People have flocked to America since its early colonization in search of a new life in a bright, young country that accepts all of its visitors for who they are. The American Dream of upper-middle-class suburbia is constantly depicted in consumeristic media as the ideal lifestyle. The “Land of the Free” is renowned for its unique melting pot of inhabitants and its democratic government. Immigrants, those who voluntarily choose to find home in a foreign place, and refugees, individuals who are threatened in their homelands and forced to seek asylum elsewhere, are both woven into American society as we see it today.
How is it, then, that the U.S. is becoming increasingly unwelcome, even hostile, to foreigners seeking to live there?
Americans continuously fail to see that all of the aforementioned glorifications of the U.S. come with loopholes and fine print that drastically alter the meaning of America. In modern history, the U.S. has failed to live up to its hospitable reputation by turning away those in need of a safe place to call home. We denied European Jews refuge when they were being persecuted by Nazis during World War II (67 percent of participants in a 1939 poll voted against allowing 10,000 refugee children into the United States) and Chinese immigrants of the 19th and 20th centuries faced discriminatory legislation and prejudice from fellow Americans.
Mainstream America often conveniently forgets that their ancestors were once refugees as well. The first group of colonists to arrive in North America in the 17th century was the pilgrims, who were fleeing England to escape religious persecution. They believed that they were entitled to a pre-occupied land, whose inhabitants owed them nothing yet gave them the tools they needed to survive their first winter in America, only to be forced into assimilation and pushed off of their land as thanks.
Hundreds of years later, the Syrian Civil War, one of the greatest humanitarian tragedies of modern history, continues to take the lives of hundreds and endanger many. Nearly half a million people have been killed in Syria since 2011 and 11 million Syrians are on the run. Despite these astounding numbers, 52 percent of Americans believe that countries that accept Syrian refugees are less safe than those that don’t.
As the daughter of an immigrant and a born-and-bred American, I can see the immense struggle immigrants to the U.S. face, as well as the privilege the general population has when it comes to security and their nationalistic attitudes. Americans are quick to judge those that migrate to the U.S., disregarding the historic reality of how the U.S. populace has come to look the way it does now.
Though NC State’s past is riddled with instances of discrimination — the university was originally an all-white college and didn’t accept its first African-American student until 1953 — we currently have students from 120 different countries. That being said, we still have a ways to go before becoming a truly diverse campus. For example, only 3.8 percent of the student body is Hispanic and 7.4 percent is African-American, while white people make up about 70 percent.
Resolution 60, a bill proposed by the NC State Student Senate, is definitely a step in the right direction. This addition to NC State legislation could potentially protect undocumented students and their families by sheltering immigration statuses and offering legal aid. Also, students have started an initiative to support Cosecha, an organization that supports undocumented people living in the United States. We have to consistently try to make our campus a safe and inclusive place for all by, at the bare minimum, ensuring that all of our students can receive an education, regardless of their background.
