The "Natives" of America - Michaela Molden - 5th Period

This article talks about conspiracy theorist, Frank Gaffney, and his attempts to call attention to his, what the author described as, Islamophobic policies. He believes that the Muslims are "subverting government institutions" through immigration. Gaffney has been getting quite a bit of attention, from the media as of late. Most likely having to do with Donald Trump's reference to Gaffney's, Center for Security Policy, when he called upon America to ban Muslim immigration to the United States.

This is a perfect example of nativism a term coined during the Guilded Age of America, when the waves of European immigrants intimidated the United States citizens with their numbers and influence. People wanted to keep immigrants out of the country for several reasons, such as, fear of losing the American culture, losing jobs and economical opportunities, and fear of the immigrants bringing over ideals such as communism which the Americans were deathly afraid of their own government being affected by. It goes to show that nativism, which goes hand in hand with racism, is a very old and persistent issue, which we still struggle to battle with to this day.




http://www.huffingtonpost.com/news/nativism/