1/ When we say that US immigration policy has always been an exercise in white supremacy, this is not a statement of opinion. This is objective historical fact, something everyone should know before 6th grade.
Here are a few things I wish every American knew:
Here are a few things I wish every American knew:
2/ As of the time of our founding, literally only "free white persons" could become citizens per the Naturalization Act of 1790. (This was later expanded after the Civil War to those of "African descent" for obvious reasons.)
3/ Nearly every major piece of immigration legislation in US history was in response to a population we didn't like, starting w/the Chinese (1882), Italians & Eastern European Jews (1917), non-Northern-Europeans (1924), Cold War enemies (1952), undocumented Latinos (1996-present)
4/ Only once in US history has immigration law been reformed in any proactive way by progressives, and that only due to the momentum of the civil rights movement.
The Imm. & Nationality Act finally abolished race-based visa quotas.
It became law only 15 years before I was born
The Imm. & Nationality Act finally abolished race-based visa quotas.
It became law only 15 years before I was born
5/ The Chinese Exclusion Act should be as readily familiar to American high-schoolers as the Trail of Tears or Japanese internment. It's on that scale of national shame, a mistake we will repeat without the benefit of history. Same with Mexican "repatriation" (look it up)
6/ My grad students have consistently been classes of high-achieving, well-educated Americans. I always start my course with a discussion to determine their collective understanding of immigration history, and it is invariably next to none.
7/ Americans learn about Ellis Island but not Angel Island, routine (but relatively mild) discrimination against Irish immigrants but not open brutality against the Chinese, and more on the history of the national anthem than that of national origins quotas. This needs to change.
8/ National origins quotas were *explicitly* designed to keep America majority-white while also minimizing Jewish immigration. We had them in some form from 1921-1965.
Only the USA and Hitler's Third Reich used them.
Did you know any of that before you read this tweet?
Only the USA and Hitler's Third Reich used them.
Did you know any of that before you read this tweet?
9/ This has all been top of mind since the news last week--almost completely unnoticed--that the US will as a general rule no longer be accepting immigrants from #Nigeria. There is no real apparent justification for this beyond white supremacy, and it's... fine, apparently
10/ African nations weren't officially accounted for in the 1924 national origins quotas (calculated based on existing population) bc (1) most Africans in the US didn't come as "immigrants" per se & (2) it was therefore impossible to determine their national origins. True fact.
11/ Trump's brutal immigration policy comes more from the attitudes & policies of 1920 than those of 2020. We are already beginning to repeat mistakes most Americans don't know we ever made.
(Happy to advise any K-12 educator looking to teach this)
(Happy to advise any K-12 educator looking to teach this)
12/ Even after we defeated Hitler and the ideas we told ourselves that he stood for and "we" didn't, it took decades of good people forcing the issue before we no longer shared his immigration policy.
This seems... important? But this history is now largely untaught and untold.
This seems... important? But this history is now largely untaught and untold.
13/ The 1924 quotas were based in eugenics & "race science" theories as reliable as phrenology. This was known by '52, yet Congress still maintained them over Truman's veto.
Any "reform" passed under Trump could be worse, & harder to reverse.
Learn this history, & learn from it
Any "reform" passed under Trump could be worse, & harder to reverse.
Learn this history, & learn from it
(I am not yet 40 years old)
