The Need for Immigrants

The Need for Immigrants

                        Robert A. Levine   12-19-23

The population of virtually every advanced nation in the world is either stable or declining. The United States would be in the same situation aside from an influx of immigrants. To replace a country’s population, there has to be an average of 2.1 children per woman. According to the UN’s listing of fertility rates, the U.S. has 1.66 children per woman as of 2023. A number of nations in a similar range in terms of fertility rates are not replacing their populations. These include France at 1.83, Mexico 1.82, Ireland, Denmark and Columbia at 1.72, Australia 1.70, Sweden 1.67, Netherland 1.62, Germany 1.58, UK and Norway 1.56, Russia 1.49, Canada 1.43, Greece 1.39, Poland 1.33, Japan 1.30, Italy 1.25, Spain 1.19, China 1.16, South Korea 0.81. Virtually every nation with high birth rates, from 4-6.8 children per woman is in Africa. And almost every country whose birth rate is enough to replace their population is in the developing world.

There are a number of reasons the birth rates of various nations are what they are. Those nations with the highest birth rates do not have contraceptives readily available, abortion is prohibited, women are mostly uneducated and stay at home, and there may be religious reasons. Low birth rates in developed nations are because women are educated, have jobs outside their homes and like to have feelings of independence. Also, good, inexpensive child care may not be available and the women don’t want to surrender their careers. Many women are remaining single until later in life or throughout their lives, and if they marry may not have children or have fewer children. Women are also generally more educated than men and may not be able to find proper mates.

In addition, because of pollution and plastic infestation of our bodies, men and women are not as fertile as previously and may have difficulty getting pregnant. Sperm counts in men and in different species are down from previous levels and the quality of the sperm is not as good, also believed due to various pollutants. Women’s reproductive apparatus has also been affected. So the drop in population in developed countries is both voluntary and involuntary.

Migration is being driven by lack of opportunity in some nations, crime, lack of freedom, and climate change which may make living conditions intolerable. Migrants to the United States come mainly from Latin America- Mexico, Central and South America, but also from other nations around the world.

The United States as other developed nations needs to maintain its population if we are to keep our position of power and keep a capitalist system functioning. Capitalism needs people to produce various goods and needs consumers to buy them. If our population continues to decline, we will not have enough producers or consumers. In addition, America has an aging population and we need enough young people to take care of our elderly. We need blue collar workers- caregivers, agricultural workers, factory workers- H2B immigrants to fill jobs that are going begging. Some of these jobs may eventually be automated with robots performing the work. But right now we need people.

If we are going to maintain our technological advantage in the world, we also require H1B, or educated immigrants. These fill high tech jobs and are also responsible for many of the patents in our nation and the start-up companies that are formed. They also fill positions in the community and in hospitals as physicians, nurses and pharmacists, all of which are needed. These immigrants go to our universities and graduate schools, often remaining as professors, teachers and researchers in biological and physical sciences if we allow them to stay. Though H1B immigrants come from many nations, most of them are from India and China.

Our immigration system must also be fixed so immigrants and asylum seekers do not enter illegally through our southern border. But the delays and back-ups in our legal immigration system must be corrected so that people can be vetted and accepted or rejected within a period of days to weeks rather than waiting sometimes for years. We must also make it easier for migrants to get green cards and to become citizens if we see that they are the hard working people we want.

Many right-wingers and Christian nationalists do not want immigrants in our country, believing in white superiority and that immigrants will somehow dilute our blood line, an egregious bit of misinformation. However, the opponents of immigration have to decide whether they want an America that is a great power and on top technologically, with a capitalist economic system. Or if they would prefer a smaller, second rate nation that is scientifically backward and no longer powerful.

www.robertlevinebooks.com

Buy The Uninformed Voter on Amazon or Barnes and Noble

The Need for Immigrants

The Need for Immigrants

                        Robert A. Levine   12-19-23

The population of virtually every advanced nation in the world is either stable or declining. The United States would be in the same situation aside from an influx of immigrants. To replace a country’s population, there has to be an average of 2.1 children per woman. According to the UN’s listing of fertility rates, the U.S. has 1.66 children per woman as of 2023. A number of nations in a similar range in terms of fertility rates are not replacing their populations. These include France at 1.83, Mexico 1.82, Ireland, Denmark and Columbia at 1.72, Australia 1.70, Sweden 1.67, Netherland 1.62, Germany 1.58, UK and Norway 1.56, Russia 1.49, Canada 1.43, Greece 1.39, Poland 1.33, Japan 1.30, Italy 1.25, Spain 1.19, China 1.16, South Korea 0.81. Virtually every nation with high birth rates, from 4-6.8 children per woman is in Africa. And almost every country whose birth rate is enough to replace their population is in the developing world.

