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Integration Nation: Immigrants, Refugees and America at Its Best

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Susan Eaton’s Integration Nation movingly reminds us that we each have choices to make about how to think and act in the face of the rapid cultural transformation that has reshaped the United States.

Image courtesy of interviewee. March 20, 2024

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This video video discusses the author's observations and research related to immigration in the United States, particularly in the context of rising tensions and anti-immigration sentiments, especially during Donald Trump's campaign. The author notes a contrasting reality on the ground, where many communities are welcoming immigrants and creating inclusive programs that foster integration rather than assimilation. Highlighting successful examples from various states, the author emphasizes the importance of community-driven initiatives that support both immigrants and existing residents.

The author stresses that divisive rhetoric from leaders exacerbates polarization and fear, leading to negative consequences such as increased hate crimes. They argue for the significance of constructive public leadership that encourages understanding and cooperation, rather than division. The discussion advocates for the benefits of integration, which involves mutual adaptation between immigrants and native communities, improving social relations and community strength.

Ultimately, the author aims to convey a hopeful narrative that counters dominant negative perspectives on immigration, showcasing ordinary people and local initiatives that foster positive outcomes. The message is that when communities embrace diversity and provide opportunities for all, everyone benefits, leading to stronger and healthier societies.

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X-TIMESTAMP-MAP:LOCAL=00:00:00.000,MPEGTS=900000

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Motivated.

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This book was actually the campaign

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of Donald Trump in some ways in which we were hearing

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the type of rhetoric, coming out of that campaign

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that was really disturbing.

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Um, so it was that,

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and also the spate of anti-immigration laws

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that really swept through certain parts

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of the United States, such as Arizona

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and some of the southern states that was making it easier

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for authorities to deport immigrants

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or just make it distasteful that make their lives harder.

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So that the idea being that they would want to leave.

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And what I felt

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and knew from my travels

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around the country doing research on school integration

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and language issues around, migrant children,

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I saw something different happening on the ground.

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And that was people welcoming immigrants, happy

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to have immigrants in their communities,

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and working alongside immigrants and immigrants

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and immigrant supporters to create programs and policies

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and practices that would

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bring immigrants into the existing community

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and also adapt to immigrants.

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And so I saw these things happening all across the country

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in a variety of ways,

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and I felt like that story wasn't being told.

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So at the time, I,

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had received a grant actually from the Kellogg Foundation

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and also one from the Ford Foundation,

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and I was working at an institute at Harvard Law School.

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And the point of the point of our research project was

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to document different practices around the country

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that were leading to both racial integration of students,

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mostly within K through 12 public schools.

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And alongside that integration strategies, in places

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that were, experiencing demographic change.

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And that demographic change was quite often the result of,

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increased immigration to the area

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or mi in migration within the United States

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to different areas of the country.

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Some of it, I mean, certainly, in different places

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that I went to, such as Lewiston, Maine,

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was a really good example of where I spent days

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and days at the, at the local library,

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really reading local histories

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and trying to understand oftentimes the migration

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that everybody is talking about,

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and it's all worked up over either in positive

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or negative ways, is not the first example of,

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of migration and immigrants.

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And so wanting to understand in every place that I went to,

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what was the history of migration in this place,

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who built these industries,

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who was working in these factories

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that I see along the shore that are now shut down?

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The owners today of many of the businesses, you know,

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that were employing immigrants often came from

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immigrant families themselves.

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And so trying to understand that context,

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was really important in trying to explain it to people

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that this is, that the context is obviously changed,

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but the idea of, of migration

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or the reality of migration is, is not new

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because leaders choose to activate,

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you know, this kind of impulse that a lot of people have,

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of fear, fear of something that's different, fear

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that something that's going to get taken away from 'em.

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Um, exaggerating crime, for example,

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when actually migrants on average, you know,

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commit far fewer share of crimes, you know,

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based on their population,

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and that they're more likely to start businesses

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and the presence of immigrants are more likely

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to make a community safe.

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So I, so I think, so I think that

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that is a big reason why there's that level of polarization

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that it gets activated by our leaders.

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And I think that leadership

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and public leadership can play a huge role in either,

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you know, tempering the debate being more constructive

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or being divisive, which unfortunately is happening now.

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And I think that it's important to separate out sort

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of what's happening at the border versus, you know,

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there are community, you know,

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ordinary communities all across the country

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that have large shares of immigrants, and refugees

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and making sure that their lives are stable,

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that they're safe, that they're healthy, that they're able

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to thrive, that they're attached, you know,

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that they're given the resources that they need or

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provided the conditions that they need to thrive

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is a separate issue from, you know,

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what is happening at the border right now.

