Hats Off wrote:Bootstrap wrote:Haystack wrote:Ethnicity vs Nationality, Chinese Canadians exist.
So do European Canadians, who probably moved in starting in the 1500s or so. Should they be allowed to stay?
Whoa - we weren't talking about kicking anyone out yet. The Chinese people in Canada are a significant part of our multicultural mix.
I was responding to Josh. If the Indians had maintained their original ethnic mix, we wouldn't be here.
To me, these discussions can sometimes feel like we are saying that "people like us" belong here, and "people like them" don't, "people like us" are the real Americans or Canadians, "people like them" aren't. This gets very pronounced in some of the politicized rhetoric that surrounds us, I have heard several conversations where people used the word "Americans" to distinguish themselves from blacks who seemed equally American to me. Most of our ancestors came here as immigrants.
And of course this got very pronounced in places like Charlottesville, where whites were shouting "you do not belong here" to blacks and Jews as well as immigrants. Ugly stereotypes are being used to spread hatred against various groups. I think we need to be aware that this is in the water all around us.
And this infects the immigration debate too. If you read the Lawfare blog or read Foreign Policy or other useful resources, most of what they say is about policy choices and evidence. But most of the popular emotional news sources basically swap stereotypes instead. Each side has its own stereotypes. As Christians, I think we need to be ready to embrace Samaritans and Gentiles, and we need to be very wary of "us" versus "them" along ethnic or national lines.
Is it biblical? Is it Christlike? Is it loving? Is it true? How can I find out?