There are a number of reasons the birth rates of various nations are what they are. Those nations with the highest birth rates do not have contraceptives readily available, abortion is prohibited, women are mostly uneducated and stay at home, and there may be religious reasons. Low birth rates in developed nations are because women are educated, have jobs outside their homes and like to have feelings of independence. Also, good, inexpensive child care may not be available and the women don’t want to surrender their careers. Many women are remaining single until later in life or throughout their lives, and if they marry may not have children or have fewer children. Women are also generally more educated than men and may not be able to find proper mates.

In addition, because of pollution and plastic infestation of our bodies, men and women are not as fertile as previously and may have difficulty getting pregnant. Sperm counts in men and in different species are down from previous levels and the quality of the sperm is not as good, also believed due to various pollutants. Women’s reproductive apparatus has also been affected. So the drop in population in developed countries is both voluntary and involuntary.

Migration is being driven by lack of opportunity in some nations, crime, lack of freedom, and climate change which may make living conditions intolerable. Migrants to the United States come mainly from Latin America- Mexico, Central and South America, but also from other nations around the world.

The United States as other developed nations needs to maintain its population if we are to keep our position of power and keep a capitalist system functioning. Capitalism needs people to produce various goods and needs consumers to buy them. If our population continues to decline, we will not have enough producers or consumers. In addition, America has an aging population and we need enough young people to take care of our elderly. We need blue collar workers- caregivers, agricultural workers, factory workers- H2B immigrants to fill jobs that are going begging. Some of these jobs may eventually be automated with robots performing the work. But right now we need people.

If we are going to maintain our technological advantage in the world, we also require H1B, or educated immigrants. These fill high tech jobs and are also responsible for many of the patents in our nation and the start-up companies that are formed. They also fill positions in the community and in hospitals as physicians, nurses and pharmacists, all of which are needed. These immigrants go to our universities and graduate schools, often remaining as professors, teachers and researchers in biological and physical sciences if we allow them to stay. Though H1B immigrants come from many nations, most of them are from India and China.

Our immigration system must also be fixed so immigrants and asylum seekers do not enter illegally through our southern border. But the delays and back-ups in our legal immigration system must be corrected so that people can be vetted and accepted or rejected within a period of days to weeks rather than waiting sometimes for years. We must also make it easier for migrants to get green cards and to become citizens if we see that they are the hard working people we want.

Many right-wingers and Christian nationalists do not want immigrants in our country, believing in white superiority and that immigrants will somehow dilute our blood line, an egregious bit of misinformation. However, the opponents of immigration have to decide whether they want an America that is a great power and on top technologically, with a capitalist economic system. Or if they would prefer a smaller, second rate nation that is scientifically backward and no longer powerful.

www.robertlevinebooks.com

Buy The Uninformed Voter on Amazon or Barnes and Noble

The Need for Immigrants

The Need for Immigrants

                        Robert A. Levine   12-19-23

The population of virtually every advanced nation in the world is either stable or declining. The United States would be in the same situation aside from an influx of immigrants. To replace a country’s population, there has to be an average of 2.1 children per woman. According to the UN’s listing of fertility rates, the U.S. has 1.66 children per woman as of 2023. A number of nations in a similar range in terms of fertility rates are not replacing their populations. These include France at 1.83, Mexico 1.82, Ireland, Denmark and Columbia at 1.72, Australia 1.70, Sweden 1.67, Netherland 1.62, Germany 1.58, UK and Norway 1.56, Russia 1.49, Canada 1.43, Greece 1.39, Poland 1.33, Japan 1.30, Italy 1.25, Spain 1.19, China 1.16, South Korea 0.81. Virtually every nation with high birth rates, from 4-6.8 children per woman is in Africa. And almost every country whose birth rate is enough to replace their population is in the developing world.

