In Gary Gerstle and John Mollenkopf’s work, The Political Incorporation of Immigrants, Then and Now, Gerstle and Mollenkopf give a detailed history before delving into the current political inability to incorporate recent immigrants into politics and voting. Gerstle and Mollenkopf’s article uses several words that were unusual and disconcerting, namely the word ‘pervasive’: “Although these new ‘new immigrants make up a smaller share of a much larger national population…they, too are having a pervasive impact on America” (1). The connotation of ‘pervasive’ implies that something is sneaky and parasitic: the concern here is that this word is not the best in trying to understand why immigrants are not as involved in politics like those before them. It’s eerily similar to the stereotypes that the majority of America gave immigrants.

The key argument in this article is that immigrants have been increasingly uninterested in politics. Gerstle and Mollenkopf depict it as something that started in the 1950s, as old immigrants were very much involved in politics in their time. They give an example of how the Irish and the Germans were willing soldiers and participants in the Civil War. That the Irish were willing is not completely true: in fact, many of the Irish were against abolition and rioted when they learned they had to go fight a war. The two solutions offered to combat this apathy towards politics is: 1) labor unions and organizations and 2) the current progress made by these recent immigrants. Labor unions and other organizations may be able to spark activism and interest again in immigrants and based on the recent growth and progress that immigrants have made in terms of their political influence, there may be hope yet for the entire political process, along with everything that goes along with it.

Finally, Gerstle and Mollenkopf make an interesting point in stating that “many of the immigrant children are Asian…they must create a new racial identity for themselves” (23). The authors also argue that “they must…negotiate their place in the racial hierarchy”, which  seems to be a struggle that other races and ethnicities have faced. Yet the Asians seemed to be a unique group because they’ve already had their places decided (unwillingly or willingly): they’re the model minority. The uneasy conclusion is that the racial struggle has now entered the public education system, where there is already an increasing divide as publicized by the media over the years: the lower income poor students are in failing schools, the wealthy students are in flourishing/private schools.