similar with each category of people. For instance, one New York Times article shows how the society slowly accepts new arrivals. With the largest wave of immigration since the turn of the century raising New York City's foreign-born population to 28 percent, a poll done in 1993 found that most residents said there were too many immigrants in town and added that while most are law-abiding, they had made the city a worse place to live (McFadden). The article that was written to discuss the findings of the poll shows how xenophobia works. Oftentimes there are no good reasons to support xenophobia. Rather it is simply a hateful feeling towards those who are different from