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And so sometimes those things,

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especially when you've got irresponsible leadership,

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that's xenophobic

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and racist, those two things get muddled together.

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Um, and so that's why you're seeing, you know,

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things like reports of increases in hate crimes in

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communities where you haven't seen as much of that.

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And so that's why I think it's become a divisive issue.

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It's easy, it's e it's an easy thing for a weak leader

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to do, is to divide people by pointing to another

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and blaming that other for

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whatever might have be happening in their

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lives that they're not happy with.

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One it means is something different from assimilation.

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I mean, the idea of assimilation is that a person who is new

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to a community comes in

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and has to kind of absorb the culture and the habits

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and the traditions,

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and the ways of life of that place, right?

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As opposed to integration, which is I think a more positive,

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concept in which everybody has to adapt to some degree.

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For example, I wrote a, I wrote in my book,

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about a community in North Carolina where they realized

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that their way of doing healthcare expecting immigrants

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and migrants, some of whom may have been undocumented,

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just come to them when they had a health

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problem, was not working.

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And so they looked at models in Latin America that worked,

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where people who were trusted members

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of the community went out and,

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and built relationships with folks.

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And that greatly increased the health,

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of the immigrant community and also the community at large.

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And so that's another example.

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Um, two-Way immersion programs, for example, when,

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which I studied in Utah for my book, where, instead

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of bringing kids in

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and saying, all right, you don't speak English,

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you're just gonna spend all your time learning English,

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that's it developed program, the better way is

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to develop programs in which you've got, native speakers

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of English and native speakers of Spanish to together

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learning both content and then learning those two languages

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from each other have been wildly successful.

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Not just in teaching English,

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but in ensuring that kids do well in math and science

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and social studies, and also developing those social

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relationships, which are really important

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because we all live in, we all need to live together in,

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in one society, right?

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Um, in a pluralistic society.

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And I think that, if we live in a place

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where everyone has the opportunity

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to thrive, we all benefit.

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Living in a divided society is bad for everybody.

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It's bad for democracy in the in conditions

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where there really is true integration can actually occur,

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is more likely to build friendships among young people,

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positive relationships

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and reduce stereotypes and reduce racism.

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And that is good for everyone.

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I hope that readers find hope in this book.

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Um, and an alternative story to

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what is going on can be very overwhelming

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to open up the newspaper

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and see, you know, an increase in hate crimes.

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The rhetoric about immigration

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and immigration is a problem, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.

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Um, and, and yet be in a local community, right,

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where there may be increasing shares of immigrants

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and feel like they wanna be a welcoming

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person, a decent person.

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So I think that the book is for the ordinary person,

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because a lot of the people

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that I write about in this book are not

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big political figures.

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They are ordinary people, many of whom were nonpartisan,

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folks, not very political, who started up programs

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and began practices and advocated for, for more sensible

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and humanistic policies in their communities.

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So that, and to give kind of existence proofs

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to other places and people in other communities to see,

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well, look, look, Fort Wayne, Indiana was able to do this

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with their Burmese community.

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Um, okay.

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In Lewiston, Maine, we had,

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growth in the Somali population.

08:44.875 --> 08:45.975
Now you would think that

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that would be incredibly challenging, and it was.

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And yet there are some examples of really positive,

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things that have happened, constructive things that have

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Happened in that community, for example.

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So that's what I'm hoping to bring is examples, real life

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concrete examples of a way that is better than dividing

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and living in fear.

Immigration Narratives: From Fear to Welcome

00:00:00 - Motivated. This book was actually the campaign of Donald Trump in some ways in which we were hearing the type of rhetoric, coming out of that campaign that was really disturbing. so it was that, and also the spate of anti-immigration laws that really swept through certain parts of the United States, such as Arizona and some of the southern states that was making it easier for authorities to deport immigrants or just make it distasteful that make their lives harder.
00:00:35 - And what I felt and knew from my travels around the country doing research on school integration and language issues around, migrant children, I saw something different happening on the ground. And that was people welcoming immigrants, happy to have immigrants in their communities, and working alongside immigrants and immigrants and immigrant supporters to create programs and policies and practices that would
00:01:05 - and also adapt to immigrants. And so I saw these things happening all across the country in a variety of ways, and I felt like that story wasn't being told. So at the time, I, had received a grant actually from the Kellogg Foundation and also one from the Ford Foundation, and I was working at an institute at Harvard Law School. And the point of the point of our research project was to document different practices around the country that were leading to both racial integration of students,
00:01:37 - And alongside that integration strategies, in places that were, experiencing demographic change. And that demographic change was quite often the result of, increased immigration to the area or mi in migration within the United States to different areas of the country. Some of it, I mean, certainly, in different places that I went to, such as Lewiston, Maine, was a really good example of where I spent days and days at the, at the local library,
00:02:06 - and trying to understand oftentimes the migration that everybody is talking about, and it's all worked up over either in positive or negative ways, is not the first example of, of migration and immigrants. And so wanting to understand in every place that I went to, what was the history of migration in this place, who built these industries, who was working in these factories that I see along the shore that are now shut down? The owners today of many of the businesses, you know, that were employing immigrants often came from
00:02:38 - And so trying to understand that context, was really important in trying to explain it to people that this is, that the context is obviously changed, but the idea of, of migration or the reality of migration is, is not new because leaders choose to activate, you know, this kind of impulse that a lot of people have, of fear, fear of something that's different, fear that something that's going to get taken away from 'em.

