Is Racism Fueling the Immigration Debate?

“A lot of the anti-immigration movement is jingoistic at best and racist at worst. There is a fear of white people being over run by darker-skinned people,” a quote from the Time’s article Is Racism Fueling the Immigration Debate? In simpler terms, the majority of Americans who share anti-immigrant views are based on extreme patriotism at best and racisms at worst. The strong patriotic feelings of some Americans fuel their fear and resentment towards immigrants because of the possibility that they may one day be over run by minorities. I find many of these views contradicting when there is a strong possibility that an African American might be the next president of the United States. Where have these fears gone now? Have they suddenly disappeared? The country might actually be governed by an African American. Now personally I have no problems with the possibility of Barack Obama becoming president because I believe he has a plan to make change for this nation. Yes, I might be going a bit off topic, but I believe it is a great example which demonstrates how many of these individuals can suddenly change their mind and become in favour of a minority running their country. With the appointment of Obama, I strongly believe that Obama can finally put behind many negative views faced by minorities as well as immigrants. For the youth of the future, they will grow with new values and disciplines because of the growing influences and acceptance of minorities. According to the article, 45% of the nation’s children under the age of five are racial or ethnic minorities. 45%! That’s a staggering statistic which blew me away. I never really thought that there was that many young children who are minorities, but yet again, I believe this strongly supports what I’m saying. The new generation of tomorrow will be the most accepting generation ever seen. Schools will be increasing with more and more minorities and white children will be soon interacting with more and more minorities. The racist views will slowly but surely begin to evaporate in this country. Finally, I have to disagree with the last statement made by the author. I don’t believe that the anti-immigration problem should be blamed on politicians but rather on the public. Politicians never place any negative views towards immigrants but have been positive about them. Until the day individuals start to develop new values and begin to look past the colour of someone’s skin, these anti-movements will continue to exist.


Article written by: Massimo Calabresi
The New York Times
Wednesday, May 17, 2006
Article on page A10