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The Mountain And Desert West America Going “Blue” For the Future, Following The Pacific Coast States!

Ronald 3 Comments

There are growing indications that much of the Mountain and Desert West part of America is going “Blue” for the future, following the Pacific Coast states of California, Oregon, Washington, and Hawaii.

Already, New Mexico, Colorado and Nevada are leaning in that direction, and it seems inevitable that Arizona will join that group of states soon, and also Montana may join in that move.

The states of Wyoming, Idaho and Utah are less likely to do so, but growing Hispanic-Latino and Asian American population in much of the Mountain and Desert West makes Democratic gains in both Presidential elections and state elections much more likely over the next decade.

In the controversy over Hispanic-Latino population growth, many might be surprised to learn that Asian American population is growing at a faster clip in the West, and just as Hispanics and Latinos tend to do, Asian Americans–whether Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Vietnamese, Filipino, Indian, Pakistani, Bangladeshi–as well as others, tends to vote Democratic.

The nativism appeal of Donald Trump and the general Republican party line is a warning sign to these Asian American groups, and history reminds us of the discrimination visited in the Western states against particularly Chinese and Japanese immigrants and citizens in the American past.

Anti Immigrant Hysteria: 1840s-1850s; 1870s-1880s; 1920s-1940s And Now! Do We Ever Learn?

Ronald 14 Comments

Part of the ugly side of the history of America is its record of nativism and anti immigrant hysteria.

In the 1840s and 1850s, it was anti Catholic hysteria against the Irish and the German immigrants fleeing from poverty and political turmoil.  The “American” or Know Nothing Party was formed, had some members in Congress, and had former President Millard Fillmore (Whig) win the state of Maryland (heavily Catholic) in the Electoral College in the Presidential Election of 1856.

In the 1870s and 1880s, it was anti Asian hysteria, mostly Chinese at the time, and often led by Irish who had forgotten the prejudice and discrimination they had faced in an earlier generation,and it led to the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882, courageously vetoed by President Chester Alan Arthur but passed over his veto by a two thirds majority in the House of Representatives and Senate.

In the 1920s through the Second World War in the 1940s, it was anti “new” immigration, to stop the massive wave of Catholics and Eastern European Jews from coming to America, as well as anti Japanese prejudice, replacing the Chinese who had already been banned from migration to America since 1882.

This led to the horrors of Italians, Jews, and other southern and eastern Europeans denied admission to America during the time of the rise and triumph of Fascism in Italy under Benito Mussolini and Nazism under Adolf Hitler in Germany.

The result was the Holocaust, which America could have worked against by admission of refugees, but just like now, it was Republicans, some Democrats, and conservatives who lobbied against children and women and old people being admitted, due to racism and nativism.

It also led to the forced movement of Japanese Americans into internment camps during the Second World War, as an hysterical reaction to Pearl Harbor being attacked by Japan.

In more recent decades, we have seen growing anti Hispanic and anti Latino discrimination, and now against Muslim and Arab refugees, as if we have learned nothing from our past.

America has been a beacon of hope in a difficult world, and we must not lose our image that the Statue of Liberty represents, so we must salute and applaud President Barack Obama for coming out forcefully against Republican Governors and members of Congress, who are demonstrating the ugliest side of the American experience once again!

“We Are Taking Mexico’s Problems”: The History Of American Immigration!

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Donald Trump has become infamous for his racist, nativist statements about Mexican immigration and Mexico.

He tells us that “We are taking Mexico’s problems”!

The history of American immigration is that the United States has ALWAYS taken on the “problems” of other nations’ oppressed populations, with the image of America being the Statue of Liberty, that we welcome those who are denied economic opportunity, civil rights and civil liberties, and are trying to escape war in their homelands.

America is a land of immigrants, and not all of them have been “legal” or “documented”.

People have fled to the Unites States in desperation, to escape deprivation, crime, war, discrimination, prejudice, and hatred.

And each group that has come, there has been fear that some of those arriving might bring in crime, and a small percentage have done so.

But that does not mean that we should hold 98 percent of immigrants who are good people and just want a better life from coming in to America, as the land of opportunity.

If we had done that, our nation would not have been blessed with the major contributions made by millions of immigrants.

And for those who did not get special notice for their contributions, they were still law abiding citizens, bringing up their children to be Americans, and helping the economic growth of the American republic.

