ABSTRACT
Besides our indigenous population, the United States is a nation of immigrants, some forced (Africans), others migrating by choice for better opportunities. At different times in our country’s history certain immigrant groups have experienced xenophobia, which is a dislike for people from different countries. Xenophobia is heightened when the economy is tight and there is what is believed to be a scarcity of jobs or there is a belief that an immigrant group is negatively impacting the masses. Many groups that are now considered “White” historically have not been welcomed with opened arms and experienced discrimination in housing and employment as was the case for the Irish, Polish, Italians, and Greeks. Due to their absorption into the social construct of “Whiteness” we now see those who historically experienced oppression based on nationality impose oppression ideologies onto others.
