Go back to where you came from

{{about|the racial insult|the Australian TV series|Go Back to Where You Came From}}

"Go back to where you came from" is a racist or xenophobic epithet which is used in many countries, and it is mainly used to target actual immigrants and falsely presumed immigrants.{{cite news |url=https://www.npr.org/2019/07/15/741827580/go-back-where-you-came-from-the-long-rhetorical-roots-of-trump-s-racist-tweets |title='Go Back Where You Came From': The Long Rhetorical Roots Of Trump's Racist Tweets |last1=Dwyer |first1=Colin |last2=Limbong |first2=Andrew |date=July 15, 2019 |publisher=NPR |access-date=July 21, 2019}}

In contemporary United States, it is directed often at Asian and Hispanic Americans, and sometimes African, Arab, Jewish, and Slavic Americans.{{cite book |last1=Ancheta |first1=Angelo N. |title=Race, rights, and the Asian American experience |date=2006 |location=New Brunswick, N.J. |publisher=Rutgers University Press |isbn=978-0-8135-3978-2 |page=72 |edition=2nd |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=MPkK9kXQY4oC&q=%22The+Politics+of+Asian+Americans%22 |access-date=22 February 2021}}{{cite book |title=The politics of Asian Americans: diversity and community |last=Lien |first=Pei-te |author2=Mary Margaret Conway |author2-link=Mary Margaret Conway |author3=Janelle Wong |year=2004 |publisher=Psychology Press |isbn=978-0-415-93465-7 |page=7 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=o7ucGq1RZ-EC&q=%22asian+americans%22+perpetual+foreigners&pg=PA7 |access-date=February 9, 2012}} It has even been directed towards Indigenous Americans in the US.{{cite web | last=Estes | first=Nick | title=Go Back to Where You Came From | date=November 4, 2019 | website=San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (SFMOMA) | url=https://openspace.sfmoma.org/2019/11/go-back-to-where-you-came-from | issue=Issue 13: Alcatraz Is Not an Island | access-date=September 24, 2023}} There is also a common variant of the phrase that has been popularized by the Ku Klux Klan: "Go back to your country." It was originally used in the US by White Anglo-Saxon Protestants and targeted at other European immigrants, such as Irish, Italians, Poles, and Jews.{{Cite web|title=With Latest Nativist Rhetoric, Trump Takes America Back To Where It Came From|url=https://www.npr.org/2019/07/16/742000247/with-latest-nativist-rhetoric-trump-takes-america-back-to-where-it-came-from|access-date=2021-07-07|website=NPR.org|language=en}}{{cite news|last1=Dwyer|first1=Colin|last2=Limbong|first2=Andrew|date=July 15, 2019|title='Go Back Where You Came From': The Long Rhetorical Roots Of Trump's Racist Tweets|publisher=NPR|url=https://www.npr.org/2019/07/15/741827580/go-back-where-you-came-from-the-long-rhetorical-roots-of-trump-s-racist-tweets|access-date=July 21, 2019}}

The phrase was popularized during World War I and World War II in relation to German Americans, who were subject to suspicion, discrimination, and violence.{{Cite journal|last=Hughes|first=Everett C.|date=March 1942|title=The Tragedy of German-America: The Germans in the United States of America During the Nineteenth-Century-and After.John A. Hawgood|journal=American Journal of Sociology|volume=47|issue=5|pages=778–779|doi=10.1086/219016|issn=0002-9602}} The term is often accompanied with an erroneous assumption of the target's origin; for example, Hispanic and Latino Americans may be told to "Go back to Mexico" even if they aren't Mexican.{{Cite news |title='Burn Tel Aviv to the ground:' Calls for violence continue at Columbia |url=https://m.jpost.com/diaspora/antisemitism/article-798160}} The message conveys a sense that the person is "not supposed to be there, or that it isn't their place." The speaker is presumed to be a "real" American, but the target of the remark is not.{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2019/07/16/us/politics/aoc-trump-tlaib-omar-pressley.html |title=The Painful Roots of Trump's 'Go Back' Comment |last=Rogers |first=Katie |date=July 16, 2019 |work=The New York Times |access-date=July 17, 2019}}

