Monthly Archives: September 2014

The fears about Illegal immigration are a classic expression of the myth of madness at the gates of the city. Seen from the inside, the mad god Dionysus threatens to invade and destroy everything of value. From the outside, however … Continue reading →

¡Como Mexico No Hay Dos! In any discussion of contemporary immigration the most emotionally divisive arguments are either about Muslims or Latin Americans. But the vast majority of the undocumented – “illegal aliens” – are Mexican. So we are really … Continue reading →

We’ve seen some of the political, racial, economic and religious factors that determined an immigrant’s status as he or she attempted to enter the U.S. But what happened next? How did one become American? And, especially in the great expansion … Continue reading →

Since the ideas of “citizen,” “American” and “whiteness” are inherently unstable, their definitions have had as much to do with who one is not as they have had with who one is, and they have changed regularly in their exclusion … Continue reading →

The Industrial Revolution in the United States required millions of new workers, yet immigration policy was highly selective. For over a century, the Supreme Court periodically determined who was Other (see Part Three below). Admission to whiteness was an invitation … Continue reading →

July, 2018: One shared characteristic of the Age of Trump is our ongoing sense that it just can’t get any crazier than this – and our regular, almost daily recognition that in fact, it has. Still, like all true believers … Continue reading →

But What About Ferguson? Returning to this question of “every 28 hours,” we ask incredulously, innocently, again: How often do police shoot unarmed black people? Is it surprising that the government keeps no statistics ? Recently, some citizen groups have … Continue reading →

But What About Ferguson? I quoted Orlando Patterson earlier: “Today we no longer lynch in public rituals supervised by local clergymen. Instead, the state hires the hangman to do it.” Quite true, but this civilized approach creates two problems for … Continue reading →