Integration Nation
Immigrants, Refugees, and America at Its Best
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- $12.99
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- $12.99
Publisher Description
“Eaton has done invaluable work in documenting the revitalization of communities across the U.S. by immigrants and refugees” (David Bacon, author of Illegal People).
In recent years, politicians in a handful of local communities and states have passed laws and regulations designed to make it easier to deport unauthorized immigrants or to make their lives so unpleasant that they’d just leave. The media’s unrelenting focus on these ultimately self-defeating measures created the false impression that these politicians speak for most of America. They don’t.
Integration Nation takes readers on a spirited and compelling cross-country journey, introducing us to the people challenging America’s xenophobic impulses by welcoming immigrants and collaborating with the foreign-born as they become integral members of their new communities. In Utah, we meet educators who connect newly arrived Spanish-speaking students and US-born English-speaking students, who share classrooms and learn in two languages. In North Carolina, we visit the nation’s fastest-growing community-development credit union, serving immigrants and US-born depositors and helping to lower borrowing thresholds and crime rates alike.
Giving a voice to people who choose integration over exclusion, who opt for open-heartedness instead of fear, Integration Nation is a desperately needed road map for a nation still finding its way beyond anti-immigrant hysteria to higher ground.
“This useful book provides models for civic organizations that want to tackle immigration challenges, and it paints a vivid picture of some real successes.” —Publishers Weekly
“Presents in discrete essays an array of compelling and persuasive regional efforts across the country . . . From Indiana to Georgia to Maine, these intelligent model programs should inspire others.” —Kirkus Reviews
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
In this well-written collection of case studies, Eaton (The Children in Room E4) and her collaborators explore civic efforts focused on the integration rather than assimilation of immigrants, a concept that celebrates the talents of established residents and newcomers alike. Utah invests in dual immersion language classes. Philadelphia gambles on (and wins with) the economic opportunity represented by immigration not surprising, since a 1990 2010 study found "immigrant businesses accounted for 30 percent of the nation's growth in small businesses." Boise, Id., welcomes Somali refugees with community gardens. Congregations of different faiths in Omaha, Neb., share space, expenses, and experience. A credit union in Durham, N.C., provides safe savings and fiscal education for immigrants previously vulnerable to robbery. Throughout, the authors stress that integration is not just occurring on the coasts or along the borders; immigrants are also joining communities where civic leaders are just as worried about declining rural populations as about the newcomers in their midst. This useful book provides models for civic organizations that want to tackle immigration challenges, and it paints a vivid picture of some real successes.