What is xenophobia and what are its serious consequences if we don't stop it?

Sorry it took me long to get back. I agree with Susan on the facts that America got herself in a mess after abandoning Mexico in 1848. That was a mistake. So was slavery. So was Vietnam War. We cannot just keep going back in history and keep counting the mistakes our ancestors. Are we (the descendants) supposed to pay for our ancestors mistakes? I am sorry but I will not going to stand for the history lessons that put guilt trips on me for the mistakes of our past. The fact is that Mexican Americans who cross the borders illegally are illegal immigrants and should be deported. They are burden on our economy and are parasites on our American way of life. They are no good. I also don’t agree that Canadians are not discriminated because they are white. Canadians are absorbed in our system because they don’t work for some greedy farm owner for lower wages. Besides, there are not as many illegal Canadians in our country. Thanks for letting me respond. Patricia Hillman

Thank you Susan for your very elegant response to Patricia's comments on illegal Mexican Immigrants. I hope Patricia has the opportunity to respond to it. My take on xenophobia is more international than anything else. My thesis reflects the problem that is faced by the whole world today, America is no exception. Its consequences are disastrous for the whole world not for just one country. As you read more on this subject in my future blogs, the serious nature of xenophobia will become more and more apparent. Thanks again for your response. Sydshahid

From: "Susan Rodriguez" Add sender to ContactsTo: rodriguezsusan52@yahoo.comCc: syedshahidmd@yahoo.com.au Hi Dr shahid, I am sorry I have to write to you directly. I was unable to activate my account with the wellness.com. Please forward my response to your blog. Thank you. respectfully, Susan ----------------------- I can answer the question of Patricia better since I am Mexican American. The answer lies in the historical Mexican-American war (1846-1848). In 1948 after conquering Mexico, America decided to keep the northern two third of Mexico (Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, Utah, Nevada, Colorado and Wyoming). The southern one third was returned to the Mexican people. Returning the remaining part of Mexico was a big mistake. It was a short sightedness of extreme degree for which America is paying the price now. The reason to return the southern part of Mexico was even more absurd. It was based on xenophobia of race, culture and religion. After hours of hot debate in the senate and congress on whether to keep the captured territory or not, it was finally decided to give back the south of Mexico due to following three reasons: (Typical xenophobe reasons) 1) Mexicans were not white. They were meztisos (racial mix of Spaniards and American Indians; therefore, undesirable). Racial xenophobia. 2) Mexicans were Roman Catholic. American always had xenophobia of other religions. (Catholics those days were highly hated because European Americans were persecuted by the Catholic Church in Europe). Religious xenophobia. 3) Mexicans spoke different language (Spanish language). Ethnic xenophobia. One can clearly see the American xenophobia in 1848. We are not talking about events that happened 3-4 thousands years ago. It was only 161 years ago that America reflected its racial, religious and ethnic xenophobia. In political terms it happened just yesterday. Nothing has changed since. Americans are still xenophobes when it comes to religion, race and ethnic background of anyone who doesn’t conform to the mainstream (majority) Americans’ race, religion and ethnic background. Now look at the other side of the border. There is no prohibition on anyone from the northern border (Canada) to come to USA. The reason is obvious. Canadians are white and have similar religion and ethnicity. Therefore, they are welcome. No one in American politics ever questions the illegal entry of Canadians to USA. There are no illegal immigrants from Canada because there is no border between USA and Canada. It is always the poor Mexicans who are illegal. Isn’t America a xenophobe country in racial, religious and ethnic terms? Can anyone deny that fact? History shows that those Mexicans who stayed in the northern part of annexed Mexico (Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, Utah, Nevada, Colorado and Wyoming), became good American citizens. Some of them have done great contribution to the well being of American and are also very renowned people. If America had any foresight, she would have kept the southern part of Mexico as well. There would have been no illegal immigrants from Mexico today because there would have been no Mexico. Let's face it. It is not the illegal Mexican immigrants who are cause of the problem, it is "American xenophobia" that is true cause of the problem. Susan

Thank you patricia. You have brought up few very interesting questions. I have to do little research on these issues and I will get back with you soon. Sydshahid

Hi Dr Shahid, I always enjoy reading your blogs. There is something new and informative which makes one wonder about our ways of thinking. No doubt xenophobia is dangerous and its consequences are disastrous. It is harmful for our physical, emotional and spiritual health. But we must see who is causing it and why we become xenophobe. I give a quote of Mayor Bloomberg’s speech in Shanghai for example, “Bloomberg Condemns Xenophobia in America" "............Mayor Bloomberg is saying that xenophobia in America is endangering the county's future and is "really very dangerous." "It is staggering the damage that is being done to America, I think, by the anti-immigrant kinds of movement that you see in some parts of our country," he said after delivering a speech at Fudan University in Shanghai. "Our country was built by immigrants and if we don't keep a supply of immigrants coming in we are not going to have a future," he said.” I agree with his last statement but I disagree with him on his assumption that America is becoming xenophobe. Look at it this way. We've never had this high amount of immigration, illegal that is in the whole history of the United States. The previous immigration before was more diverse, with people evenly coming from different countries of the world, now the present illegal immigration mess only benefits one group of people in the US, Hispanics (or the new term Latino). A lot of US (American) Hispanics are against illegal immigration, as they believe fair is fair, immigrate legally like everyone else and also give others countries and ethnic groups a fair chance of making up a proportion of the population. But we have a particular agenda driven group of Hispanic leaders, who cry out racism and such to keep the spotlight of their growing clout by the flooding of this country of increasingly privileged group of people. Look at it this way of all the populations in the US who gets all of these perks: 1. Majority of special Bilingual programs just for them. 2. Public Health and Other services catering just to them. 3. Scholarship and Special Admissions programs just for them. 4. And special anti-discrimination protection for them (an unfair example of this is this scenario, true story look it up, Armenian guy goes out with a Hispanic (Salvadorian) girl, Salvadorian guys don't like it (racism), they kill him, but its not called a hate crime. If situation is reversed, it would be called a hate crime with more penalties attached to it) If the racism card doesn't work for advancing their cause, there is a tendency try the sympathy angle with talking about how hard is for them. How hard it is? Mexico is one of the leading economies of the world, in part because it sends all of its poor to the US to get all their education and medical needs taken care of by US tax payer dollars, and who in turn send money back to Mexico. Is it any wonder Mexico is the biggest open borders advocate? And then the third argument is that land was taken away by the US. I agree there were some unfair moves by the US in the past. But let’s look at the facts: That land was originally taken away by the European descended "Spaniards" from the Native American Indians. Certain lands US took over from Mexico have only been owned by them for less than 50 years (previous Spain and France). Populations in those lands barely exceeded a few thousand of Mexican descent. Present day infrastructure and economies of those lands became successful because of American development and guidance. I have no problem with immigration as long as it’s diverse. One of those diversities is that I would allow open borders in the Americas only for those of Native American/Indian cultures and descended (meaning they still identified as indigenous). I would increase the amount of immigration allowed for African, Caribbean, Asian and European countries to make it equal to what Hispanics have had the advantage of these past 30 years. Then I would reduce the Hispanic immigrations as we have given enough amnesties to fill their quota, no offense against Hispanics, but give others a chance. Diverse Immigration is good, monolithic immigration; one group shouldn't be privileged over everyone else. I would like your comment on that Dr Shahid. Patricia