Nancy Forner is a great author on immigrations and the issues that surround it. She states that immigration was one of the predicaments that covered the New York City in the early 20th Century. This immigration saw the influx of population that altered the lives of the residents as the immigration was not planned for (Foner, p1). They disrupted the social economic and environmental aspects of the city including the introduction of new cultures, new methods of cooking to Ney York City. These impacts are evident today as there are still descendants of the Europeans, Italians and Chinese in the New York City. Currently, there is a new wave of immigrants from people of colour moving to the New York City. There exists a significant difference on the early immigrants who entered the city 1880-1920 and the current immigrants who moved in from 1960 to present. This difference lies in the type of immigrants, reasons they migrated to the city, to what marked their migrations from their home countries. Based on these facts it is important to treat these immigrants differently from each other based on their experiences.
The inevitable impact that the population of the immigrant has created is similar for the new and old immigrants. According to (Binder, Frederick, and David Reimers, P1) for most of its history, New York City has been populated with Europeans and Africans. Nancy Foner adds the Russians, Jewish and Italians to this list she explains that the foreign-born made up to 41 % of the total population. This pattern has however changed in today’s set up as it is filled with people from all the world countries Nancy in (Foner, p9) agrees with this argument and documentation. She, however, argues that most of these immigrants are from the poor and less developed countries. The new arrivals are not just traders as the old immigrants were. Those who left to New York were the middle-class families and were also skilled laborious. The New immigrants are composed of professionals and those who have gone in search of jobs creating the high risks and social evils that come with the unemployed populations such as increased crime rates in America this is despite America still having better wages to its employees, and employment opportunities in the service jobs. Most new immigrants still want to take an easy way out by not following the simpler immigration rules and policies in place today (Foner, p27).
There exists a great contrast to the nature of mission that the new immigrants and the old immigrants went through to get into New York. As is documented by (Foner, p29) Mary Antin’s recalls the cruelty she had to go through together with her family to get into America. This included eating hard bread and hot water, having no place to sleep and being carried like cattle in a car that had no seats. With the advanced technology, it is just a matter of hours in an aeroplane where the immigrants are served meals. The clearing process was too vigorous for the early immigrants including being fumigated for health safety so that they do not carry cholera to the host country. Currently, it’s a natural process that takes few hours and is civilised. The earliest immigrants’ entrance was thus marked by the great images that they left at the entry of the City such as the Elis Island which is currently a monumentalport as it was an entrance for the immigrants. This is not the case with those entering the City today (Foner, p1) where they come through John F. Kennedy airport. However, despite the lack of monuments to trace the immigration of the new immigrants their presence is still felt by their activities in the city. The determination that led the first immigrants to succeed in America will always be honoured. For example in the book ‘the God Father’ which immortalises the Italians.
There are common reasons for migration such as government oppression and economic reasons that caused both the new and old immigrants to move to America. According to (Foner, p2) the existence of the earlier immigrants left a significant impact on the City this lead to the need to preserve any evidence of their existence due to the emotional implications that the stories still pose. The early immigrants moved so as to get work. (Binder, Frederick, & David Reimers, P2) The merchants recognised the great potential of New York City; they included businessman Jacob Frank and Lewis Gomez as opposed to the current immigrants who the natives argue migrated so as to get government handouts (Foner, p2). The old immigrants were made up of peasant farmers who moved in search of more agricultural lands and merchants who looked for trading opportunities the largest group being tailors, followed by carpenters, dressmakers, and shoemakers.
Other unique experiences that mark the difference between the new and old immigrants was the experience of racism. This experience was obvious injustice in the old. The New York whites considered the other races as less important human beings. The Italians were forced to live in deplorable places such as the pigsty as explained in (Foner, Ch2).This has however changed with the new immigrants who share same schools, same hospitals and same work environment with the whites. It was however of great help to the old immigrants as it fostered the spirit of continued handwork and determination as opposed to the present day immigrants who are very much assimilated into the American culture the extent that they do not perform well in schools. This would lead to the much-asked question if oppression was good for the immigrants or not. That also brings the dilemma to whether the present day immigrants will in future be as high as the old day’s immigrants. Will they live a history for the next generation? Or is it too harsh to judge them based on the old immigrants?
After a careful analysis on what shaped the early immigrants and what shapes today’s immigrants, the people involved why they moved and their journey to America. There are some similarities, that should not be overlooked such as the existence of an oppressive government and poor economic conditions. However, it is agreeable that there is much difference in the experiences, the people concerned and the reasons and circumstances of migration. The old immigrants had bad harrowing experience that called for the documentation of this process that is appreciated by today’s generation. The new generations’ immigrants’ journey is less eventful and calls for no documentation. It is therefore for countries not to let tradition be the judge on what policies are to be put in place as regards the new immigrants. While at the same time they should use what happened in the past to predict what might occur in future based on the current trends. They should give them an entirely different perspective from the early immigrants who had the purpose and the will power to go through numerous challenges so as to get to America. Their high moral stands have remained in the history of America as what made it great.