Such phrases are deemed by the United States federal government and the court system to be discriminatory in the workplace. Their use has been accepted as evidence of workplace discrimination in cases brought before the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), a federal government agency that "enforces federal law to make sure employees are not discriminated against for their gender, sex, national origin or age."{{Cite news |first1=Rene |last1=Marsh |first2=Ellie |last2=Kaufman |title=Federal government found 'go back to your country' phrase to be considered discriminatory in cases |publisher=CNN |date=July 20, 2019 |url=https://www.cnn.com/2019/07/20/politics/go-back-to-your-country-eeoc-cases-find-discriminatory/index.html |access-date=July 20, 2019}} EEOC documents specifically cite the use of the comment "Go back to where you came from," as the example of unlawful workplace conduct by co-workers and supervisors, along with the use of "insults, taunting, or ethnic epithets, such as making fun of a person's accent," deemed to be "harassment based on national origin."

Background

The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) is a federal government agency that "enforces federal law to make sure employees are not discriminated against for their gender, sex, national origin or age".[https://books.google.com/books?id=sQ1HhzuaYkEC&pg=PT59 The EEOC was established against the backdrop of the Civil Rights movement] in the United States and was mandated by Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.{{cite book |last=Collins |first=Gail |author-link=Gail Collins |title=When Everything Changed: The Amazing Journey of American Women from 1960 to the Present |url=https://archive.org/details/isbn_9780316059541 |url-access=registration |date=October 14, 2009 |publisher=Little, Brown |isbn=978-0-316-07166-6 |pages=[https://archive.org/details/isbn_9780316059541/page/59 59]–}}

EEOC documents defining "harassment based on national origin" specifically cite the use of the comment "Go back to where you came from", as the example of "unlawful" workplace conduct by co-workers and supervisors if its use is creates an "intimidating, hostile, or offensive working environment, interfere[s] with work performance, or negatively affect[s] job opportunities". Other "illegal" workplace behavior includes the use of "insults, taunting, or ethnic epithets, such as making fun of a person's accent".

According to a July 20, 2019, CNN article, the United States Equal Employment Opportunity Commission has used phrases, such as, "Go back to where you came from" as evidence of workplace discrimination.

Examples

According to an August 31, 2003, Houston Chronicle article, a car salesman of East Indian descent who was Muslim had been hired at a Texas car dealership in May 2001. He began to be subjected to taunts by his co-workers including "go back where you came from" post 9/11.{{Cite web |date=August 31, 2004 |first=Burton |last=Speakman |title=Former car salesman files EEOC complaint alleging discrimination by local dealership |url=https://www.chron.com/neighborhood/article/Former-car-salesman-files-EEOC-complaint-alleging-9815674.php |newspaper=The Houston Chronicle |access-date=July 20, 2019}} He filed a complaint with the EEOC in 2003 after he was fired from the dealership in 2002. According to CNN, in rendering their decision to side with the EEOC case on behalf of the salesman and against the car dealership accused of creating a "hostile work environment based on ... national origin and religion", the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit "cited the example" several times of the repeated use of the phrase "just go back where [he] came from".{{Citation |title=Immigrant Rights Brochure Review |date=nd |url=https://www.eeoc.gov/eeoc/publications/upload/Immigrant-Rights-Brochure-Review-wOLCedits.pdf |page=2 |publisher=Equal Employment Opportunity Commission |access-date=July 20, 2019}} By 2003, allegedly as part of the post-9/11 backlash, over 943 discrimination complaints were filed to the EEOC leading to over 115 lawsuits.

