American Homogeneity?

Homogeneity is defined as “the quality or state of being all the same or all of the same kind.”  This was the goal of the Immigration Act of 1924, which congressman Albert Johnson (who co-authored the bill with Senator David Reed) called a bulwark against “a stream of alien blood…”  The Immigration Act of 1924 was primarily aimed at restricting Southern and Eastern Europeans, especially Italians and Eastern European Jews from entering the United States.  The Law, in all practicality, banned Africans, Arabs and Asians from the US.  Why?  Johnson was a self-avowed racist and nativist.  Both Johnson and Reed were blunt and honest about the purpose of their bill.  Reed said all earlier immigration legislation “disregards entirely those of us who are interested in keeping American stock up to the highest standards—that is the people who were born here.”  Johnson was opposed to interracial marriage and supported forced sterilization of the mentally disabled and appears to have been Anti-Semitic.  The new Law would, they said,   maintain the racial preponderance of the basic strain of our people and therefore stabilize the ethnic composition of the population”—American homogeneity.  The Immigration Act of 1924 passed with an overwhelming majority.

Just a few years later, in Germany, Hitler would use the same logic to support his Aryan Nation notions of a Master race.  Johnson, Reed, and Hitler were, at least, honest.  Homogeneity was their primary goal.

Yesterday, the Attorney General of the United States, announced the ending of DACA, by declaring the Obama era order unconstitutional.  The President of the United States said, “I have a great heart for these folks we are talking about…I have a love for these people…”

There is a need, and there has been a need for a long time, for immigration reform.  It is the duty of congress to act on this issue.  However, it is important that we be honest about this immigration business.  What is it that we really want?  Do we want American homogeneity?  (The very concept is anathema to me and the only way it could possibly happen is via a great purging—and even that won’t do the trick).  If the goal is American homogeneity (a totally unreal goal)—say so, openly and honestly.  Don’t hedge, don’t tell falsehoods, be up front with your agenda.   Don’t couch it in the slogan “Make America Great Again.”

The United States is a nation of diversity.  It was from the very beginning and will continue to be in the future.  The very term, “American homogeneity” is a falsehood.