Asian Americans And Racism In The United States

You would probably be very disappointed if you were rejected from your dream school and a kid who scored significantly lower than you did on standardized tests got your spot. Asian Americans are treated unfairly in many elite college admissions such as Harvard, Yale, and Princeton. They score higher and achieve higher on average compared to other races and are forced to outperform them by a significant margin to gain acceptance into the same college. They are also fairly underrepresented at top colleges as a larger percentage of them that have the required test scores are denied spots than any other race. They are also now pitted against each other for a certain spot as they will only take a “specific” amount of Asians which causes a significant amount of stress. To truly provide fair access to education and opportunity, universities should accept people based mainly on their abilities rather than their ethnicity.

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

With riots and protests to his previous veto of the bill, President Chester Arthur signed “An Act to Execute Certain Treaty Stipulations Relating to the Chinese” into law.” Nicknamed the Chinese Exclusion Act, it was one of the first Federal laws that discriminated against immigrants by their ethnicity. It remained law for over sixty years before Congress repealed it in 1943 to help improve Chinese morale against Japan. While originally intending to stay law for only ten years, it was renewed many times. In 1892, it was renewed as The Geary Act and in 1902 it was made permanent; requiring that Chinese immigrants carry with them there certificate of residence.The hostility against Chinese immigrants had been going on for decades prior to the Exclusion Act, going as far back as the end of the California Gold Rush. While Chinese immigrants were often discriminated it was at a local, not federal level. The Chinese Exclusion Act was the Gilded era’s worst policy because it negatively helped redefine the US federal government's stance on immigrants, had many people openly opposing it, and the arguments for the Act were mostly untrue.

Among the stereotypes of Asian Americans, the myth of the Model Minority and Panethnic Identity are among the easiest to attribute to Asian Americans. What exactly are these stereotypes? How did they come about? Whose responsible for perpetuating these terms? And what harm are they are they doing to Asian Americans anyway?

In 1849, an inundation of Chinese immigrants came to the United States to take part in the California gold rush. Relations between the Chinese and Americans started off neutral, but soon conflicts arose. White workers saw Chinese as a threat to their status and tried to solve this issue by passing the Chinese Exclusion Act; this severely limited the number of Chinese allowed to immigrate into the country at the time. Although this compromise satisfied the white protests, it only lead to more conflicts with how the Chinese were treated during immigration. These conflicts would not be resolved for another 61 years.

The Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 was tailored to cripple the immigration of Chinese into the United States, because they were deemed inassimilable and seen as uncivilized, unclean and filthy, creating an anti-Chinese fervor (Zia). This era promoted resentment towards Chinese which further escalated, with the Johnson-Reed Act of 1924 that extended to other Asian groups. Nonetheless, this did not prevent Chinese immigrants from entering the United States. Chinese found loopholes in the law that allowed them to bring their family members as ‘paper sons’. The 1906 earthquake in San Francisco destroyed municipal records, which catalyzed immigration from China by allowing Chinese-men to claim US citizenship and bring their family from China

For 20 years, Asian Americans have been portrayed by the press and the media as a successful minority. Asian Americans are believed to benefit from astounding achievements in education, rising occupational statuses, increasing income, and are problem-fee in mental health and crime. The idea of Asian Americans as a model minority has become the central theme in media portrayal of Asian Americans since the middle 1960s. The term model minority is given to a minority group that exhibits middle class characteristics, and attains some measure of success on its own without special programs or welfare. Asian Americans are seen as a model minority because even though they have faced prejudice 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 growing animosity between Japan and the United States was clear, even before the Attack on Pearl Harbor. The Spanish-American War of 1898 gave the United States Guam and the Philippines, which Japan saw as part of the sphere of influence. Outside superpowers also saw the competition between Japan and the United States, as Lenin said that they “cannot live in peace on the shores of the pacific…” and, “that war is brewing” (p.2). In 1882 the United States passed the Chinese Exclusion Act, which created a long period of racial tension towards Asia-Americans during its time. Although the competition was growing between the two nations, the United States Congress passed the 1924 Immigration Act that made it much easier for trans-pacific immigration. This saw an increase of immigrants from Japan into the West Coast grow dramatically.

Asians have migrated to and have lived in the Americas since the days of our founding fathers. The first to come from the Eastern Hemisphere were a small group of Filipinos in the early 18th century that settled in present day Louisiana. The first major influx of Asian Americans was Chinese Americans who came in the 1800’s to find financial opportunity during the California gold rush. They settled in the Golden State and eventually spread out all over the United States, creating the now-famous Chinatowns that millions of Americans visit every year. There is a continual migration of well educated South Asians and East Asians for job and education opportunities and their success has formed the basis for the “myth of the model minority” (MMM). This is the idea that all people who are Asian American and Pacific Islanders (AAPI) are successful both socioeconomically and educationally. This does have a logical basis rooted in statistics—AAPI students are reported to have higher grade point averages, math scores, and overall standardized tests scores on tests such as the Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT) and the American College Testing Exam (ACT). Other studies often use a racialized rhetoric comparing Asian Americans to white Americans in terms of education and socioeconomic status while contrasting them to the so-called “lazy” and “incapable” Hispanic and African Americans.

When thousands of Chinese migrated to California after the gold rush the presence caused concern and debate from other Californians. This discussion, popularly called the “Chinese Question,” featured in many of the contemporary accounts of the time. In the American Memory Project’s “California: As I Saw It” online collection, which preserves books written in California from 1849-1900, this topic is debated, especially in conjunction with the Chinese Exclusion Act. The nine authors selected offer varying analyses on Chinese discrimination and this culminating act. Some give racist explanations, but the majority point towards the perceived economic competition between

Supporters of affirmative action argue that discrimination and racism have held down minorities in the U.S., and that affirmative action is needed to correct it. In response, critics ask: "If blacks and Mexicans are being held down by discrimination, then why do Asians come to this country and do so well for themselves?" According to this myth, Asians immigrate to America with little or nothing, often as boat people fleeing communism, and through hard study and work become even more successful than European-Americans. Their success would suggest that the U.S. does not really discriminate against minorities.

As far as I am concerned, Asian American has a long history in the United States. In 1984, President Ronald Reagan paid them a compliment for succeed in achieving the American Dream. He said that if you are industrious you will be successful whoever you are in America (Takaki, 1995). Although Asian American suffered a lot from prejudice and discrimination, they are the highest-income, best-educated and fastest-growing racial group in the United States. They are more contented than the general public with their lives, funding and the direction of the country, and they place more value than other Americans do in wedding parenthood, hard-working, and profitable of profession.(Pew Research Center,2012) This report caught a lot of interest in the press. However, many Asian American institutions and commentators showed disapprove of those things. They maintained that the report was not exact and bias, and that it furthermore perpetuated the model minority myth, donating to the formation of Asian Americans as an inconspicuous or forgotten minority. Personally, I suppose that model minority stereotype does bring both benefits and drawbacks to Asian American. However, model minority stereotype do more harm than merit.

The word "nigger" is a key word in American culture. It is an extremely distressing racial slur meant to denounce African Americans and on occasion, it also has been used to oppose people associated with ethnic or racial groups. It has been a significant characteristic of several of the worst incidents of injustice in American history. It has occurred with countless beatings, acts of arson, lynching’s, and other racially inspired charges upon blacks. It has also been characterized in numerous animations and quips that both display and motivate the prejudices of blacks. It is the signature expression of cultural and racial prejudice.