There are a number of reasons the birth rates of various nations are what they are. Those nations with the highest birth rates do not have contraceptives readily available, abortion is prohibited, women are mostly uneducated and stay at home, and there may be religious reasons. Low birth rates in developed nations are because women are educated, have jobs outside their homes and like to have feelings of independence. Also, good, inexpensive child care may not be available and the women don’t want to surrender their careers. Many women are remaining single until later in life or throughout their lives, and if they marry may not have children or have fewer children. Women are also generally more educated than men and may not be able to find proper mates.

In addition, because of pollution and plastic infestation of our bodies, men and women are not as fertile as previously and may have difficulty getting pregnant. Sperm counts in men and in different species are down from previous levels and the quality of the sperm is not as good, also believed due to various pollutants. Women’s reproductive apparatus has also been affected. So the drop in population in developed countries is both voluntary and involuntary.

Migration is being driven by lack of opportunity in some nations, crime, lack of freedom, and climate change which may make living conditions intolerable. Migrants to the United States come mainly from Latin America- Mexico, Central and South America, but also from other nations around the world.

The United States as other developed nations needs to maintain its population if we are to keep our position of power and keep a capitalist system functioning. Capitalism needs people to produce various goods and needs consumers to buy them. If our population continues to decline, we will not have enough producers or consumers. In addition, America has an aging population and we need enough young people to take care of our elderly. We need blue collar workers- caregivers, agricultural workers, factory workers- H2B immigrants to fill jobs that are going begging. Some of these jobs may eventually be automated with robots performing the work. But right now we need people.

If we are going to maintain our technological advantage in the world, we also require H1B, or educated immigrants. These fill high tech jobs and are also responsible for many of the patents in our nation and the start-up companies that are formed. They also fill positions in the community and in hospitals as physicians, nurses and pharmacists, all of which are needed. These immigrants go to our universities and graduate schools, often remaining as professors, teachers and researchers in biological and physical sciences if we allow them to stay. Though H1B immigrants come from many nations, most of them are from India and China.

Our immigration system must also be fixed so immigrants and asylum seekers do not enter illegally through our southern border. But the delays and back-ups in our legal immigration system must be corrected so that people can be vetted and accepted or rejected within a period of days to weeks rather than waiting sometimes for years. We must also make it easier for migrants to get green cards and to become citizens if we see that they are the hard working people we want.

Many right-wingers and Christian nationalists do not want immigrants in our country, believing in white superiority and that immigrants will somehow dilute our blood line, an egregious bit of misinformation. However, the opponents of immigration have to decide whether they want an America that is a great power and on top technologically, with a capitalist economic system. Or if they would prefer a smaller, second rate nation that is scientifically backward and no longer powerful.

www.robertlevinebooks.com

Buy The Uninformed Voter on Amazon or Barnes and Noble

How Should White Nationalism Be Addressed?

How Should White Nationalism Be Addressed?

                                    Robert A. Levine

White nationalism and white supremacy have always been woven into the American fabric, even before the Revolution. Over the last decade however, it has grown in power and adherents. Is it possible to subsume this movement into the maw of American democracy, taming its tendency towards violence and moderating its racial exclusiveness to promote its other ideas? Can nationalism cross racial lines and be a unifying movement for the nation?

During his four years in office, Trump’s repeated messages about keeping immigrants out of America (unless they were from Northern Europe) and building a wall between the U.S. and Mexico buoyed white nationalists. The president refused to denounce white supremacists and racists who supported him, saying that they were very fine people. Some of the white supremacist groups were outgrowths of the Ku Klux Klan, the White Citizen’s Councils, the John Birch Society, and neo-Nazi organizations that supported Germany prior to World War II. Some arose from local political groups and militias and some from Christian identity movements. A number also formed as if by spontaneous combustion over the Internet, with like-minded people finding each other.

Many of the white supremacists are white working men and women, blue-collar workers, and unemployed people who need to feel privileged in a world where they are on the bottom rungs of the economic ladder. Their white lineage makes them feel special. However, there are white collar workers, corporate executives, professionals and successful business men and women who are also racists, believe in white supremacy and support these organizations either overtly or covertly. A number of policemen and members of the military are active white supremacists as well.

