I have found it interesting how powerful groups use abuse toward immigrants to consolidate their power and position. I remember old people, in the community I grew up in, telling me that when they were in the workforce factories had a sign outside them which had “INNA” in front of them. This meant “Irish Need Not Reply”. That was because the Irish were the latest set of immigrants; and so those who had arrived before them treated them with disdain, and prejudice.
Then another lot arrived after the Irish and they became the latest victims. I have heard many descendants of Irish strugglers speak with great hostility toward recent immigrants, forgetting the journey of their own ancestors. I heard tell of a child at our local school, who was Samoan, shouting at a recent immigrant from Africa “get out of here darkie”. Who taught this child this?
Let this cartoon hold the mirror up to our own prejudices:
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