Dehumanization, vitriol against immigrants concerns Davidson County Sherriff

Targeting of immigrants is subject of comprehensive review in Nashville Scene cover story

The cover story of this week's Nashville Scene ("The Nativists Are Restless") reviews many of the past year's incidents and statements against immigrants and Hispanics in Tennessee. (Many of these stories have been covered in the Hispanic Nashville Notebook and can be found via the search box to the left, but the Scene story provides an excellent summary and new interview material.)

The justifications for the negativity are varied.

Some of the vitriol is dangerous, according to Davidson County Sherriff Daron Hall. In the Scene cover story, Hall describes the tone on Nashville talk radio and expresses grave concern: "There is an element of people out there that scares me to death."

Unfortunately, this article is not the only recent cover story linking nativism to Nashville. In August, the national magazine The Nation featured Nashville prominently in a cover series asking, "What's fueling the new nativism?" (story here).