By Stephen Fotopulos

Posted Originally at the US Immigration Integration Network

“Immigration to this country is increasing...from races most alien to the body of the American people.”

“[These immigrants], half of whom have no occupation and most of whom represent the rudest form of labor," are "people whom it is very difficult to assimilate and do not promise well for the standard of civilization in the United States...they have no interest or stake in the country, and they never become American citizens.”

In Tennessee, you can turn on conservative talk radio any day of the week and hear these sentiments echoed. But the statements above were made by a US Representative from Massachusetts named Henry Cabot Lodge, and he said them in 1891. He was talking about the immigrants from Southern and Eastern Europe, some of the very people who made their new homes in Tennessee a hundred years ago. We are a proud nation of immigrants, but there have always been those who sound the alarm when the newcomers look or sound too different. And people tend to listen.

Most Americans recognize the foundational role immigrants have played in building this country, but has immigration now been relegated to the tattered pages of history books? Does the immigrant experience continue to be a vital element in the character and strength of the nation? What do the immigrants of today promise for the continued prosperity of this country, and what do US-born citizens expect in return for sharing the American dream with newcomers? These are questions essential to the welcome we give today’s immigrants, and a community’s responses can determine the success and speed of immigrant integration.

Tennessee is not often envisioned as a prime immigrant destination, and many are surprised to learn we have the fourth fastest-growing foreign-born population in the country. Fifteen years ago, most state residents had very little contact with immigrants or non-English languages, and today, immigrants constitute roughly 4 percent of the population and are spread out across the state. While the number of immigrants in Tennessee is still low compared to traditional gateway communities, the high growth rate presents several notable challenges: 1) there are few programs and institutions designed to facilitate the process of immigrant integration; 2) rapid demographic change can trigger people’s fear of cultural submersion often reinforcing the perception that new immigrants are somehow less willing, able, and entitled to become fully participating members of the broader community.

Traditional advocacy efforts aim to create and refine these programs and institutions essential for immigrant integration — English language-learner programs in public schools, adult English classes, job training, et cetera. In Tennessee, we’ve found that advocacy around policy change is ineffective if the cultural challenges and community resistance are ignored. If receiving community members don’t believe that immigrants are part of our collective future, there will be little public effort to help them settle in more quickly. For these reasons, the Tennessee Immigrant and Refugee Rights Coalition (TIRRC) launched the Welcoming Tennessee Initiative (WTI) in 2006, a proactive communications and public education campaign to address the growing need for constructive public dialogue about immigration. WTI recognizes the fact that immigrant integration is a two–way process by which new immigrants learn to more fully participate in their new communities and receiving community members begin to broaden their sense of identity to make room for their new neighbors.

A WTI public education campaign pursues the following objectives:

• Create a space for US-born Tennesseans to express their concerns and fears about the changing face of their community;
•  Provide a historical and political context for those fears, and enable participants to see new immigrants and refugees through the lens of their own experience, family history, and values;
• Give immigrants themselves an opportunity to dispel the enduring myth that they are unlike immigrants of generations past;
• Highlight the contributions immigrants continue to make to a strong economy, our collective culture, and a thriving democracy;
• Demonstrate how our current immigration system is failing all Americans and does not reflect our values; and
• Begin the process of seeking new solutions, those that address systemic failures and build inclusive, welcoming communities.

Since its launch in 2006, WTI has made a measurable impact on the public dialogue in Tennessee. Much of the early welcoming work occurred within the context of an English-only initiative in Nashville. The initiative and its seemingly broad support made it clear that anti-immigrant sentiment was not specific to country of origin or even immigration status, but rather a broad resistance to rapid demographic change Community leaders in Shelbyville after a WTI eventand perceived cultural threat. Perhaps the most telling expression of frustration came from a participant in a WTI presentation to a faith group. She said that she opposed the English-only initiative, but she just couldn’t convince her husband. He didn’t think an English-only policy would stop illegal immigration or provide new incentives for immigrants to learn English. He didn’t even think it would save the city money. He supported it because the street corner on which he grew up had signs he couldn’t read, he feared he wouldn’t recognize the world in which his own kids would grow up, and he felt like he had to do something — however symbolic. Without intervention, good people with legitimate fears and bad information can bring about harmful policy.

In 2007, the Nashville City Council passed an English-only ordinance by a margin of 23-12. After two years of welcoming presentations, immigrant storytelling, and new leaders and allies finding their voice on this issue, the people of Nashville had the opportunity to decide for themselves in a special election. On January 22, 2009, 57 percent of Nashville voters rejected an English-only amendment to the city’s charter, denouncing a policy that would further isolate new immigrant families, ratifying the spirit of immigrant integration, and declaring Nashville a welcoming city to all who come to participate and contribute.

Welcoming campaigns help change the way receiving communities perceive new immigrant communities, creating a more welcoming and encouraging environment for immigrants to participate in the broader community, and improving the political climate for proactive, integration-focused policies. In celebrating the amendment’s defeat, Mayor Karl Dean might have said it best: “The results of this special election reaffirm Nashville’s identity as a welcoming and friendly city…A special thanks to new Americans. Thank you, not only for voting against this amendment, but for being here.”

For more information about the Welcoming Tennessee Initiative, please visit www.welcomingtn.org.or contact Elias Feghali at elias@tnimmigrant.org.

For more information about Welcoming America and how to start a welcoming campaign in your community, please visit www.welcomingamerica.org or contact David Lubell at david@welcomingamerica.org.

About Stephen Fotopulos

Stephen Fotopulos is the Executive Director of TIRRC in Nashville, Tennessee. Before becoming Executive Director in 2008, Mr. Fotopulos served as TIRRC Policy Director for four years, having joined the organization in 2004.

In 2006, the Tennessee Immigrant and Refugee Rights Coalition launched a public education and communications campaign to foster constructive public dialogue in a state facing profound demographic change with a more than 300 percent growth in its immigrant population over 15 years. The Welcoming Tennessee Initiative creates opportunities for Tennessee residents, native-born and immigrant alike, to discuss the effects of immigration, its historical and national contexts, and how to develop strategies for strong, inclusive communities. The Welcoming Tennessee initiative has inspired similar efforts in 13 other states.

The Tennessee Immigrant and Refugee Rights Coalition is a 2009 recipient of the E Pluribus Unum Prizes. The E Pluribus Unum Prizes national awards program, administered by the Migration Policy Institute’s National Center on Immigrant Integration Policy, provides four $50,000 awards annually to exceptional initiatives that promote immigrant integration.

Find out more about the E Pluribus Unum Prizes: http://www.integrationawards.org/.
For information about TIRRC’s Welcoming Tennessee Initiative, visit: www.welcomingtn.org.
Watch an interview with Stephen Fotopulos.