Fear of the Stranger

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The Fear of the Stranger

ERIKA LEE, HISTORY

A romantic self-image of our country often draws upon a “nation of immigrants” narrative, symbolized by the Statue of Liberty, standing in the New York Harbor saying to the world, “Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free.”

But there’s a darker side to that image, a xenophobic side that undermines the promise of a nation welcoming those who yearn to breathe free. Xenophobia is a fear of the other, the outsider, including the foreigner who seeks refuge in one’s country. The original Greek term means “fear of the stranger.”

“You cannot understand... where we are today without specifically understanding the role of immigration in our history and the history of xenophobia as a political issue,” says Regents Professor Erika Lee. Lee’s forthcoming book America for Americans traces the enduring history of American xenophobia.

Politicians have long been aware of a reservoir of anxiety in the electorate about immigration, Lee says, and that “our reaction to immigration over the past decades has been from a position of fear.

“We need to have an honest, brave conversation about the democratic values on which the country was founded,” Lee says, and to “encourage a broader and deeper understanding of xenophobia."