Member-only story
Racism + Immigration
Let’s Talk About ‘Assimilation’
Assimilation is a tool of white supremacy which oftentimes uses non-white people to promote white power structures
The idea of assimilation in the United States dates back to the mid-eighteenth century. At the time Benjamin Franklin and others were alarmed about the growth of the German population in Pennsylvania. In an effort to “anglicize” or “anglify” the Germans, Franklin partnered with William Smith and founded the Society for Christian Knowledge.
The term “assimilation” has been used throughout US history to describe non-white people who conform to the predefined and well-established white ethnostate. Franklin used the term to describe his fears of the “Germanization” of Pennsylvania if German-speaking immigrants didn’t assimilate into anglo society.
Sounds like today’s xenophobes, doesn’t it?
In a letter to Peter Collinson, Franklin wrote: “Those who come hither are generally of the most ignorant Stupid Sort of their own Nation, and as Ignorance is often attended with Credulity when Knavery would mislead it, and with Suspicion when Honesty would set it right.”
“In short unless the stream of their importation could be turned from this to other…