On July 14, 2019, former President Donald Trump used the phrase to refer to four American congresswomen of color in a tweet, stating "Why don't they go back and help fix the totally broken and crime infested places from which they came...", even though three of the four are native-born Americans.{{Cite web |last=Yglesias |first=Matthew |title=Trump's racist tirades against "the Squad", explained |work=Vox |date=July 15, 2019 |url=https://www.vox.com/2019/7/15/20694616/donald-trump-racist-tweets-omar-aoc-tlaib-pressley |access-date=July 20, 2019}} The tweet drew controversy due to Donald Trump's history of racially-charged comments.{{Cite news|url=https://www.npr.org/2019/07/15/741827580/go-back-where-you-came-from-the-long-rhetorical-roots-of-trump-s-racist-tweets|title='Go Back Where You Came From': The Long Rhetorical Roots Of Trump's Racist Tweets|website=NPR.org|language=en|access-date=2019-08-20}} According to CNN legal analyst Laura Coates, the statement, "although obviously racist to the public," may not be unlawful, because EEOC guidelines only apply to work environments and "the United States Congress and its members do not work for the President." In response to Trump's tweet, The New York Times invited readers to comment. They received accounts from 16,000 readers of their "experiences of being told to 'go back'."{{Cite news |issn=0362-4331 |last1=Takenaga |first1=Lara |last2=Gardiner |first2=Aidan |title=16,000 Readers Shared Their Experiences of Being Told to 'Go Back.' Here Are Some of Their Stories. |work=The New York Times |date=July 19, 2019 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2019/07/19/reader-center/trump-go-back-stories.html |archive-date=February 24, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210224165202/https://www.nytimes.com/2019/07/19/reader-center/trump-go-back-stories.html }}

Global usage

=Europe=

Numerous articles which are related to racism in Europe cite the use of the phrase and its variations in many European countries. In 2009, a nurse who worked in a Södertälje Hospital in Sweden complained to management about the way the staff treated patients who had immigrant backgrounds, citing examples of verbal harassment such as "go back to Arabia". The nurse lost his job.{{cite news |url=https://www.dn.se/sthlm/skoterska-slog-larm-forlorar-jobbet/ |title=Sköterska slog larm - förlorar jobbet |language=Sv |trans-title=Nurse speaks out about racism |newspaper=Dagens Nyheter |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090926075530/http://www.dn.se/sthlm/skoterska-slog-larm-forlorar-jobbet-1.960497 |date=September 24, 2009 |archive-date=September 26, 2009 |url-status=live |access-date=July 21, 2019}}

In 2008 Greenlanders were forced to flee Gellerupparken after having been subjected to racist persecution from Arab and Somali residents for years. Chants like "Fuck home to Greenland, this is our Gellerup" was reported as being common, along with being shot at with fireworks by Arab youth.{{cite news |url=https://www.dr.dk/nyheder/indland/groenlaendere-stenet-ud-af-gellerup |first=Knud B Nordahl

|last=Pedersen |title=Grønlændere stenet ud af Gellerup |lang=da |trans-title=Greenlanders stoned out of Gellerup |website=DR |orig-date=Original date 4 July 2008 |date=5 July 2008|access-date=22 January 2025}}

Incidents of verbal harassment based on ethnicity in Italy include the 2018 beating of a 19-year-old man from Senegal, who had requested political asylum and was working as a server in Palermo. He was attacked by three Sicilian men and told to "Go back to your country, dirty nigger". Their actions were denounced by Monsignor Michele Pennisi, the Archbishop of Monreale, who expressed the "strongest condemnation of this act of racism, of xenophobia" that does not reflect the "attitude of Christians and of many men of good will in Sicily".{{cite news |url=https://palermo.repubblica.it/cronaca/2018/07/29/news/partinico_migrante_aggredito-202916430/ |title=Partinico, identificato uno degli aggressori del giovane senegalese |language=it |trans-title=Partinico, identified one of the aggressors of the young Senegalese |date=July 29, 2018 |newspaper=La Repubblica |access-date=July 21, 2019}}

