Im a third-year student of the International Relations and Area Studies Department. For this project I did the part on Asian-Americans. If you have got any further questions do not hesitate to contact me on msinitsyna@yahoo.com.
There is a deep-seated conviction that Asian-Americans are the so-called model minority. There is definitely some truth in this statement but just like any other stereotype it is only partly true to life. Despite this myth of being a model minority these people also get to suffer a substantial amount of racial discrimination which has its roots deep in the history of the United States.
It must be mentioned that vast immigration of Asians to the US started after California had become part of the country. The US were in need of cheap labor because of the constant movement to the West and the Chinese were willing to provide that in an attempt to escape famine and poverty after the first Opium War. They ended up working mostly in mines and on railroads. In several decades the US faced some economic recession; the payments were getting lower and the prices higher. All over the country people of European origin started having anti-Asian sentiments claiming them to be taking their jobs. The riots which swept across the country resulted in the Chinese-Exclusion Act, passed by the Congress in 1882.
In 1898 The Philippine Islands became a protectorate of the United States under the Treaty of Paris ending the Spanish-American War (http://p2001.health.org/CTI06/HEALACT13.HTM). Right away, a wave of immigration from the Philippines to Hawaii began but it caused some complications for the administration. As residents of the US territory they had certain rights but they were denied those, specifically property ownership and naturalization.
Despite the social resentment the US still needed cheap labor force and they allowed the Japanese and the Korean to enter the country but in strictly limited numbers. Increased immigration from these areas was causing bitter feelings among the citizens and in the end the Japanese immigration was halted by the Asian Exclusion Act of 1924. The 1924 Immigration Law by the U.S. Congress excluded virtually all Asians as aliens ineligible to citizenship. The only notable exception were the Filipinos who were regarded nationals, but not citizens, as a result of the American annexation of the Philippines in 1898 as U.S. Territory (http://thewitness.org/agw/kodera052604.html).
During the years of the World War II Asian-Americans, namely the Japananese, suffered a whole lot. By the end of 1942 over 120 000 men, women and children of Japanese origin were forced to move to 10 camps, the so called instant cities, constructed by the War Relocation Authority in 7 different states. 65 % of the removed were in fact American citizens but that did not prevent them from having to stay in a camp for almost 4 years. Despite this, some 25 000 Japanese-Americans served in the US military units (http://americanhistory.si.edu/perfectunion/non-flash/overview.html)
In 1943 the Chinese Exclusion Act was nullified after what Chinese immigration started growing again though it was greatly limited by the quota system. Only 1965 the quota system was banned.
In general, immigration from Southeast Asia hasnt been dramatic until the middle of the 20th century. The immigration pattern changed in 1975 after which, according to the State Department Bureau of Population, Refugees, and Migration, some 1.4 million Southeast refugees arrived in the US (http://www.aapcho.com/links/AAPI_Immigration_Overview.doc). In the middle of 1980s secondary migration emerged with people moving away from their original settlement areas.
Racial discrimination was happening not only on the national legislature level but on the regional one as well. Two years after Anti-Chinese Violence in Chico, California, in 1879 the state second constitution prevented companies from employing the Chinese. Furthermore, California state legislature passed a law requiring all incorporated towns and cities to remove Chinese outside of city limits fortunately for the minority group the US circuit court declared the law unconstitutional. A little earlier than that, in 1954 the case People vs. Hall ruled that the Chinese couldnt testify in court against whites. Another case of 1922 Takao vs. US declared Japanese ineligible for naturalized citizenship. A year later U.S. v. Bhagat Singh Thind declared Asian Indians ineligible for naturalized citizenship. Year 1934 was marked by Tydings McDuffie Act spelling out procedure for eventual Philippine independence and reducing Filipino immigration to 50 persons a year.
One common stereotype of Asian Americans is that they are a model minority. They are the ones who do well in school and who have well-paying jobs. Their children are well behaved and multi-talented, especially in music, math and science. While the last U.S. Census indicated that Asian and Pacific Islander Americans comprised 4.2 % of the total U.S. population, the 48% increase since the 1990 Census makes Asian Americans the fastest growing segment of the population. Asian Americans have also come to represent the largest minority student population in so many of the most selective colleges and universities in the United States, even if none of these elite schools is headed by an Asian American.
The term model minority was first used in 1960 by sociologist William Peterson in his article in the New York Times Magazine (Success Story: Japanese American Style, Jan. 6, 1960). He regarded Japanese Americans as being family oriented and hard working, and therefore the most unlikely to become another problem minority in America. Since then, the model minority label has been applied to most, if not all, Americans of Asian heritage. It, however, belies the fact that many Asian Americans are far from what they are supposed to be. While the wealthiest ethnic group in the U.S. is Asian American namely Indian Americans, who are heavily represented in the medical and high tech industries the poorest is also Asian American, namely Cambodian and Hmong Americans, most of whom still languish at the bottom of the American society. They are also the victims of the highest rate of domestic violence.
Moreover, the model minority stereotype pits one minority group against another, as if to reprimand non-Asian American minority groups by saying, Why can''t you be like these Asian Americans? The model minority praises a small number of Asian Americans for having succeeded, while it blames and ignores those who have not made it. It may also be mentioned that the criteria used to praise some Asian Americans are the values of Euro Americans. Praiseworthy Asian Americans are those who have become like whites, or almost like whites, even at the expense of losing their Asian values. It should never go unnoticed that model Asian Americans are the quiet, docile Americans, those who never complain, as if they had no legitimate grievances.
Even before the federal government''s use of Asian American for the 1970 Census, the term Asian American had been coined by college students in the late 1960''s in the San Francisco Bay Area. The Civil Rights Movement no doubt provided an impetus for activist students. They had come to view their ethnic heritage no longer as a source of marginalization, embarrassment and shame, but rather of pride and self-empowerment.
Works Cited
1. The American Immigration Law Foundation http://www.ailf.org/ipc/policy_reports_2005_barredzone.asp
2. National Japanese American Historical Society http://www.njahs.org/nh/nhvxin3.html
3. Eating Bitterness http://www.ailf.org/ipc/eatingbitternessprint.asp
4. Asian-American History Timeline http://www.english.uiuc.edu/maps/poets/a_f/angel/chrono.htm
5. Overview of the Asian American Experience http://p2001.health.org/CTI06/HEALACT13.HTM
6. U.S. Dimplomatic mission to Germany http://usa.usembassy.de/society-asians.htm
7. Ancestors in the Americas http://www.cetel.org/timeline.html
8. A More Perfect Union http://americanhistory.si.edu/perfectunion/non-flash/overview.html
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