someone: we are all immigrants
natives and descendants of enslaved africans: i mean. okay.
What does this mean?
it means that some of us don’t fit into the narrative of being an immigrant that is often used to criticize people for being anti-immigrant/nationalist. the idea is that it’s hypocritical for anyone in the united states to be anti-immigrant since we’re supposedly all immigrants, but native/indigenous people and descendants of enslaved africans are examples of people who aren’t in any way shape or form. we’re both similarly oppressed by settler colonialism in different forms, and while many immigrants come from marginalized backgrounds, some immigrants are also settlers. implying that natives and descendants of enslaved africans are exactly the same as settlers is grotesque at best and ignorant at worst and isn’t conducive to fighting against american nationalism. of course, having anti-immgrant sentiment is repugnant regardless of who you are, but proclaiming we’re all immigrants so as to push back against that is participating in the same ideology of settler colonialism.
don’t forget to mention that this sentiment denies the existence of native peoples altogether. wrt diaspora descendants of enslaved peoples, it frames slavery as ‘immigration’. wrt natives it erases us. because colonizers tried to eradicate us, when that failed tried to assimilate us. and that still hasn’t totally worked so they are trying to erase us from public consciousness. and it works.
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callanswall 