We had Irish gangs; Italian Mafia; Jewish gangsters; Chinese opium dealers; and bad elements from every ethnic and nationality group that has become part of the American fabric.

But the overwhelming positive accomplishments of America’s immigrants far outweigh the few cases of criminal elements, and we should not allow stereotyping of any immigrant group to be spread by hateful propaganda.

We have seen the discrimination and prejudice seen in the immigration laws in the 1920s against Jews, Italians, and others from post World War I Europe. We have seen the anti Oriental immigration laws against the Chinese in the 1880s and the Japanese in the 1920s; we have seen the riots and bloodshed against many different immigrant groups over time. We have seen the nativist movements that led to the Know Nothing Party in the 1850s, the anti Semitism of the 1930s and 1940s, and now the Islamophobia of the past decade.

The fact that we have Congressman Steve King of Iowa; former Congressman Tom Tancredo of Colorado; past Presidential contender Pat Buchanan; Islamophobe Pamela Geller; and a whole slew of right wing talk radio and Fox News Channel commentators who are nativists and racists, does not mean we should take it lying down.

We need to fight back vigorously against such hatemongers, and while we need to work on ending illegal immigration, we should welcome those who are here, and only deport those shown to be engaged in criminal conspiracies.

The Immigrant Children Of El Salvador, Honduras, Guatemala And The History Of Children Escaping Persecution And Death!

Ronald 1 Comment

Nativism in its most incendiary way is rearing its ugly head in regards to the mass migration of women and children, some of them babies, but all under adult age, who are fleeing persecution, bloodshed, and potential death in the unstable nations of Central America, some of the most violent nations on earth.

This is specifically the case of El Salvador, Honduras, and Guatemala, with about 90,000 expected to flee their nations, walking on foot, going through tough terrain, many drowning or being overcome by the elements otherwise, but all wanting a better, more secure existence in America.

But the hysteria has grown, that somehow, these women and children are involved in drug smuggling, or are future terrorists over the next generation, or other such ridiculous, hard hearted views of their plight.

One must not forget, however, that this kind of nativism is nothing new in America!

It was visited upon Jews, Italians, Irish, Polish, Chinese, Japanese, and migrants from Mexico and other Latin American countries over the long haul of American history!

This nation refused to open its borders to Jews wishing to escape Adolf Hitler and Nazi Germany in the 1930s and 1940s, and very small numbers of children were ever allowed in, and many died in the Holocaust!

Nativism was also utilized against Vietnamese escaping the collapse of South Vietnam forty years ago, with many “Boat People” dying in the South China Sea or the Pacific Ocean, but others making it to America, of all ages.

Cubans escaping Fidel Castro, including many children in the Mariel Boat Lift in 1980, were seen as dangerous and should not be admitted, but eventually were, since they could not be returned to Cuba.

The attempts to bring some Iraqis and Afghans of Muslim religion to this country has been a long battle as well.

But we have a tendency to forget we are a nation of immigrants, and particularly in times of political, social, and economic turmoil, we are the last best hope of mankind to offer asylum!

So now, IF the families of these children from El Salvador, Honduras, and Guatemala can be reunited, then they may be returned to their host nations, but that should only be if their lives are not in danger, as to return them to certain death is unconscionable!

But IF the families cannot be reunited, sad as that may be, we have no realistic choice but to house, feed, and educate them, and give them the possibility of the “American Dream”!

If we simply reject these children and young mothers, we are losing the whole purpose of the American experiment, as expressed by the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island. We cannot turn our back on these children and condemn them to death, particularly in a nation which claims to support life itself as a goal!

Interesting Census Statistics On Asians In American Population

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The Census Bureau keeps on coming out with new statistics from the 2010 Census, and one of the most interesting regards the Asian population growth in America over the past 50 years.

Back in the 1960s, people of all Asian ancestries represented one half of one percent of the American population.

Fifty years later, that percentage has increased one thousand percent, to a total of five percent of all Americans, more than 15 million people!

This five percent includes not just Chinese and Japanese, the usual groups one thinks of, but also Korean, Vietnamese, Indian, Pakistani, and all other groups coming from Asian nations.

This is a population which has seen great educational and economic successes, far outstripping other minority groups, and often surpassing even white American groups.

Having faced past discrimination, as particularly Chinese and Japanese did in American history, they have become part of the success story of America, and are a group which needs further study and appreciation of their contributions in history courses in colleges and universities, as well as in public education!