US presidents invoked biological laws to justify racial nativism against immigrants
Evidence
The nativists demanded a curb on immigration from Eastern and Southern Europe, similar to President Trump’s and his White nativist supporters’ contemporary calls to stop so-called chain migration from non- European nations, and most explicitly Muslim-majority countries. Failure to curb immigration would lead to the “race suicide” of American “old stock,” warned the nativists, among them, Presidents Theodore Roosevelt, Jr., Woodrow Wilson, and Calvin Coolidge. Wilson’s belief in the superiority of European civilization caused him to support the racial segregation of African Americans and immigration restrictions. Similarly, Coolidge stated in a popular magazine, “Biological laws tell us that certain divergent people will not mix or blend. The Nordics propagate themselves successfully. With other races, the outcome shows deterioration on both sides.” — Sahar F. Aziz, The Racial Muslim, 235 (
#expands, via linked claim)
Like today, immigration policy was a race issue. Relying on eugenics, the Dillingham Commission’s Report recommended that immigration from Southern and Eastern Europe be severely curtailed because of racial difference and inassimilability. … All men are born with equal rights has been confused with the political sophistry that all men are born with equal character and ability to govern themselves and others, and the educational sophistry that education and environment will offset the handicap of heredity.” As a result, the American nativist movement labeled Celts, Italians, Hebrews, and Slavs an inferior stock of Whites that warranted their exclusion from American shores. — Sahar F. Aziz, The Racial Muslim, 241 (
#expands, via linked claim)
Contrary to popular perceptions that religion is a sacred space (both figuratively and literally), America’s checkered history of xenophobic, exclusionary immigration policies against these new European arrivals demonstrates how religious identity serves as a proxy for racial identity. Taking a closer look at how the religious identities of Jews, Catholics, and Mormons were racialized historically is instructive for the contemporary racialization of immigrant Muslims. Both in the past and present, the racialization of religion serves the political purpose of excluding, expelling, and discriminating against the targeted minority. — Sahar F. Aziz, The Racial Muslim, 249 (
#complicates, via linked claim)
Categorization
- XREF: connects to: US immigration restriction laws were explicitly justified by eugenic racial science — Sahar F. Aziz, The Racial Muslim: When Racism Quashes…, 241; American presidents openly embraced eugenic nativism against Southern and Eastern Europeans — Sahar F. Aziz, The Racial Muslim: When Racism Quashes…, 235; American nativism racialized over time rather than starting as racism — John Higham, Strangers in the Land: Patterns of…, 2003 (+14 more)
Broader Connections
- American presidents openly embraced eugenic nativism against Southern and Eastern Europeans
#expands(0.95) — Sahar F. Aziz, The Racial Muslim, 235 - US immigration restriction laws were explicitly justified by eugenic racial science
#expands(0.93) — Sahar F. Aziz, The Racial Muslim, 241 - Religious identity historically served as a proxy for race in American immigration debates
#complicates(0.79) — Sahar F. Aziz, The Racial Muslim, 249 - US government has used religion to justify racial subordination throughout history
#complicates(0.78) — Sahar F. Aziz, The Racial Muslim, 1068 - Courts distinguished biological whiteness from culturally acceptable whiteness for citizenship
#complicates(0.77) — Sahar F. Aziz, The Racial Muslim, 539 - Classical biological racism has given way to multiple historically specific racisms
#complicates(0.76) — David Theo Goldberg, John Solomos, A Companion to Racial and Ethnic Studies, 1875 - Denying citizenship on religious grounds helped construct American whiteness.
#complicates(0.75) — , Selod, Saher - Forever Suspect_…, 117