In Chapter 5:  The Sting of Prejudice, Foner explores racism towards immigrants.  One of Foner’s points in this chapter is that West Indian immigrants are often considered black although they strongly prefer not to be.  Foner says that West Indian refers to people of African descent from the English-speaking Caribbean.  To most New Yorkers, people who are West Indian are not seen as such, but they are simply lumped together with American blacks.  This can be seen in our own lives.  If you see someone from West Indian descent on the streets of New York you most likely won’t stop and think about where they came from or what specific nationality they are.  One of the things that stuck out to me was when Foner mentions a West Indian social worker who was not offered a magazine on a plane because he was the only black person.  Despite their nationality, education, age, or occupation, people who are deemed black often face injustice.

Another interesting point Foner made was the fact that in the time of the last great immigration wave, it was not clear what ethnic group Italians and Jews should be placed in.  This was fascinating because today these groups of people are largely considered white.  In the past, these people were considered part of “inferior mongrel races.”  It had been said that they would diminish the beauty and intelligence of the American people thus ruining the Anglo-Saxon image.  Foner says that Italians were often the subjects of name calling.  One of these was the term, guinea, which referred to African slaves.  I found this particularly interesting because I remember my grandpa saying how much he disliked that word, and whenever it was used he would disapprove.  My grandpa was born in New York, but he is from Italian descent, more specifically from Messina, Sicily.