I will forever be indebted to my high-school history teacher, Q. Michael Croft, for teaching me two things: one, to utilize my time effectively, and two, to keep history in mind when analyzing current events.
Illegal immigration has become such a sensitive, hot-button issue these days that, aside from foreign policies and actions in the Middle East, nothing concerns our political scene more.
Many of us know that this isn’t the first time we’ve been faced with this problem. The great immigration problem of 19th-century America was an issue of economy and ethnicity, whereas the 21st century is concerned with legality and justice. Whereas we have “Illegal Immigration,” the 1800s had “Irish Immigration.” And, believe it or not, America treated legal Irish immigrants worse than our illegal Latina/os.
In 1845, the potato famine in Ireland touched off a mass migration to America. Many Irish people looked to the United States as a place of refuge and opportunity. In the 1840s alone, nearly 2 million Irish immigrated to the United States, causing panic in industrial America.
By 1855, nearly a third of Boston’s population was Irish-and storefront windows displayed signs saying “NO IRISH NEED APPLY” as commonly as “HELP WANTED.” New Yorkers forced the Irish population into hovels and ghettos so unsanitary that 80 percent of Irish children died before the age of 6.
Perhaps the worst of the anti-Irish sentiment came from San Francisco, where the “Committee of Vigilance” sought to take over the government to deal with the “Irish problem,” resulting in the lynching of two Irish men in 1851.
In fact, anti-Irish sentiment was so widespread at the time that a political party, the ironically named Know Nothings, based its platform solely on an anti-foreign-immigration policy, making special note against Irish Catholics, saying that, “Americans must rule America.”
With that simple slogan, the Know Nothings managed to elect eight governors and more than 100 congressmen in four years.
Irish men were often forced to work jobs considered too dangerous for black slaves to work, since a slave counted as an out-of-pocket expense and investment to his or her owner. Irish men were locked in employment as unskilled laborers working in railroads, mines, factories and plantations.
Sound familiar?
Nowadays, as local militias band to “protect” our country from the “invading” work forces of Mexico and Central America, I have to wonder if we’re not repeating history. The issue of “illegality,” while nonexistent in the 1800s, is a modern-day moral smokescreen intended to keep everyone from seeing what’s really concerning Americans: the economy.
Although the economy is a valid concern, the numbers simply don’t match up. One common argument is that illegal immigrants take jobs from willing, legal citizens. However, unemployment rates and immigrant populations don’t correlate-on average, the states with the largest immigrant populations have lower than average unemployment rates.
Additionally, states with high immigrant populations tend to have some of the strongest economies-look at California and Florida.
What should be concerning Americans is the living conditions of our “21st-century Irish:” unpaid wages, unsanitary conditions and ethnic prejudice.
When it comes down to it, can we learn something from the Know Nothings, or will we simply repeat the mistakes of the past under the pretense of “justice?” We could use a bit of that Irish luck right about now.