In the article, The Political Incorporation of Immigrants, Then and Now, Gary Gerstle and John Mollenkopf focus on two waves of immigration: one in from late 1880s to early 1930s and the second one, from mid 1900s to present day. In the earlier wave of immigration, most immigrants originated from Europe (mostly from Italy, Russia, Poland, Austria Hungary, Germany) and were basically “swept into” the blue-collar jobs (such as manufacturing) in America. According to the article, these immigrants’ children, who were born in the United States, overcame the economic crises of the Great Depression and the shaky political environment and eventually benefitted from the post World War II boom. The authors make a very interesting point by saying that the “line” between white protestants and the white Jewish or Catholics was blurred. And therefore, they were all now considered to be “white”.

The new “new immigrants” (as the authors call them) were part of the second wave of immigration and were labeled as “non whites”. Both the immigrants from the late 1880s and the new “new immigrants” settled in major cities like New York and gave that ethnic character to neighborhoods where a certain ethnic group was dominant. But the authors make the distinction that these new “new immigrants” were also highly professional and they did not enter the blue-collar job market unlike their predecessors. Instead, the more recent immigrants today are similar to the immigrants of the late 1880s and early 1900s due to their lack of English language skills and their lack of involvement in highly professional fields.

Also, according to the authors, the new “new immigrants” entered a more relaxed and multi-cultural society when compared to the new immigrants of the late 1800s and early 1900s. This relaxed and accepting environment was established partly due to the struggles of blacks against institutionalized discrimination. They also point out that America is more open to dual citizenship and the incoming of professional immigrants today than it was back in the early 1900s. A few weeks ago, in Michael Maly’s work, we read about the “Action Jackson” campaign and how it had an anti-immigrant agenda because they mostly targeted immigrant businesses in Jackson Heights. The authors even mention that the political environment did become very hostile towards immigrants in the mid-1990s. So although it is true that today’s society is a lot more diverse, this does not necessarily mean that the natives were “relaxed” about the non-white immigration into their neighborhood and easily accepted these new “new” immigrants into their society.