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Ryan Robles
Professor Batty
English 113A
13 December 2014
Stranger at Our Gate
Racism has been going on for centuries since slavery era to even the holocaust. One of
the biggest growths in racism was immigrants coming to the United States. The United Sates is
known for having the biggest population of immigrants. The immigrants allowing themselves to
bring their own lives and poverty caused a big outburst in Americans to be racist to all of the
different types of immigrants. The political cartoon called Admission Fee by Frank Beard draws
Uncle Sam representing the United States unwillingly allowing in an immigrant to pass his way,
the immigrant desperately trying to get the promise land. The immigrant is drawn with all kinds
of qualities seen as threatening to the US life. The cartoon shows an act of racism by making
the immigrant look like a threat by having it carry bags that says desecration, poverty, and
disease all representing around the immigrant who wants to live a better life by coming to the
USA.
In the cartoon the immigrant is holding a barrel on its back, with the barrel saying
desecration. The author is pointing out that these immigrants are disrespectful trying to make the
Americans feel like they should be alarmed or aware of these immigrants. For example an
immigrant can be called a criminal or a threat because of their looks or skin color. In the essay
Black Men and Public Spaces the author Brent Staples talks about how a white woman ran from
him because of his skin color, in the essay he states It was clear that she thought herself the
quarry of a mugger, a rapist, or worse (Staples 183). One can even be racist by not even using

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any verbal words; the white woman used racism in a physical way by running away from him
assuming that he was a criminal. This doesnt just happen to one person, it happens to most
immigrants who appear to be different than others; giving them a bad reputation. Being racist to
immigrants might make the problem worse, could cause an act of angry or rage allowing them to
commit a crime. Not just a few immigrants are being targeted as a threat due to the way they
look; mostly all of them are targeted a threat because of their desecration.
In the cartoon one of the other bags that the immigrant was carrying said poverty. All
immigrants come into the United States with poverty, mainly because their money isnt worth
anything in America. The main reason why immigrants come to the United States is to get out of
poverty, get a job and live a better life. The immigrants see America as A land of
opportunities. Not knowing the American language makes it extremely hard for them to
communicate when trying to find a job. The issue is that for immigrants, it will be much difficult
to find better employment with high pay, which may end up slowing down their dreams and
shortening their quality of life and opportunities possibly putting them back into poverty.
Immigrant way of getting out of poverty is to find jobs where they offer to work at a much
cheaper pay. Immigrants use crime as another way to avoid poverty. Drug trafficking or stealing
money was their way of making easier money. Some Americans argue and try to blame the
immigrants for feeling like they took their jobs by offering to work at the same position for a
cheaper pay. With most immigrants seen in poverty makes the nation feel threatened because of
the fear of poverty expanding.
One of the few last bags the immigrant was carrying also said disease. Disease can come
from everywhere and anywhere, possibly deadly and contagious. The immigrants never had any

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cleaning hazards in their country; some infectious diseases are highly contagious so the
movement of sick people coming across the US was a high risk to their nation. According to
Alexandra Stern, U.S. immigration policy is required to protect against catastrophic security
events 1919 Spanish Flu killed an estimated 50-100 million people worldwide. The swine flu in
2009 or the Ebola widespread in 2014 were also from other countries that attacked the millions
of people worldwide. With one immigrant carrying a deadly disease can actually cause an
outbreak in the US possibly killing millions. The fear of another widespread of a dangerous
disease, because of an immigrant is why the US nation sees them as a threat.
The point of this cartoon was to point out that the immigrants are bad for the nation.
Uncle Sam who represents the US, trying to stop the immigrant; feeling like they shouldnt be
allowed to pass because they carry all kinds of threats into their nation. The artist of this
cartoon, Frank Beard was trying to prove to a US citizen why immigrants shouldnt be allowed.
Proving his points by making the immigrant look like someone whos in poverty, while it carries
several bags that have point out things that can be seen as a threating. This relates to an act of
racism because Uncle Sam looks at the immigrant as if he should belong here. It is not an overt
act of racism its implied; not pointing out the immigrant as if they shouldnt be allowed in the
US but still allow the immigrant to pass because there is no law keeping them out.

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Work Citied
Beard, Frank. Rams Horn Complex. N.p., 1896.
Web. 15 Oct. 2014
Staples, Brent. Black Men and Public Space (n.d): n.pag. Dec 1986
Web. 15 Oct. 2014
Stern, Minna Alexandra The Global Infectious Disease Threat and Its Implications for the
United States, N.p., January 2000
Web. 12 Dec. 2014

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