Final answer:
The Nativist perspective is considered hypocritical as it advocates for a homogeneous America, ignoring the immigrant history of the nation and focusing on a white, Anglo-Saxon, Protestant American identity, overlooking the diversity and discriminatory policies against various immigrant groups.
Step-by-step explanation:
The Nativist perspective is seen by many as hypocritical because it promotes an ideal of preserving a white, Anglo-Saxon, and Protestant America while ignoring the history and contributions of Native Americans and the very fact that all non-Native Americans are immigrants or descendants of immigrants. The nativists' advocacy for a homogeneous national identity overlooks the diversity of the country's past populations, including those who were forced to come to America or were there before European colonization. Furthermore, the prejudice against "new" immigrants from Central and Southern Europe, who were deemed nonwhite, non-Protestants, Jews, and other marginalized groups, contradicted the American ideals of equality and the nation as a land of opportunity for all. Nativists were thus perceived as advocating for discriminatory policies that selectively favored certain immigrants over others, often promoting ethnocentric ideologies that ran counter to the broader narrative of an inclusive American society.