If America is indeed a "nation of immigrants," why does it have such a history of native prejudice toward.....

Question

new immigrant groups....?

Answer 1

because bigotry and hatred go where ever mankind goes.

Even though the Puritans and other groups came to the USA to escape persecution they were just as guilty of it with others especially the Native Americans.

Every country has a history of prejudism, it is just more a big deal here because the US is supposed to be the melting pot for all nations, (they just left out the clause where it said you had to be a caucasian to succeed in the new world)

it mattered not though, all Nations were as bad and many wer dissapointed when the came to the USA to find the same opression or problems they left their homes over seas for.

It is a nation of immigrants purely because people of the age believed that they could escape their world and problems and start a new one their way.

they did a pretty successful job too whether we like their methods or not. It is a nation of Immigrants, but no one ever said it was a nation of Fair treated immigrants. in a Capitalist country you have to fight hard for what you want and can go high to the top knowing the with money you can gain power in the new world. It was a new opportunity for many immigrants, just not all.

Hope that helps some.

Answer 2

I would call it human nature, since our times as nomadic hunter gatherers we are instinctively preprogrammed to distrust "foreign" human groups that come to use the same resources we are using.

All nations have prejudice against newcomers, I can give you example such as:
French people and African immigrants
Germans and Turkish immigrants
Japanese and Korean immigrants

As time goes by, and the populations blend in, the prejudice disappears and they are accepted as part of the native culture, we can see examples in groups such as:
Italian Americans
Irish Americans

Luckily, the US constitution was done by men that had enough vision to see that people from all over the world would look for better opportunities here and thus make the US culturally richer as well as economically wealthier, and it defends their rights to do so, lets hope our current leaders are not blind enough to tarnish with that grand vision.

Answer 3

This is not just an American phenomenon. Talk to people in any country that has experienced large scale immigration - Canada, Britain, Australia, France -just to name a few. Currently the French and Spanish are unhappy with large numbers of Britons moving to those countries, and the French are also unhappy with the deluge of Muslim immigrants from the Middle East. Germany allowed thousands of Turks into their country in the 70s and 80s Throughout history, in which population migrations have always played a major role, the newest group to arrive is always unwelcome. After a couple of generations, people settle in, and then another group moves in whose language or culture is different from and unsettling to those already there. Eventually the newcomers adapt and adopt enough of the culture of their new land they become accepted.

Answer 4

that's because "nation of immigrants" is just a promotional phrase, meant to display the image of an open and noble society to the world. As you have already said, the reality contradicts what is advertised by the textbooks. Out of all the immigrants, only those from the Anglo Saxon group are TRULY welcomed, because only they can be smoothly accepted into this society immediately upon coming here.

Answer 5

All through history Anglo-Americans have had a predjudice against other ethnic groups- Blacks with the slavery and segregation, Indians with the reservation system and enforced schooling to get rid of their 'Indian-ness', the Irish were also segregated to an extent as were Cornish brought over for mining operations and the Chinese were probably the worst treated bar the Blacks and as in every other country of the world, the jews were of course discriminated against.

It is ingrained in the systems of the american people (though of course not all) but I do not believe it is just in America that this is the case- here in britain we have an immigration problem, in that there are too many coming over for our infrastructure to cope with and this, along with terrorist threats from the Middle East is leading to an increase in racsist opinion even in those who were not previously racsist.

It is I believe, sadly, human nature for us to discriminate against anybody who is different, and dont forget racism works the other way too- many Arabs are racist against whites as are many black people and so on.

It isnt a 'white' problem it is a human problem.

Answer 6

because the old is always unsure of the new.
my family experienced some of this in the past, being Italian on my father's side

even though America has had incidents of prejudice, it is still far and away better toward people and more accepting than almost all other countries. Just ask biracial kids in places like Korea, for one.

Answer 7

America decided rather than have a new beginning of equality and happiness as it said it would at the time of Independence, it decided instead to retain not just its xenophobia rampant in European societies at the time but also their slavery laws as well.

The greed of the new nation was obvious as well. Despite having a massive land area when it was only the thirteen colonies, it still refused to share its land with the Native Americans and thus treated them and foreigners with horrid suspicion.

Answer 8

Ya funny huh? A hundred years ago we were prejudice toward Irish people and nowadays a majority of Americans are from an Irish decent. Its like school when you get a new student everyone makes fun of him/her then after awhile he's/she's buddies with everyone. : )

Answer 9

So many wordy answers I wil simply throw these images at you.

Jackals chewing on a carcass, do you want someone else honing in?

A small lifeboat, a large sinking ship.

A crowd fleeing danger crowding a gangway to board a ship.

12 people on an island trying to survive for the entertainment of millions which ones will the millions desire to see voted off the island?

Peace.............

Answer 10

because we are still humans and the prejudices toward other immigrant groups has always been there. it is a shame because will came from somewhere and should always remember that.