Counterintuitively, many white supremacists started with feelings of white victimhood, with the concept of ‘whiteness’ arising from many European-Americans during the late 19^th and early 20^th centuries. The idea of whiteness provided working class European-Americans with some social and psychological advantages, along with economic ones. But during the late 20^th and 21^st century, job losses and economic stresses accentuated the idea of white victimhood. Forming or joining white supremacist organizations provided the working classes with feelings of pride and the notion that they were members of a privileged group. This ‘specialness’ of the white working classes and racist attitudes was reinforced by Trump, earning the devotion of the working classes.

When unjustified killings and maiming of blacks occurred during 2020, Trump took the side of the police instead of chastising them for the use of excessive force. In Kenosha, Wisconsin, he visited the police department after a black man was shot seven times in the back and paralyzed in front of his three young children. Trump ignored the man and his family. He also disregarded or made light of the Black Lives Matter movement, focusing on the riots and destruction that sometimes accompanied BLM demonstrations. He has denied as well that there is systemic racism in policing and American culture that needs to be addressed. What better president could there have been to bolster white ethno-nationalism?

Trump also tried to frighten voters, making law and order, racism and white grievance the driving forces of his campaign for re-election as president. He claimed that the Democrats and Biden would destroy the suburbs by moving in poor black families. Crime and violence would then increase and property values would drop. No president in recent history has aligned himself so completely with white voters, using overt racism in his speeches and tweets. Trump has also manipulated his nationalist supporters with conspiracy theories, such as his declarations that the 2020 presidential election was stolen from him.

The FBI, CIA, and Homeland Security are aware of possible domestic terrorists and do not want to be caught flat-footed as they were with the Oklahoma City bombings. Among private organizations with an interest in white nationalists are the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC), the Anti-Defamation League and the ACLU. The SPLC is particularly active in tracking down and exposing white supremacists who may be dangerous. Other groups include the Action Network and the Legal Aid Justice Center.

Making white nationalist groups more transparent is a step towards diminishing violence. Education about the humanness of other ethnic and racial groups through schools and churches, and the need for compassion and understanding might sway some of the less diehard members. However, using disaffected white supremacists and nationalists who were once members of these groups to explain their transformation might be more helpful. Of course, those who engage in violent acts or threaten terrorist actions must be brought to the bar of justice and incarcerated. But even in prison, attempts can be made to change views. It will be a heavy slog to try and change the hearts and minds of white nationalists who have been imbued with ideas of white supremacy since childhood and do not want to change their perceptions, particularly if they live among tribes of similar believers.  But attempts at change must be pursued.                       

www.robertlevinebooks.com

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Tulsa 1921 Revisited

Tulsa 1921 Revisited

            Robert A. Levine

During the Jim Crow era in the United States, stretching from the end of Reconstruction through World War II, lynchings were common in the South, analysts believing they averaged about three per week. However, there were also a number of massacres of multiple Blacks by whites occurring for various reasons. Envy of Black entrepreneurs and shopkeepers by poor whites was one of the driving forces as they did not want to see Blacks who were wealthier and more successful than they were. One of the most appalling of these racial massacres took place in the Greenwood section of Tulsa, Oklahoma over a century ago during about an eighteen hour period on May 31 and June 1, 1921. The Greenwood area of Tulsa with about 10,000 residents had been known as the Black Wall Street because of the large number of successful businesses and affluent men and women, some of whom lived in beautiful homes. Tulsa was a thriving city of about 100,000 people that was greatly segregated and had high crime rates. The oil boom flooded the city with money and many Southerners migrated there for jobs.

Prior to the vehement white action against Greenwood, there was a story circulating that a Black teenager had sexually assaulted a white female elevator operator and had been arrested by the police. When a white mob assembled around the courthouse and demanded that the sheriff hand over the supposed perpetrator to them, the sheriff refused, barricading the building and angering the mob. Seventy-five armed Black men gathered near the courthouse and asked the sheriff to let them aid him in protecting the teenager, but he turned them down. At the same time, the white mob at the courthouse grew to about 1500 men, many of them also armed. Some shots were fired and in the ensuing chaos, the Black men withdrew to Greenwood. More white Tulsans arrived at the scene and some of them were deputized by city officials and given weapons. Groups of these white men engaged in many violent acts against peaceful Blacks, including murder.

