Racial+Tension+and+Immigration+Issues+-+Minae,+Michelle,+and+Christine+K.

=**Racial Tension & Immigration Issues** =

Introduction



====**Racial Tension**: Despite the efforts of many reformers, numerous segregation laws enforced racism, which worsened the strife between whites and blacks. Due to the 1896 decision of Plessy v. Ferguson, which enforced separated separate facilities, the passage of Jim Crow laws was accelerated and segregation in the South was ameliorated. ==== ====Many African Americans remained as poor sharecroppers and tenant farmers, and were also deprived of the right to vote by the Grandfather clause. Racial conflict and biological racism also increased in the North as an increasing number of blacks migrated from the South to the urban North and increased competition for jobs. Few unions accepted them into their ranks, thus leading to the never-ending plight of poverty. These conflicts led to even more severe situations, such as riots inclu ding the Wilmington Race Riot of 1898, in which Democratic white supremists illegally seized power and killed many blacks, and the Atlanta Race Riot of 1906, which resulted from black desire for civil rights and the competition for jobs. ====

**Immigration Issues:** The Progressive Era also saw an influx of immigrants, especially from eastern and southern Europe. In fact by 1900, there were 11 million foreign-born citizens in America. Most of these new immigrants were unskilled and found work in slaughterhouses, construction crews, and steel mills. Based on the fear that a large number of unskilled, low-paid workers would hinder the union's effectiveness at collective bargaining, many labor unions advocated restrictions on immigration. Others were opposed to immigration because many immigrants were Catholic or Jewish and because they bolstered the strength of saloons. Thus, the total influx of immigration had been restricted with a series of laws that restricted the immigration of certain groups of people. For instance, in 1882, Congress passed the Chinese Exclusion act, which excluded Chinese immigrants.

The Issue

__A. Problems in Politics__
The influx of new immigrants to the country gave rise to a number problems in the political arena. New immigrants were unfamiliar with established customs and were more stubborn on assimilating into the new culture. This made the immigrants very vulnerable and subject to abuse.

__ City Bosses and Political Corruption __ City bosses were very popular among immigrants because they were the ‘unofficial governments’ that provided for them--the federal and state governments did not have the time or capability to do so. City bosses, also known as political machines, were usually affluent and powerful which is why they were capable of supplying housing, jobs, and gifts of food and clothing to immigrants. In return, bosses would earn the votes of many loyal immigrants. However, this win-win relationship between bosses and immigrants contributed to the political corruption of the era, widening the social gap and worsening economic situations for the poor. Examples of city bosses include Boss Tweed and Boss Croker, both of who were extremely wealthy, corrupt, and wielded considerable authority over government officials and judges.

 Primary Source Excerpt from Politician George Washington Plunkitt:  //"What tells in holdin your grip on your district is to go right down among the poor families and help them. I've got a regular// [|//system//] //for this. If there's a fire in Ninth or Tenth or Eleventh Avenue, for example, any hour of the day or night, I'm usually there with some of my election district captains as soon as the fore engines. If a family is burned out I don't I don't ask them if they are Republicans or Democrats, and I don't refer them to the Charity Organization Society, which would investigate their case in a month or two and decide if they are worthy of help about the time they are dead from starvation. I just get quarters for them, buy clothes for them if their clothes were all burned up, and fix them up until they get things runnin' again. It's philanthropy, but it's politics too - mighty good politics. Who can tell me how many votes one of those fires brings me? The poor are the most grateful people in the world, and, let me tell you, they have more friends in their neighborhoods than the rich have in theirs...//  //Another thing, I can always get a deserving man a// [|//job//] //. I make it a point to keep track of jobs, and it seldom happens that I don't have a few up my sleeve ready for use.//  //I hear a young feller that's proud of his voice... I ask him to join our Glee Club. He comes up and sings, and he's a follower of Plunkitt for// [|//life//] //. Another young feller gains a reputation as a baseball player in a vacant lot. I bring him into our baseball club. That fixes him. You'll find him working for my ticket at the polls next election. I rope them all in by givin' them opportunities to show off themselves off. I don't trouble them with political arguments."//  --George Washington Plunkitt, Politician, New York, 1889

__ Conflicting Views on Democracy __ <span class="s2" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">Immigrants who came also had conflicting views on how a government should best be run. Many were against or unfamiliar with the concept of democracy which aroused many conflicts. The citizens of the U.S. were especially proud of their democratic ideals, which explains the reason why immigrants who opposed the government were extremely unpopular. A large portion of the immigrants came from parts of Europe (Russia, Austria-Hungary, etc.) that favored a despotic system of government and had few opportunities for upward mobility. Because immigrants were unaccustomed to the new style of government, many Americans were worried that the newcomers would negatively influence America's democratic system.

