The NC State Executive Education program hosted a “WolfPack Your Lunch” discussion about the facts and myths commonly associated with immigration Friday.
The monthly event, “WolfPack Your Lunch,” is an hour-long interactive event where students and faculty can learn about topics critical to growth and innovation in the Research Triangle and North Carolina. This month’s speaker was Akram Khater, university faculty scholar and director of the newly named Khayrallah Center for Lebanese Diaspora Studies at NC State. Khater presented on the outreach programs of the center and his research, as well as the contextual issues and debates associated with immigration.
To understand immigration in the United States, Khater said we must consider the idea that at one point there were no restrictions that applied to the number of people who could immigrate to the U.S. One of the first regulations to concern immigration came about in the 1880s in the form of racial quotas. These limitations were part of the beginning of a process that would create a sense of alienation among Americans, according to Khater.
“To be an American is to, in essence, accept the very promise that there is a rule of law that applies to everyone equally,” Khater said.
Khater explained that, through the implementation of racial quotas, a sense of “other” was created among non-northern European white immigrants. With these laws, race and ethnicity became central arguments that qualified a person’s “Americanness.”
White Irish-Catholic immigrants also once faced discrimination because they did not fit the norm of white Presbyterianism at the time and were even sometimes referred to as negroes, according to Khater.
Irish people were eventually accepted into the American norm through a process called naturalization. This process occurs over generations as members of the ethnic group assimilate into American society. This could mean that certain ethnic groups that were once persecuted would then turn around and persecute others because the social dynamic had shifted.
“The rhetoric used against the Irish ended up being used by the Irish against others,” Khater said.
The example of the Irish shows how once a certain ethnic group becomes naturalized, they begin to feel like a part of the American norm and thus begin to feel an aversion to those they consider “other.”
Not all social dynamics shift predictably though. When certain Middle-Eastern groups began immigrating to the U.S., as early as the 1800s, they were considered “white” or “normal” due to their Christianity, according to Khater.
However, the social dynamic shifted after 9/11. Now, most immigrants from the Middle East have a difficult time becoming naturalized because there is such a strong misassociation of violence with their people. In this way, we can see how general perception can have such a strong impact in blocking a group of people from assimilating into American society.
“Some Hispanic groups have had similar experiences based on general opinion,” Khater said.
These groups may have experienced a tough time assimilating into U.S. culture because of myths about Hispanic immigrants being lazy, unwilling to learn English or otherwise an economic drain. Khater said the truth of these issues is very different. Many immigrants are extremely industrious, taking on tremendous risk in order to earn more money and provide a better life for their families. The reality of the situation is that many immigrants merely want to come to the U.S. to work and then eventually return to their home countries.
“Seventy-five percent of immigrants learn to speak the language within five years,” Khater said.
