Interracial Romantic Relationships Between Asian Men And Women

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

After reading Chapter 8, “Asian American” I learned about the struggles that Asian American had during their arrived to the United States and the discrimination that Asian Americans have face throughout the past years from the white dominant group. In addition, I learned that the dominant group has used legislation to slow down the progress of Asian Americans, simply by not allowing them to marry white women with the purposes of slowing down the process of assimilation and to also slow down the process of acquiring a higher status in society, since married would give early Asian immigrants citizenship and citizenship leads to legal rights. I also read that despite the needed labor for the country to progress in the mid-nineteenth century white

Around the mid-19th to the 20th century, myriads of immigrants flocked to the U.S. seeking better job opportunities,or searching for religious freedom. U.S. citizens were fearful, envious, and willing to exclude immigrants who came to the US as they were viewed as an economic threat to the society. They believed that these immigrants were racially, morally and intellectually inferior to them and as such did not see or treat as their equals. These dysfunctions lead to severe and harsh treatment of immigrants. Historically, the three major immigrant groups that faced the most discrimination during this era were the Asians, German, and the Irish. American citizen’s fear of job secureness led to the resentment and discriminatory treatment towards Asian Immigrants. They believed that the majority of the Asian American immigrants were taking too many of their jobs. As such, the U.S. government decided that it would be necessary to restrict the amount of Asian Americans, in order to keep the U.S. citizens from being unemployed. The U.S. government passed numerous laws, banning Asian American immigrants from the United States. One distinct law that they passed was the 1922 Cable Act, this law “stripped a female citizen of citizenship, if she married an alien unable to become a citizen.”(Lutz 7).The law was basically passed to prevent Asian immigrants from obtaining citizenship by marrying a female U.S citizen.In fact, the government believed that female citizens that engaged in this

Unlike what were imagined by many immigrants, although American was ideally a potential land with many potential and promises of freedom and a good life can be compensate for hard-work, the country actually did not treated all of the immigrants fairly. The descendants of the first generation immigrants viewed newcomers as a competitive in the work field, and grow even stronger discrimination feel toward them especially for those who look physically different like the Chinese and the Japanese. The Chinese were especially being heavily discriminated by the American society, there were many big and small acts and agreements passed by the government to target the Chinese such as: the Chinese Exclusion Act and Angle Island to eliminate the Chinese immigrants, the China town were built to keep Chinese away from interacting with the White community, and the many different Agreements to prevent Chinese labor in a different working fields. . One of the evidence that the Chinese were treated badly is the People v Hall 1854, when a why men were charged not guilty after he killed a Chinese because

attention is that it is a struggle to be an Asian in America due to the fact that Asians

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?

The Chinese Exclusion Act was established in 1882, in which the first time United States prevent a group of immigrants with nationality (Lee 4), marked United States’ from welcoming nation to an enclosed and discriminative nation, has monumental impact on each Chinese immigrants and culture of the entire American Chinese community (6). The poor conditions and lack of opportunities in the 19th century China and the Chinese’s hope of accumulating wealth to support their families in China fostered the huge influx of Chinese immigrants to United States. The discovery of gold in California also fuelled many Chinese’s dream of fast wealth (112). Due to the need for mass labour stemming from industrialization and high productivity of Chinese labours, employers would enthusiastically hire Chinese labour, which in turn sparked the increasing competition with the local workers and a growing anti-Chinese sentiment (114).

In the late 1800s, America passed a fierce act due to the rising tension between the Chinese immigrants and whites. Chinese immigrants were troubled with biased laws and stereotyping. The Chinese Exclusion Act was one of these law. It... The immigrants were stereotyped as barbarians, anti-christian, anti-white, or as slaves. They were called heathens, racial slurs, and much worse; and the Chinese were seen as idolaters, the lowest, and the vilest. Some may argue they were taking over jobs because of how they were willing to work for less. But ultimately, the most influential factor in why Americans passed the Chinese Exclusion Act was racial prejudice toward the Chinese.

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

Many critics pointed out that the purpose behind letting Asian Americans immigrating in the country was only being a laborer and economical being (Chang 2001). This indicates that there was no intention of letting Asian Americans partake in the American political process. This process indicates how this race was a victim of systematic and unintentional racism. As Chang (2001) has stated, the Chinese were considered hyperpolitical. It was believed that eventually they will seek political power in the society and government in American Society. As it was viewed that Chinese involvement within the American political process would hurt America, not benefit it. Such views hindered Asian Americans political involvement when they attempt to engage in a political process was made by the Asian Americans. Additionally, one can engage within a political process through voting. However, the federal Chinese Exclusion Act was passed by congress in 1882 and the purpose behind it was to prohibit all immigration of Chinese laborers.During the process, explicit negative concerns were shown during that time when this legislation was being passed. After the Chinese Exclusion Act, Asiatic Barred Zone 1917 and enactment of the Immigration Act of 1924

Chapter one of the The Contemporary Asian American Experience: Beyond the Model Minority, provides a great overview of the Asian American immigration history to U.S. and the aspects leading to the arrival of refugees from Asian countries. Since the early 1800s, hundreds of thousands of Asians have been migrating to America. As with many other immigrants, they were viewed as low class workers. Asian immigrants had very dangerous and low paid jobs that the majority of whites did not want to do. As a result, many white employers took advantage and exploited them. What strikes me the most is that Asian Americans participated in very important jobs but they were not recognized for their crucial contribution to the prosperity of the United States.

In the early twentieth century, Asian Americans in the United States faced to lots of obstacles. Since they lived in a “different shore”, they were treated as unassimilable people, and therefore, they experienced many unequal and discriminative treatments. Both Asian Americans lived in Hawaii and the mainland lived in unbearable life under racial discrimination. However, due to geographical and ethnic differences, Asian Americans in the mainland had more difficult time, since majority of the United States’ population were white people. Asian Americans in the mainland had an intense competition with white working class. In other words,

We’ve spent so much time in our class on various racial issues seen in the United States of America. It’s our national sport, in a way, it’s always as if there is only one side: nonwhites. But this is one of those binaries where you need both sides to make sense of it. When comparing Asian Americans in America during mid-19th century and the turn of the 20th century, there were many similarities and differences. One way in which they were similar was most Asian Americans intended to work hard, make a lot of money, and then return to their families and villages as wealthy men or stay and fulfill the American dream because this goal didn’t differ from Asian Americans from many immigrants who came to the United States. One way in which they were different was that many white/ European Americans looked down on all immigrants, but Asian Americans were considered racially as well as culturally inferior because most Americans believed that Asian Americans were too different to ever assimilate successfully into American culture. This view was expressed and reinforced by the stereotypical “imaginations” and “images” of Asian immigrants in the 19th and 20th century.

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.