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">__ Discriminatory Laws __ <span class="s2" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">With all the commotion on racial issues, laws disfavoring immigrants and African Americans were naturally passed--something that was especially common in the South. Adding insult to injury, these discriminatory laws increased the negativity towards the victims because they were treated like second-class citizens. This greatly hindered progress on solving problems caused by immigrants and racial tensions.

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">A. Grandfather Clause: This was a discriminatory law in the South that was mainly against African Americans that only allowed those whose grandfathers had the right to vote before the Civil War.

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">B. Literacy Laws: Southern legislatures often employed literacy tests to judge whether a person is qualified for voting. These tests were usually biased against immigrants and African Americans who could not read very well.

<span style="display: block; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 110%; text-align: center;"> // "A literacy test will bear very lightly, if at all, upon English-speaking immigrants or Germans, Scandinavians, and French. The races which would suffer most under a literacy test would be those with which the English-speaking people have never united, and who are most different from the great majority of the people of the United States." // <span style="display: block; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 110%; text-align: center;"> -Senator Lodge

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">C. Chinese Exclusion Act 1882: This act excluded all Chinese from immigrating into the U.S.

<span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif;">__B. Social and Cultural Differences__
<span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #000000; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: medium; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Much racial tension and immigration issues pertained to social issues. For instance, immigrants usually found it hard to assimilate in America as many native-born Americans thought that they were too different. Many immigrants were Catholic or Jewish and some had radical political views while many were unfamiliar to democracy. To make matters worse, many immigrants limited themselves to the confines of their own cultural towns, with the most prominent example being Chinatowns. In the case of African Americans, many migrated from the South to the urban North, and them, along with the great influx of immigrants caused overpopulation in cities and ultimately the proliferation of slums. Moreover, the distinct lifestyle and culture of African Americans contributed to heightening racial tension. For example, the success of Jazz music fostered increasing animosity of white musicians and white supremists towards African Americans.

<span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif;">__C. Economic Hardships__
<span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #000000; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: medium; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">When the first immigrants stepped off their boat and onto American soil, the majority of them went to go find work as unskilled, cheap labor in factories and other companies. As more and more immigrants started to flood the labor market, there was a significant increase in the protests the Americans had against this phenomenon.

<span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #000000; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: medium; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> According to data from 1900, the population of the United States was just over 76 million. Over the next 15 years, more than 15 million immigrants came to the United States in search for better lives and jobs. Economically, the United States was doing very well, with booming manufacturing industries and companies. With the introduction of new, innovative manufacturing machines that made it unnecessary for factory employers to employ skilled labor, immigrants seemed to become the desired workers for employers because they were cheap, unable to protest, and there was an abundance of them out on the streets.

<span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #000000; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: medium; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> As more native-born Americans were fired from their jobs and more immigrants were given jobs, Americans started to feel that the unemployment rate was rising rapidly. With this, discrimination and crime rates both started to increase, and thus tensions started to skyrocket.

<span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #000000; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: medium; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> Other justifications for discrimination started to arise. Americans argued that the American industry was entitled to protection from foreign goods, because competition in this particular time period was fierce and strong. They transitioned on to say that they were entitled to protection from foreign laborers and demanded compensation.

<span style="color: #404040; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 29px;">Analysis of Problem

<span style="background-color: #ffffff; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: medium;">The root of all three problems is that immigrants are vulnerable. They were treated like second-class citizens and were easily taken advantage of. The vulnerability stemmed from the inability for the immigrants to assimilate into society. The new immigrants were a group of people who were society's outcasts which made them popular targets for derision and abuse. Not only did this impact immigrants, but it negatively affected the American public with political corruption, soaring unemployment rates and disunity in the American public. Although limiting immigration is possible, getting rid of immigrants already in America is not.

<span style="background-color: #ffffff; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: medium;">This is why the crux of our solutions will focus on handling the current immigrants. Our solutions will explain how to best help immigrants assimilate with the American culture, how to make immigrants' statuses in society more prominent, and how to please the native-born Americans. Overall, we believe that the key to solving the problems presented is to promote equality and understanding between the immigrants and native-born Americans.

