Asian American Political Process

The United States has had tension with Asian immigrants since the first wave of migration in the 1840’s, and in 1882 the United States declared a Chinese Exclusion which was to keep all Chinese from migrating into the United States. For the Chinese already in the U.S this created worry and tension. With the Chinese people no longer being welcome the freedom for the Chinese inside which was already not much was even more condensed. The little equality that they had was taken away and they were excluded, and looked down upon everywhere they went. They had trouble living and socially because of the prejudice they were facing. An example of the Chinese struggle before the exclusion act would be the Chinese Lynching that took place in 1871. In Los Angeles a mob captured men and in this case a 12 year old boy and hung them all at a Spanish hacienda because of the citizens strong discrimination against

During this time the Chinese Exclusion Act was in place, forbidding the entrance of Chinese immigrants into the United States.

America has come a long way since the Reagan era, because “twenty-five years ago, the greatest strength of the Asian American movement was the ability of activist to organize the unorganized and bring new political players in community politics” (Omatsu). During a current era there are problems with lack of knowledge of what happened to Asian Americans, because those who were not around to see the struggles with racism. “However, by stimulating the discussion over how Asian American define community problems, the neoconservatives bring a vibrancy to community issues by contributing a different viewpoint” (Omatsu). Young political activists voices are the solution to end the struggle against racism for as long as there is activism that thrives our voices will be heard in

One of the first significant pieces of federal legislation aimed at restricting immigration was the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882, which banned Chinese laborers from coming to America. Californians had agitated for the new law, blaming the Chinese, who were willing to work for less, for a decline in wages.The Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 was the first significant law restricting immigration into the United States. Those on the West Coast were especially prone to attribute declining wages and economic ills on the despised Chinese workers. Although the Chinese composed only .002 percent of the nation’s population, Congress passed the exclusion act to placate worker demands and assuage prevalent concerns about maintaining white “racial purity.”

Chinese Exclusion Act was a law that passed by Congress on May 6 of 1882, that halted the immigration of the Chinese laborers for a span of 10 years and denied neutralization to the existing Chinese in the United States. Following an economic crisis in the late 19th century that left many without jobs and slowed down the expansion of the Western States, many Chinese immigrants laborers were blamed for the falling of wages and lack of employment opportunities. The Chinese laborer faced violence, social isolation, and discriminatory laws that was included in the passage of the exclusion act. Although the act had little effect on the U.S’s economy beyond the Chinese community, it set a lasting effect for immigration policy, it was the first U.S law the refusal to admit members of a specific ethnic group or nationality. Since Chinese immigration was helping the U.S’s economy bloom. Why the sudden stop of only one ethnic group coming to the U.S? What social, economic, and political caused the Chinese Exclusion Act?

Though Asians make up the largest portion of the world’s population, Asian-Americans are one of the least represented minority groups within the United States. Out of an estimated 318 million people living in the U.S., Asians account for 5.2%, or approximately 17 million people. Compared to Hispanics at 54 million and African-Americans at 42 million, Asians and/or Asian-Americans are vastly outnumbered by the two other major minority groups and even more so by the majority, European-Americans. Even though Asians are typically considered the “model minority”, they are faced with the same issues that plague many other minority groups within the U.S. today to include stereotypes, prejudice, discrimination and ethnocentrism. There has been a history of discriminatory national policies directed at the immigration of Asians to the U.S. and in times of duress, the labeling and targeted institutional discrimination of specific ethnicities of Asian-Americans as traitors based solely on country of origin and not on the deeds and actions of said U.S. citizens (Japanese internment camps of World War II).

There was not a lot of Chinese in the United States until around the California Gold rush in 1849, many entrepreneurs trying to make it rich. In the 1860s a pushback was sparked by political parties of labor groups like the Knights of Labor who wanted to protect American jobs because in their perspective, they couldn’t compete with the cheap labor source of immigrants. These political labor groups emphasized the feeling that the Chinese didn’t belong, shortly after massacres began to occur. California tried to band Chinese immigrants in 1858; however, that power was way above the states, thus resulting in failure. Again by 1878, there was enough people in congress to pass the Chinese exclusion Act; however, a man named Rutherford B Hayes had strong ties to the Republican party and other interests that he vetoes the bill, and once again the efforts to ban Chinese ends in failure.

Not everyone is born free and equal, but everyone is made equal. Immigration across the United States has created many different perspectives and opinions over the movement. Social and political departments have created a discussion and issue for this subject. The most common or popular immigrants in the United States are Hispanics, but there is a vast migration of Asians as well. Stereotypes are created in order to censor the positive actions of each other and have created a platform that censors Asian immigrants in the immigration movement. These two cultures are created blinded influences and impacts in the United States. Anti-Immigration is rhetoric and bias

In the late 1800’s, Chinese immigrants were largely discriminated against in America. Considering the past, and the way white Americans have treated anyone different from them, it’s no surprise they treated these immigrants with disdain. The Chinese Exclusion Act was a law passed in 1882 to stop the influx of Chinese people immigrating into America. Two huge factors in passing the law was that the Chinese were viewed as lower class barbarians and were seen as anti-white. Some say the law was passed due to the economic tensions between the Chinese and whites, however this is false.

In the 1800’s, immigrants from different areas of the world began coming more frequently to the United States. With these immigrants, came the Chinese. After some time, an Exclusion Act was passed by the United States to keep the Chinese from immigrating. This happened in 1882 and was even extended in 1892. This act was supported in being passed because the Chinese were taking many jobs from the Americans, and also because the Chinese brought conflicting cultural elements to America.

Is it hard to believe that an opposition group wants a better healthcare, arrange the environment, and a better immigration system? And even if Asian American’s or all the Asian American’s aren’t democrats, were all still American and that doesn’t change anything about anyone. That is exactly why we all are going to have our political propositions just like any other citizen.

There is a model minority group called “Combating the stereotype,” which is based on ethnicity, race, or religion whose members are to achieve a higher degree on socioeconomic success than the population average. There is a myth that other races should not counted for and the Asian Americans are successful in life. Asian Americans are usually denied assistance if they need help in some ways. When Asian Americans are discriminated their society and their achievements are undstandable and ignored. Asian Americans are percepted of high income level and

The Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 The Chinese Exclusion Act, otherwise named the Immigration Act of 1882, was the first law passed by Congress restricting and controlling immigration, specifically targeting chinese people moving to the United States for economic opportunities in California. Most Americans supported it because the Chinese people were, supposedly, taking their jobs, were inhumane, and other reasons backed by the Anti-Chinese Movement. Many immigrants came to the United States because of economic reasons.

The government targeted the Asian Americans as a threat. As Takaki asserted, “Unlike European immigrants, Asians were also victimized by the institutionalized racial discrimination of public policies.” These policies include the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 and the National Origins Act of 1924. The social image of America can clearly be seen as only “whites” when the government institute policies to encourage European women to arrive to America so the immigrants can form families, while Asian women were barred the entry to prevent families to form

The move by the Whites was a success on some races, such as the Asian Americans and European immigrants but not on the African Americans and Hispanics. Even after such efforts, rampant racism was still persistent against the African Americans and Hispanics, which existed to the early 1990’s. However, the efforts to stop domestic racism were fruitful for the Chinese when the Congress overturned the Chinese exclusion as a goodwill gesture to China as America’s Pacific ally.