The following article summarizes the original event which is listed below the summary.
April speaker addressed the history of American xenophobia
Prof. Erika Lee, director of the U’s Immigration History Research Center and an author of several books, addressed the complicated nature of the United States’ approach to immigration and provided a “quick tour” of the country’s history of xenophobia, beginning in the mid 1700s when Benjamin Franklin voiced his concerns about the “swarthy threat” posed by German immigration to Pennsylvania.
Lee noted recent dramatic shifts in immigration policy under the Trump administration, exemplified by the change in the mission statement of the U.S. Citizen and Immigration Services in early 2018, when the federal agency eliminated the words USCIS “secures America’s promise as a nation of immigrants” and replaced them with “administers the nation’s lawful immigration system.”
Lee characterized this shift in policy as rooted in a belief that the U.S. is under siege from immigrants and, therefore, that anti-immigrant sentiment is a natural consequence of these social forces. Nevertheless, it is a shift from the country’s recent past which, since 1965, has had a law excluding explicit racism and racial preference from immigration policy. The 1965 Immigration and Nationality Act “was seen as a turning point, making xenophobia a thing of the past,” Lee said. “But Trump has laid bare the nation’s (residual) xenophobia, nativism, and racism.”
Lee explained that there is an historical pattern that has targeted immigrants: Germans (1770s and 1910–20), Irish Catholics (1840s–80s), Chinese (1880s), Japanese (1940s), and Mexicans at various periods. Sometimes anti-immigrant movements were related to economic depressions and wars, but not always. And the U.S. treated these various immigrant threats in exceedingly different ways: restrictions for southern and eastern Europeans, exclusion and incarceration for Asians, and mass deportation for Mexicans.
The current period is starkly different because of the economic prosperity of the U.S. and its primacy as a world power, Lee said. She is concerned that xenophobia has become resistant to humanitarian concerns and fails to honor the greater American tradition that the U.S. is truly a nation of immigrants. “Xenophobia is an American tradition, but we don’t have to accept it,” she concluded.
—Bill Donohue, Program Committee
April Luncheon At a Glance
Thu, April 5 2018, 10:30am
Conference Room ABC, Campus Club, Fourth Floor, Coffman Memorial Union
APRIL
LUNCHEON MEETING
Tuesday, April 24, 2018
11:30 a.m. - 1:30 p.m.
Featured Speaker
Dr. Erika Lee, director,
Immigration History Research Center
Location
Conference Room ABC
Campus Club, Fourth Floor
Coffman Memorial Union
Menu
Mustard-crusted chicken topped with spinach pesto; roasted potatoes; coffee and tea.
For special dietary needs, please request when making your reservations.
Reservations ARE required.
Deadline: Thursday, April 19, 2018
Reserve and Pay Online
Prepayment of $16 per person.
Annual prepayers, please make reservations.
To reserve your place(s) and parking,
send your check payable to UMRA to:
UMRA Reservations
c/o Judy Leahy Grimes
1937 Palace Ave., St. Paul MN
55105-1728
Or, contact her before the deadline
at 651-698-4387; e-mail: [email protected].
Please honor the reservation deadline date;
to cancel, please call by Thursday, April 19
Parking
University ramps and reserved space in East River Road Ramp
with UMRA's discount coupon―$6 for the day.
Upcoming Events
We are fortunate to have UMRA member and former Minnesota Landscape Arboretum director Peter Moe to lead this approximately 3.7-mile hike at the Arboretum on Monday, May 6. Plan to have lunch together after the hike at the Eatery café inside the Oswald Visitor Center.
This session will continue the discussion begun in the May 8, 2023 session. See that article for details.
If you currently live in your own home or apartment, have you looked ahead to when you might want to consider a senior living option? Do you have any idea what those options might be? How much they cost? What they provide? UMRA’s May 14 workshop will provide an overview of the world of senior living and the basic information you need.
You’re invited to join the final Family History Interest Group meeting for 2023–24. This will be an opportunity to ask questions related to family history, share insights, talk about recent projects, and suggest topics for next year.
Stephanie Daily will lead the discussion of Fuzz: When Nature Breaks the Law by best-selling author Mary Roach when the UMRA Book Club meets via Zoom at 2 p.m. on Friday, May 17.
The May 20 hike will start at the Historic Lift Bridge in Stillwater and go along the river to the new bridge, cross over and then back on the Wisconsin side, a total of approximately 5 miles. Most of the route is paved. We will eat lunch after at Brian's Bar and Grill in Stillwater. Car pooling will be available.
Climatologist and meteorologist Mark Seeley joined the U of M faculty in 1978 and has been a weekly commentator on Minnesota Public Radio since 1992. We are honored to welcome him as our guest speaker for UMRA’s May Luncheon Forum and 2024 Annual Meeting. He is always entertaining and informative.
UMRA’s Fourth Friday Book Club welcomes back, for the second time, author Julie Schumacher, U of M Regents professor of creative writing and English, for a conversation about her novel The Shakespeare Requirement.
We are in for a treat on June 3! Lynn Anderson, will lead us on trails at two parks near her Monticello home. Bring a bag lunch and we will gather in Lynn's yard along the Mississippi River for eating and socializing after the hike.
Get out to the ballpark with fellow UMRA members for the annual U of M Day at Target Field as the Minnesota Twins take on the Oakland Athletics on June 14 at 7:10 p.m.
Please join us at 9:30 on June 17, 2024 for a walk around Lake Como in St. Paul before attending the UMRA Summer Social and Picnic starting at 11 at the Como Pavilion. A perfect opportunity to get in a walk before we gather to celebrate summer.
Picnic under the covered, open-air Como pavilion, gaze at the water, spy some birds, catch up with friends and former colleagues, and meet new members. We’ll have lunch with plenty of time for visiting and then compete in teams as we are challenged by our Quiz master(s)!
Healthy aging, mindfulness, fighting ageism, and more will be the focus of the third annual Age-Friendly University Day to be held on the U of M Twin Cities campus.