False rumors then spread that a major insurrection by armed Black Tulsans had started, with Black reinforcements from neighboring towns and cities. By morning, thousands of white men with weapons surged into the Greenwood section, looting and torching homes and businesses over an area of thirty-five city blocks. Firefighters who tried to put out some of the fires were threatened by the white mob and had to withdraw. Some days later, the Red Cross estimated that over 1200 homes were burned, with an additional 215 looted. In addition, two newspapers, a school, a library, a hospital, churches, hotels and numerous businesses owned by Blacks were destroyed by arson. Though the official count noted 36 deaths, historians have put the death toll at over 300, the vast majority being Black, and over 8,000 were made homeless. The Tulsa massacre was believed to have been one of the worst riots in American history, though it was virtually unknown until recent years.

Officials in Tulsa and Oklahoma downplayed the event right from the beginning, hoping to keep the stigma of the massacre from interfering with the city’s economic growth. The cover-up included removing the newspaper archives in Tulsa with reports about the riot, and removing the police and National Guard reports relating to the massacre. There was little about it in the history books and nothing about it was taught in the schools. From the 70s on, however, more information about the massacre was obtained by scholars and historians and in 1997, a state government commission was formed to investigate the massacre to present a reliable depiction of what had happened. Of interest, the Black teenager was released from jail without a trial when the white elevator girl denied that he had sexually assaulted her.

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White Privilege

White Privilege

            Robert A. Levine 

The belief in white supremacy provides justification for the nation’s racial conflicts and is the basis for white racial privilege. Currently, the major racial problems for America are the inequality between Blacks and whites and the continued obstruction of Black rights and attempts at advancement. But difficulties also exist between whites and Asians and whites and indigenous peoples, their origin eminating as well from the presumption of white supremacy and entitlement. Though America’s democracy supposedly is based on the concept expressed in the Declaration of Independence, that all men are created equal, it appears that an influential part of the nation’s white population does not accept that thesis and acts in ways to subvert it. “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their creator with certain inalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of happiness.”

In schools across the country, children must have heard these words at least dozens if not hundreds of times, and discussed the meaning with their teachers and fellow students. But there is still a large portion of white citizens who refuse to acknowledge the words of the Declaration and insist on believing in white superiority and privilege. The fact that Blacks were initially enslaved by whites has also contributed to the legacy of white supremacy and privilege, with an unwillingness among many white men and women to grant Blacks equal status and social standing.

After slavery was abolished in the United States and Blacks were freed, white attitudes towards them did not change significantly, particularly in the South with Jim Crow laws and the Ku Klux Klan. With the passage of Federal Civil Rights statutes in the 1960s, there was movement towards equality under the law, but attitudes were mostly unaltered. But in the half century since, Blacks have been more assertive about their rights and many whites have shared their concerns. In the last decade, police brutality towards Blacks resulting in unnecessary deaths reinforced the presence of systemic racism in American society. Many whites reassessed their beliefs about Blacks, though racial privilege by whites remains, either overtly or covertly. The question now is whether we are truly on the road to change.

Isabel Wilkerson’s riveting book, Caste, expounds the concept that America has a caste system not unlike India’s, except that there are two major castes instead of many. Blacks are on the bottom and whites on top. People are born into their castes and certain behavior is expected by caste members no matter their level of education or accomplishments. Caste is a social construct like race and not is based on scientific evidence. In fact, scientific analysis finds no defining characteristics or genetic variations as markers of race or caste. The only difference between Blacks and whites is a matter of pigmented skin. However, the idea of race was a deliberate creation to justify the enslavement of Blacks and their subsequent treatment by the white population when they were freed.

Since the founding of the United States, racial privilege has not merely been manifest by whites in regard to Blacks. All racial groups have been perceived as inferior to northern European whites. The indigenous inhabitants of the United States were initially subjugated by European colonists and Hispanics were also denigrated in comparison to whites (though some were mainly Caucasian). Chinese laborers brought to work on the western railroads were looked down upon by whites with many believing in the threat of the “Yellow Peril.” Japanese farmers and gardeners were also seen as beneath whites and potentially dangerous, being interned during World War II. In addition, Eastern and Southern Europeans and Jews were all felt to be racially inferior compared to Northern Europeans and white Anglo-Saxons, and less intelligent. At various times, immigration laws were passed to prevent these groups from entering the United States with concern about miscegenation. But it was the Blacks who suffered the most from white privilege.

Until the concept of white supremacy is much less prevalent, racism and white privilege will remain divisive problems for America. Changing people’s mindset that has been imbued for generations will be a daunting task when these people refuse to accept that change is necessary if we are to have a true democracy.

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