Around the country and all over the world there has been a rise in anti-immigrant and xenophobic nationalist rhetoric, which is mostly hateful and divisive. The idea of nationalism was behind the Nazi ideology and was partly to blame for WWII. The unfounded fear of immigrants coupled with various phobias', such as xenophobia and Islamophobia, sows division in society giving rise to this "us versus them" narrative. This, in turn, causes some people to believe in this rhetoric and vilify anyone that's different than them, to the point of actually attacking them.
The terrorist attack on worshipers in a Mosque in New Zealand during Friday prayers, killing 49 people, is the latest example of hate turning into actual violence. The man who attacked the Mosque was anti-immigrant. Just like the man who attacked a Synagogue in Pittsburgh last year, killing 11 people.
Following the increase in divisive anti-immigrant rhetoric in the U.S., there has been a rise in hate crimes. For the last three years, the FBI recorded an increase in hate crimes, with the top three reasons being race, ethnicity, and religion. I think this fact shows that fear mongering leads to hatred and violence.
What is the root of this evil?
The rise of nationalism coincides with the rise of economic and social inequality around the world. A report in 2016 states that the wealthiest 1 percent of the world's population owns as much as the remaining 99 percent combined! And that 62 people own as much as the poorest half of the world. Even if you think these numbers are exaggerated, we still have an inequality crisis around the world.
It has been suggested that there's a link between inequality and nationalism/populism. A study found that the more a country moved toward nationalism the greater the economic inequality. This is due in part to the fact that many of the parties that support nationalism are also against measures aimed at reducing inequality. Those who benefit from inequality use nationalism as a way to focus people's attention on a group mentality while blaming "the other," usually immigrants, for the problems that afflict society. We hear a lot from pundits about immigrants taking American jobs, which has been proven wrong and misleading. This same narrative is taking place all over the world, specifically in developed countries.
It's important to understand that most people don't want to leave their home country and their families behind, immigrants are mostly forced to leave their country by difficult circumstances, or in search of jobs. Many immigrants leave their countries to escape persecution, as is the case for many people migrating from Central America to the U.S., or to escape war, like a lot of the people coming to Europe from Africa and Asia. These are noble reasons, which is why most immigrants are hard working and in many cases are taken advantage of, working back-breaking jobs for very low wages.
Fear mongering of immigrants and minorities demonizes and dehumanizes them, making it easier for people to take out their rage, for whatever reasons, on these people. The more we see similarities between each other the less likely we are to hurt one another and the opposite is true. We have seen this with racism in the U.S., where the wounds have still not healed.
While I'm not blaming anyone for sowing the seeds of hate in society, I think leaders ought to be a uniting and not a dividing force. Many people look toward their leaders for guidance, not only leaders of countries but leaders within a community or circle. Where political leaders have failed community leaders can take the initiative. I ask anyone who is a leader in their community, regardless of how small it may be, to use their position to unite people and help us see each other as humans regardless of race, ethnicity, religion, gender or status.