On 28 January 2020, André Ventura, leader of the Portuguese political party Chega, provoked an outcry in Parliament by saying that black Joacine Katar Moreira, a Guinea-Bissau-born Assembly member who wanted museum items from Portugal's former colonies to be returned, should be "sent back to her country of origin. It would be a lot better for everyone".{{Cite web|url=https://www.france24.com/en/20200129-portugal-far-right-deputy-calls-for-black-mp-to-be-sent-back|title=Portugal far-right deputy calls for black MP to be "sent back"|date=January 29, 2020|website=France 24}}{{Cite news|url=https://www.reuters.com/article/us-portugal-politics-racism-idUSKBN1ZS2E5|title=Portugal minister condemns far-right MP's attack on black colleague|newspaper=Reuters |date=January 29, 2020|via=www.reuters.com}}{{Cite web|url=https://www.expatica.com/pt/news/chegas-far-right-deputy-calls-for-black-mp-to-be-sent-back-after-art-pillaging-bill-proposal-89194/|title=Chega's far-right deputy calls for black MP to be "sent back" after art pillaging bill proposal|date=January 29, 2020|website=Expat Guide to Portugal | Expatica}}

=Africa=

The phrase was used during the 2015 South African xenophobic riots, in which immigrants—including African expatriates from other African countries—were blamed for the high unemployment rate of South Africans.{{Cite web |title=Xenophobic killing in South Africa caught by photos |url=http://www.cnn.com/2015/04/20/africa/south-africa-xenophobia-killing-photos/index.html |publisher=CNN |date=April 20, 2015 |access-date=July 21, 2019}} The Los Angeles Times said that South Africa's high unemployment rate has been the catalyst for violent attacks in South Africa against migrants from India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, and African countries who are blamed for "stealing jobs and undercutting small businesses owned by South Africans". There was a wave of xenophobic killings in South Africa in 2008, in which 62 people were killed.{{cite news|last=Dixon|first=Robyn|author-link=Robyn Dixon (journalist)|date=April 17, 2015|title=Attacks on foreigners spread in South Africa; weekend violence feared|newspaper=Los Angeles Times|location=Johannesburg|url=http://www.latimes.com/world/africa/la-fg-south-africa-foreigners-20150417-story.html|access-date=April 18, 2015}}

=Asia=

In Malaysia, parliament members sometimes told politicians of Chinese descent to "balik Cina" (go back to China), especially if they are members of DAP.{{cite web |last1=Soo |first1=Wern Jun |title=No more 'balik China' slurs since Muhyiddin became PM, SAPP president says |url=https://malaysia.news.yahoo.com/no-more-balik-china-slurs-055556046.html?guccounter=1&guce_referrer=aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuZ29vZ2xlLmNvbS8&guce_referrer_sig=AQAAAAqwLGjjs6mIUncevfycb3AQ2a3hbtWbT1rGpDRS0wSnsz-tKohsz8-J3o3HVc9jkRM6EkrTLmH88UITVlAsv0G5wbcbrVFrGX6JyYS7nH4YtJsyQSGtpvR87anj4IPCWw9IOhigilF2uVwVXsh_iE7BFdSp2m9ACVxvYgMr8K89 |website=Yahoo News |date=September 22, 2020 |access-date=14 October 2021}}

=Oceania=

In 2015, New Zealand First Ron Mark told National MP Melissa Lee to "go back to Korea" in parliament.{{cite web | url=https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/73722468/nz-first-mp-ron-mark-denies-racism-over-go-back-to-korea-jibe | title=Stuff }}{{cite web | url=https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/political/288959/mark-tells-lee-%27go-back-to-korea%27 | title=Mark tells Lee: 'Go back to Korea' | website=Radio New Zealand | date=November 5, 2015 }}{{cite web | url=https://www.rnz.co.nz/national/programmes/morningreport/audio/201777626/politicans-slam-ron-mark-for-go-back-to-korea-comments | title={{as written|Polit|icans [sic]}} slam Ron Mark for go back to Korea comments | website=Radio New Zealand | date=November 6, 2015 }}

