Unfounded Fears? Xenophobia and Immigration (Part I)

The other day in the park, a Panamanian lady started yelling - no, it was screaming and cursing - at the top of her lungs at another woman. At first, we thought it was because the one lady’s dog had tried to hump the other lady’s dog, or perhaps that it was simply because the lady's dog was off his leash – like everyone else’s. She was screaming at her, saying things like “learn how to keep your dog on a leash, learn to control your dog, tie it up”, and then it turned into something else. It turned, for lack of a better word – ugly. She told the lady, whose dog tried to hump hers, “to go home, learn some good manners and teach them to her dog, too.” Go home, she repeated, back where you belong. Get out of Panama. We don’t want you here. Go back to your country. Go back to your uneducated ways. The other lady responded – what did I do? She was obviously from Eastern Europen origins, or at least, her accent would indicate it to be so. But, her Spanish was perfect. The thing is this supposed foreigner, the one whowho should head back home with her ill-mannered dog, is actually a naturalized citizen in Panama. Her home is Panama and has been for over 20 years. Her husband and daughter are Panamanian. In fact, I would venture to say that she is probably more Panamanian than anything she will ever be, but still, because of her accent, because she looks a little different, she was singled out at a park and yelled at for something that so many dogs do.

Prejudices and Xenophobia are not new, but for a country and a people who pride themselves on being a melting pot (much as the US does), fear and rejection are beginning to rear their ugly head.

More thoughts to come…