September 28th, 2024
Someone once said that the new immigrants to the United States were “beaten men from beaten races, representing the worst failures in the struggle for existence.”
Who said that? Was it Trump? Or was it Vance? No, it was Francis Walker, the president of MIT, who wrote those words in an article in 1896.
The bigotry and hate we see in today’s society were evident back at the end of the 19th century. My ancestors came from Austria-Hungary around that time, and the American public in those days railed against the Poles, Jews and Italians who were coming to this country. Today, some of our national political leaders slander Haitians or Palestinians, causing the same sort of fear and rage that existed over a century ago.
Nothing has changed. Despising the immigrant is an American tradition.
The essay above was published yesterday as a letter to the editor in the Capital Times (Madison, Wisconsin) under the title “Immigrant Bashing a Tragic American Tradition”. It was also published in the Chicago Tribune as “Hating Immigrants is an American Tradition”.
Frank is Emptiness 
My ancestors in Lebanon are being killed today by US bombs and war planes. The president can stop sending arms for this killing and the vice-president could take a stand against the killing of my ancestors. Bob Graf
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Good job Frank. I think Ben Franklin complained about German immigrants too. Bla bla bla!
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