Word: xenophobia
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...successive waves of immigrants did not readily embrace the new culture, even when intimidated by the xenophobia of the know-nothing era or two World Wars. Says Historian James Banks: "Each nationality group tried desperately to remake North America in the image of its native land." When the question arose of making the U.S. multilingual or multicultural in public affairs, however, Congress stood firm. In the 1790s, 1840s and 1860s, the lawmakers voted down pleas to print Government documents in German. Predominantly French-speaking Louisiana sought statehood in 1812; the state constitution that it submitted for approval specified that...
...SHORT-SIGHTED greed-motivated demands for protectionism must be added another ugly element: xenophobia. A sign in front of a UAW headquarters reads "U.S. and Canadian vehicles only. Please park imports elsewhere." For some reason, Canadian cars (which we import in large numbers) don't count as imports, but the Japanese cars do. Mondale reflects this attitude when he asks, "What do we want our kids to do? Sweep up around Japanese computers and spend a lifetime serving McDonald's hamburgers...
...difficult trek was made even more so by the Nigerian police, who gassed and beat some of the expatriates. This ruthless display of xenophobia convinced several who were technically exempt from the sweeping decree that they too should leave...
...nativism isn't new. The racist Immigration Act of 1924, and the hysterically anti-Communist McCarran-Walter Act of 1952 both embodied the ugliest aspects of some Americans' attitude toward their nation's role as a world refuge. What is new is that, in the midst of the current xenophobia, two legislators are actually trying to provide a balanced, comprehensive and effective law to mitigate nativism by restoring order at America's frontiers...
...Wichser incident was obviously meant to serve as a warning to foreigners, and any nationals who might befriend them, to chill such contacts. The Chinese xenophobia reached a peak during the Cultural Revolution but eased in 1976 after the death of Mao Tse-tung. Indeed, Mao's successors "rectified" the error of his fear of foreigners by encouraging association with them as a basis for learning. At the time, of course, contact could be controlled: the diplomats lived in compounds, the foreign press was cautious, and the students and teachers who came were mostly believers in the Maoist revolution...