In September 2022, One Nation Senator Pauline Hanson tweeted that Greens senator Mehreen Faruqi should "piss off back to Pakistan". This came after Faruqi was slammed over a controversial and "appalling" tweet about Elizabeth II after her death.{{Cite news |last=Butler |first=Josh |date=6 October 2022 |title=Mehreen Faruqi's racism complaint over Pauline Hanson tweet accepted by Human Rights Commission |url=https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2022/oct/07/mehreen-faruqis-racism-complaint-over-pauline-hanson-tweet-accepted-by-human-rights-commission |access-date=30 October 2022 |website=The Guardian |language=en}}

= Israel/Palestine conflict =

The phrase "Jews/Israelis go back to Europe/Poland" had been widely used in anti-Israel protests during the Gaza war,{{cite book |last1=Douglas |first1=Robin |title=Where Are Jews at Home? |date=2024 |publisher=Routledge, Taylor & Francis Group |isbn=9781003497295 |editor1-last=Hirsh |editor1-first=David |location=London New York |pages=37–43 |editor2-last=Freedman |editor2-first=Rosa}}{{cite news |last1=Bickerton |first1=James |date=15 June 2024 |title=Jewish students told "go back to Poland" at campus rallies |url=https://www.newsweek.com/jewish-students-told-go-back-poland-campus-rallies-1913257 |work=Newsweek |publisher=Newsweek |language=en}}{{Cite web |last=Prinsley |first=Jane |date=2025-02-04 |title=Star of Channel 4 immigration show told Israeli Jews to ‘go back to f***ing Europe’ |url=https://www.thejc.com/news/uk/star-of-channel-4-immigration-show-told-jews-to-go-back-to-fing-europe-qo9576xm |access-date=2025-06-05 |website=The Jewish Chronicle |language=en}} and to lesser degree before that in other places.{{Cite news |last=James |first=Frank |date=2010-06-07 |title=Helen Thomas 'Retires' After Anti-Israeli Jew Remarks |url=https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2010/06/helen_thomas_retires_after_ant.html |access-date=2025-06-05 |work=NPR |language=en}}{{Cite book |last=Jaspal |first=Rusi |url=https://www.google.co.il/books/edition/Antisemitism_and_Anti_Zionism/PgcHDAAAQBAJ?hl=iw&gbpv=1&pg=PA85&printsec=frontcover |title=Antisemitism and Anti-Zionism: Representation, Cognition and Everyday Talk |date=2016-04-15 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-317-18031-9 |pages=85 |language=en}} Jo-Ann Mort of The Guardian pointed out the irony in the phrase, as the majority of the Jewish population in Israel were born in Israel. In addition, Israeli Mizrahi Jews of African and Middle-Eastern descent outnumber Israeli Ashkenazi Jews of European descent.{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/article/2024/may/15/israelis-go-back-to-europe-slogan| title='Israelis, go back to Europe'? Some on the left need to rethink their slogans| date=May 15, 2024| work=The Guardian| first=Jo-Ann| last=Mort}} She (and Seth Greenland of the LA Times) also point out a further irony - that most of the Jews who actually came from Europe to the Land of Israel did it in order to flee severe persecution in Europe, where they were long regarded as the non-European other.{{Cite web |last=Greenland |first=Seth |date=2024-05-06 |title=Opinion: Have we learned nothing? The protester's taunt, 'Go back to Poland,' is grotesque |url=https://www.latimes.com/opinion/story/2024-05-06/poland-pro-palestinian-anti-zionist-protests-treblinka |access-date=2025-06-05 |website=Los Angeles Times |language=en-US}} Rusi Jaspal said that these statements are meant to deny the historical Jewish connection to Israel.

Go back to where you came from

Background

Examples

Global usage

=Europe=

=Africa=

=Asia=

=Oceania=

= Israel/Palestine conflict =

See also

Notes

References

Further reading