At the turn of the century, immigration was really skyrocketing. People were coming in from all over, for all different reasons. Some came in for the money, some to escape disease or persecution or political unrest, or even just the chance to start fresh. These people were mostly poor folk from places like Ireland, Italy, China, and Eastern Europe. Most of them were looking for a way to make a life, or at least make enough money to bring over the rest of their families.
The Nativists, however, met these people with a rather poor welcome. They were not happy, no, not happy at all. These people brought over their strange cultures, their strange foods, their strange alcohols, and worst of all, their strange religions! These people made the cities horrible, so the nativists thought. It was their fault that the crime rate was so high, and that there were so many new bars.
These attitudes, however, didn't stop the American public from allowing them in, however. That would mean denying themselves cheap labor. After all, these unskilled, drunken degenerates could bolster the work force some. That would help everyone. These people could actually make themselves useful.
It's actually thanks to this kind of mentality that The United States is so diverse now. Before the era of immigration, everyone here was mostly English, German, Dutch, or Swedish. They were all in some shape or form Protestant. Now, after the importation of all these different nationalities, we as a nation have achieved a much more diverse unity of people. It has really made us a nation of many colors.
Now, after all these years, most of the reaction to these groups of people has died. The Irish are almost entirely assimilated into the populace, as are the Italians, and the Eastern Europeans. Now, the Racial backlash has shifted onto new cultures. The Mexicans and The Arabs are taking the most flak currently, even though it is not these people as a whole who are causing trouble. How long do you think it'll take America to get over this set?
4 comments:
Hey. Your blog was great who ever you are. I never knew about Nativist. I never heard of them actually. A few people talked about immigration on their blogs this week. So there really isnt nothing more that i can say to you that i havent already said to them except for good job and discrimination nor immigration wont stop it is still going to be here. Well done!
Learning about the US letting so many immigrants in makes me wonder how other countries would have reacted. It makes us look good. :) I think that your focus was good on the past immigration but I don't think that the last couple of paragraphs were needed. But, as always, great writing!
Your blog was really good. I liked the colors you used because they made me interested and then I read it and it was a very good and true topic for a blog that needed to be talked about more. It is not fair to treat people differently just because they may look different or be from a different place than you.
great blog. Nativist's are mean, i hate people like that. everyone in the country came from somewhere else, they have a right as much as the generation before them did. True it can be annoying living in an english speaking country and having to deal with people who speak italian or chinese but different things are what make America great.
your blog made me think, good job :)
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