Redefining Immigration's Impact on Communities

00:03:11 - when actually migrants on average, you know, commit far fewer share of crimes, you know, based on their population, and that they're more likely to start businesses and the presence of immigrants are more likely to make a community safe. So I, so I think, so I think that that is a big reason why there's that level of polarization that it gets activated by our leaders. And I think that leadership and public leadership can play a huge role in either,
00:03:46 - or being divisive, which unfortunately is happening now. And I think that it's important to separate out sort of what's happening at the border versus, you know, there are community, you know, ordinary communities all across the country that have large shares of immigrants, and refugees and making sure that their lives are stable, that they're safe, that they're healthy, that they're able
00:04:16 - that they're given the resources that they need or provided the conditions that they need to thrive is a separate issue from, you know, what is happening at the border right now. And so sometimes those things, especially when you've got irresponsible leadership, that's xenophobic and racist, those two things get muddled together. and so that's why you're seeing, you know, things like reports of increases in hate crimes in
00:04:46 - And so that's why I think it's become a divisive issue. It's easy, it's e it's an easy thing for a weak leader to do, is to divide people by pointing to another and blaming that other for whatever might have be happening in their lives that they're not happy with. One it means is something different from assimilation. I mean, the idea of assimilation is that a person who is new to a community comes in and has to kind of absorb the culture and the habits
00:05:19 - and the ways of life of that place, right? As opposed to integration, which is I think a more positive, concept in which everybody has to adapt to some degree. For example, I wrote a, I wrote in my book, about a community in North Carolina where they realized that their way of doing healthcare expecting immigrants and migrants, some of whom may have been undocumented, just come to them when they had a health
00:05:50 - And so they looked at models in Latin America that worked, where people who were trusted members of the community went out and, and built relationships with folks. And that greatly increased the health, of the immigrant community and also the community at large. And so that's another example. two-Way immersion programs, for example, when, which I studied in Utah for my book, where, instead of bringing kids in and saying, all right, you don't speak English,

Building Bridges Through Language and Community

00:06:22 - that's it developed program, the better way is to develop programs in which you've got, native speakers of English and native speakers of Spanish to together learning both content and then learning those two languages from each other have been wildly successful. Not just in teaching English, but in ensuring that kids do well in math and science and social studies, and also developing those social relationships, which are really important
00:06:56 - in one society, right? in a pluralistic society. And I think that, if we live in a place where everyone has the opportunity to thrive, we all benefit. Living in a divided society is bad for everybody. It's bad for democracy in the in conditions where there really is true integration can actually occur, is more likely to build friendships among young people,
00:07:24 - and reduce stereotypes and reduce racism. And that is good for everyone. I hope that readers find hope in this book. and an alternative story to what is going on can be very overwhelming to open up the newspaper and see, you know, an increase in hate crimes. The rhetoric about immigration and immigration is a problem, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. and, and yet be in a local community, right,
00:07:57 - and feel like they wanna be a welcoming person, a decent person. So I think that the book is for the ordinary person, because a lot of the people that I write about in this book are not big political figures. They are ordinary people, many of whom were nonpartisan, folks, not very political, who started up programs and began practices and advocated for, for more sensible and humanistic policies in their communities.
00:08:29 - to other places and people in other communities to see, well, look, look, Fort Wayne, Indiana was able to do this with their Burmese community. okay. In Lewiston, Maine, we had, growth in the Somali population. Now you would think that that would be incredibly challenging, and it was. And yet there are some examples of really positive, things that have happened, constructive things that have Happened in that community, for example.
00:09:07 - concrete examples of a way that is better than dividing and living in fear.

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