, 3 tweets, 1 min read Read on Twitter
The history of Citizenship in the US is deeply woven with the history of racism. It has been used as the legal enforcer of racism for most of US history.

Citizenship affords power, & that’s why citizenship of African Americans was long denied too - to both slaves & descendants.
Dred Scott was the landmark Supreme Court case that found the US Constitution didn’t give citizenship to black people.

The 1st US immigration law was the Chinese Exclusion Act. It was a race-based policy that was upheld until 1942.

The “National Origins Formula” lasted til ‘65.
But of course, just because a statute is abolished doesn’t mean the unfairness is gone. Remaining are life & death implications of other statutes & *how* laws are enforced.

That’s a key part of policy in a wide range of issues from schooling to marijuana + yes, immigration too.
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