Solution <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #000000; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: medium;"> Our plan targets the three specific areas we covered in our introduction: 1. Political 2. Economical 3. Social

Political The main problem is that immigrants are just too vulnerable and unable to fend for themselves. To make sure they have the capability to defend themselves, we are proposing the Education Plan and the Quota Plan. 1. The Education Plan <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #000000; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: medium; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> Immigrants must be aware of what rights they have as American citizens, or just as any human being. In order to make sure they know what they are entitled to, we propose that every district establish centers that would educate immigrants in: <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #000000; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: medium;"> i. Basic Education (Primary school level) ii. English iii. Rights If the immigrant had not had any sort of basic/primary education in his/her country of origin, then the immigrant is required to take the same classes at the center. Other than that class, all the other English and rights classes are mandatory and required for all immigrants. 2. The Quota Plan The second part to our solution to the Political conflicts is the Quota Plan. In order to regulate the immigrants coming into the country, we have proposed this plan, which sets a limit on how many immigrants can enter the country in one year. We also want to make sure that there is also a flow of skilled labor coming into the country, as they are capable of bringing new innovations and skills into the United States. With the introduction of a generally “smarter” class of immigrants, the vulnerability of the immigrants is bound to break down as time passes on, and immigrants are more powerful. The Quota Plan proposes that the United States limits the amount of immigrants coming into the United States to 3 million a year. Specifically, we would like the breakdown to be 1.5 million skilled immigrants and 1.5 unskilled immigrants. Skilled immigrants are entitled to skip the usually required basic education, but they are still required to take courses in English and rights.

Economical We are proposing that the companies and factories adhere to our two proposals: the Value Plan and the Factory Quota Plan. <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #000000; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: medium; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> 1. The Value Plan The root of the economical problem surrounding immigration is that the immigrants are being valued at too low a price. Therefore, there are native-born Americans arguing that immigrants are taking all the available jobs that would potentially bring income and money to American households. These justifications are based on xenophobia and hatred that they had against immigrants. So in order for the employers to be able to employ immigrants with a lighter mind and less guilty conscience, we propose that the value of immigrants be increased by mandating that employers: <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #000000; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: medium;"> 1. Provide basic housing, 2. Provide food, 3. Provide recreational areas safe enough for immigrants. <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #000000; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: medium; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> Because of these added costs, the value of immigrants will definitely increase, and will make it more expensive for employers to hire immigrants. Thus, it will be harder for native-born Americans to argue the fact that they are losing their jobs because immigrants are cheap labor. <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #000000; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: medium;"> 2. The Factory Quota Plan With the price of hiring immigrants increasing, the general move of company and factory owners would be to start limiting the number of immigrants they hire. In order to prevent this possible scenario from happening, we are proposing the Factory Quota Plan to go with the Value Plan mentioned above. The Factory Quota Plan sets a quota for the number of immigrants hired at factories. Judging by the size and manufacturing capability of the factory, these numbers differ. If the factory or company operates at a domestic level, then: A. At least 50 skilled laborers B. At least 50 unskilled laborers If the factory or company operates on an international level, then they are required to hire: A. At least 70 skilled laborers A. At least 100 unskilled laborers Because factory owners and employers have to spend a lot on their workers now, we are proposing that tax cuts be implemented so that the financial burden on the company owners can be significantly alleviated.

(In order to determine skilled from unskilled laborers, refer to the Education Plan)

Social The main social problem with immigration and racial tension is the social discrimination these immigrants are experiencing in the United States of America. So we are proposing the Public Recognition Plan and the Sanitation Plan. 1. The Public Recognition Plan As more and more immigrants are being discriminated against and more people are starting to protest against immigration, there has also been the silent, but important rise of people who defend immigrants. In order to recognize those who see the fault in hating immigrants, we propose that people who have aided immigrants or have established settlement houses/organizations be honored with awards and prize money. Prizes will be awarded according to the guidelines set below. A. If the person has established a settlement house/organization that has catered to the needs of over 100 immigrants, then he/she is capable of receiving the Gold Recognition Award. B. If the person has established a settlement house/organization that has catered to the needs of over 70 immigrants, then he/she is capable of receiving the Silver Recognition Award. C. If the person has established a settlement house/organization that has catered to the needs of over 50 immigrants, then he/she is capable of receiving the Bronze Recognition Award. D. If the person has aided more than 40 immigrants by him/herself, then he/she is capable of receiving the Honorary Recognition Award. <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #000000; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: medium; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> 2. The Sanitation Plan With the skyrocketing numbers of immigration, overpopulation in cities is becoming more prominent. Overpopulation then leads to the emergence of “slum towns” that are categorized by dangerous and unsanitary conditions. In order to make these slum towns cleaner and healthier to live in, we have proposed the sanitation plan which calls for the establishment of a separate Sanitation committee that would station an official in each city district and would report to the committee on monthly intervals. The official would have to implement sanitation projects in the slum towns, and would have to be prepared for yearly sanitation checkups.

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