Nancy Foner explains that prejudice is a constant, especially against new immigrants. It is interesting to see, however, that a lot of the reason why these people develop these prejudices is not only because of the obvious social customs that others do not understand, but because these new immigrants isolate themselves from their neighbors.
As we’ve read in the Madonna of 115th Street and Race and Religion Among the Chosen People of Crown Heights, new Jewish and Italian immigrants often isolated themselves into their respective communities for the comfort and familiarity they brought. Perhaps it was for this reason that “original New Yorkers” felt racial prejudice against them.
According to Race and Religion Among the Chosen People of Crown Heights, the non-Jewish neighbors in Crown Heights felt a discontent with their Jewish neighbors because they were excluded from their culture. The prejudice of the Jewish people stemmed from this discontent with their isolation.
Racism seems to be a very superficial form of prejudice. The new immigrants that come to America stick together for comfort and exclude people of other cultures because they do not understand them. Out of this misunderstanding, the people of other cultures develop a dislike for them.
Skin color is the first distinguishable quality in a person, and therefore the easiest to discriminate. Once a culture develops a dislike of another culture, they generalize their dislike to skin color, because it’s the easiest way to distinguish them from the rest. The more distinguishable a skin color, the easier it is to discriminate that person/culture, which could explain why prejudice of the African American population has lasted so long, and why prejudice of the Italians and Jews lasted for a limited time in history.
The ridiculous part of racial discrimination is that it’s the cultural perception that determines whether or not someone is “white.” Although it is unlikely that this will happen anytime soon, perhaps one day even African Americans will be considered “white” and another race will be discriminated in their place.
At the end of the day, it’s not about race; it’s about having a negative trait attributed to your culture, and being visibly distinguishable enough from the rest of the population to be easily discriminated against.
-Christina Torossian
