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The Very American Myth of 'Exceptional Immigrants'

M Neelika Jayawardane Al Jazeera
Haitians march in Miami to protest discriminatory treatment. White Americans are susceptible to xenophobic and nativist anti-immigrant rhetoric because of the national mythology that their privilege is due to hard work and perseverance. Some immigrants from privileged backgrounds also succumb to this fiction.

Tidbits - January 25, 2018 - Reader Comments: Immigrants Have Always Come; Women's March in Pictures; #TimesUp; Organizing Working People Is Not a "Lost Cause"; Voices from Puerto Rico; Roseanne Show; Three Billboards; Marcus Raskin Memorial; and more....

Portside
Reader Comments: Immigrants Have Always Come - And Not Always Been Welcomed; Women's March - Million Strong in Pictures; #TimesUp - Role of Celebrities in Our Struggle and Leftist Critique; Why Organizing Working People Is Not a "Lost Cause"; Taxing Puerto Rico to Death - Voices from Puerto Rico; What is Message of new Roseanne Show and Three Billboards; Memorial for Marcus Raskin; Resource: Billion-Dollar Weather and Climate Disasters; and more....

Yes, Your Ancestors Probably Did Come Here Legally — Because 'Illegal' Immigration is Less Than a Century Old - No Visas Were Required Until 1924

Kevin Jennings Los Angeles Times
There were no federal laws concerning immigration until 1924. When a massive influx of new immigrant groups came at the turn of the 20th century — Italians from Southern Europe and Jews from Eastern Europe — a backlash developed. A new law required for the first time that immigrants to the U.S. have visas, introducing the concept of “having papers” to American immigration policy.

Tidbits - January 18, 2018 - Reader Comments: Nuclear Disarmament; Trump's Racism; Radical lessons of Martin Luther King; #TimesUp; Sports; Oprah; report from Austria; The '60s; War or Peace with North Korea? and more....

Portside
Reader Comments: Nuclear Disarmament - Again on the Agenda; Trump's Racism - recalling Martin Niemöller's dire warning in Nazi Germany; Radical lessons of Martin Luther King; #TimesUp; Traditional Labor Organizing - sharp disagreement with Portside Labor post; Sports in Colleges; Oprah - more disagreement with Portside posts; Grim Times in Austria; Announcements: The '60s-Years that Changed America; Concert for Puerto Rico; War or Peace with North Korea? and more....

Massachusetts Executed Two Italian Immigrants 90 Years Ago: Why The Global Fallout Still Matters

Moshik Temkin The Conversation
For many people in 1927 and after, the two men were victims of a deep-seated fear of immigrants. For others, they were criminals and terrorists who benefited from a worldwide campaign led by people who despised America and its institutions.Today, the United States is engaged in a bitter struggle between these same two views, with the xenophobic forces currently in political power, especially in the White House.
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