This section explores how fear or distrust of people from different backgrounds—whether related to nationality, language, immigration status, or cultural practices—can influence attitudes, shape public policies, and affect everyday interactions. These biases can lead to exclusion, misunderstanding, and unequal treatment, creating barriers to connection and belonging.
Although migration has always been a part of human history, individuals and communities are still often marginalized based on their status as immigrants or newcomers. The term xenophobia, meaning “fear of the foreign,” is often used to describe this prejudice. However, some prefer xenomisia, meaning “hatred of the foreign,” as it more accurately captures the active hostility many people face and avoids the implication that these attitudes are involuntary or rooted in clinical anxiety.
Understanding these issues requires us to listen to diverse voices and reflect on the ways history, policy, and language shape our perceptions of who belongs. This section offers resources to support deeper awareness and promote respect across differences.
Immigrant – A person who has moved to a new country with the intention of living there, either temporarily or permanently, with lawful status.
Refugee – A person who has fled their home country due to a well-founded fear of persecution, often based on race, religion, nationality, group membership, or political opinion.
Asylee – A person already present in another country who is seeking protection for the same reasons as a refugee.
Stateless – Someone who is not legally recognized as a citizen by any country, often lacking access to basic rights or protections.
Sources to start with:
America for Americans: A History of Xenophobia in the United States by 
Americans in Waiting: The Lost Story of Immigration and Citizenship in the United States by 
The Lost Boys of Sudan: An American Story of the Refugee Experience by 
The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down: A Hmong Child, Her American Doctors, and the Collision of Two Cultures by 
Toward a Better Life: America's New Immigrants in Their Own Words: From Ellis Island to the Present by 
