The And The Filipino Migrant Workers

Chinese, Japanese, and Filipinos were all brought in to work, but their low standard of living and attempts to organize caused race riots by the white labor force and subsequent removal of foreign workers from the agricultural industry. The need for cheap labor therefore remained. To fill this void, many Mexican workers were brought in;so many that the white worker could not even live in southern California anymore because the wages were so low. Eventually the Mexican worker population grew so massive that they too began to organize, causing the growers to take action against them with "vigilante terrorism and savagery unbelievable in a civilized state" (pg 54). Eventually Mexican labor was withdrawn as well.

Kracha portrays the two distinct classes in America as “it’s run just like any other country. In Europe your emperors and grand dukes own everything and over here it’s your millionaires and your trust” (Bell 66). Specifically, the May Day Strike where the working class rose against the owners in order to receive eight hour work days on May 1, 1886, where numerous workers left business all over the nation. Unfortunately, on May 3. 1886 violence broke out against the strikers and the police resulting in two strikers killed and many wounded. Violence also occurred in the Homestead strike resulting in “ten men were dead, seven of them steelworkers, and sixty wounded” (Bell 42). These protests by working men for their rights ultimately always ended in violence were the government had to break up the

Throughout the various books that we have read, one of the many concepts that stood out for me was the well-being and healthcare of undocumented workers. Due to the current criminalization of immigration, most undocumented workers live in a constant state of fear and anxiety. This really made me think about the psychological and somatic outcomes of fear, stigma, trauma, and prejudice for undocumented workers. This brought into question the structural and symbolic violence that causes undocumented workers to suffer from mental and physical illnesses and how the treatment, if any, is administered.

Labor unions have been instrumental in the lives of workers throughout American history, and have led to important advances in the American workforce. Throughout history there have been patterns of exploitation of immigrant workers by businesses in order to increase profits; the Mexican migrant workers of southern California are the most recent historical group to fall into this pattern of exploitation mostly from their lack of organization. Cesar E. Chavez was a great organizer and leader of the United Farm Workers labor union. Robert Kennedy referred to him as “one of the heroic figures of our time.”

During the years of the Great Depression, Asian and Mexican immigrants had to take up the agricultural jobs in the United States. These immigrants made up the majority of the poor and faced problems with immigration, taxes, and the labor system, along with racial discrimination and a sense of inequality within society (Tejada-Flores, “The United”) Workers were surviving on 90 cents per hour with an addition of 10 cents per basket gathered for working in the fields and worked in poor environments and conditions. There were no toilets in the fields and no electricity or a plumbing system in the metal shacks that they were forced to pay two dollars or more per day for (“Fighting For Farm”). People then created and joined labor unions such as The United Farmworkers Union, which was established by the Mexican-American, Ceasar Chavez, to fight against injustice without violence for all farm workers. Chavez took all his important values, life lessons, and work experience to make a difference in the United States (Tejada-Flores, “Cesar Chavez”). Although he faces opposing opinions, he still managed to successfully lead the Delano grape strike and boycott and even help create the nation as we know it today.

John Okada’s novel “No-No Boy” explores Ichiro Yamada’s identity and his continual imprisonment through expectations of the familial and societal. Ichiro returns home to Seattle after spending two years in a Japanese internment camp and two years in prison for refusing to serve in the military during World War II. Now declared a “No no boy,” Ichiro is unable to fit within American and also feels as if he does not belong to the Japanese part of him. He is subsequently imprisoned by his hyphenated Japanese-American identity, as he believes that he cannot exist in a world where is half of two versions of himself that do not make him a whole person. The following will examine Ichiro’s halved identity

Ronald Takaki’s chapter in his sweeping 1989 text, Strangers from a Different Shore, “Dollar a Day, Dime a Dance: The Forgotten Filipinos”, outlines the experiences of primarily male Filipino immigrants to the U.S in the 1920’s and 1930’s. The author did a good job showing what the Filipino went through. Like many immigrants before them, they came seeking work and a better livelihood. They faced backbreaking work, low wages, and at time, extreme racism. However, in many ways the Filipino immigrant experiences were extremely different from other ethnic groups, the Chinese and Japanese immigrants.

The book Out of This Furnace is a work of historical fiction written by Thomas Bell, in which the lives of four different individuals are told and woven together, and consequentially describe the changes taking place in different generations of immigrant workers in America. Beginning with Kracha, then leading to Mike, then Mary, and finally Dobie, this book does an excellent job of showing how the American immigrant's life changed mid 1800s to the 1920s. As seen in each generation, immigrants became as a whole more and more liberal in their beliefs and lifestyles. Many of their beliefs change, however, one of the most interesting is the development of the labor unions, and how they are viewed by the workers in that time period.

From the 1900s, the Progressive Era had new immigrants from the Southern and Eastern Europe. Between the years of 1900 and 1930, one million immigrants who were Mexican migrated for economic opportunities. It was near the year of the great depression which started in 1929. This led the American dream for many immigrants who were looking for jobs and starting a new life. According to Eric Foner “ Voices of Freedom” , page 73, when sociologist Manuel Gamio managed interviews of Mexican-American immigrants in Los Angeles. He decided to report about the Santella family, one better off and “whiter” than most Mexican immigrants. The information he obtained were from conversations and observing the family. This gave some idea on why American freedom has inspired many immigrant families. The Santella family was a total of 9, Mr. Santella and his wife and 5 boys and 2 girls.

During the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, a vast amount of recent immigrant workers were faced with a horrendous situation within the working class due to the selfish acts of greed from big business corporations. The impactful results of the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire in New York City during 1911 brought a devastating memory of horror, but at the same time a memory of an event that leads reforms. The Shirtwaist Factory Fire brings hope that even great tragedies such as it can provide change. The results from the fire drove socialist, trade unionists, and progressive reformers to finally get the push they needed to overcome the longstanding obstacles to reform. Reformers focused on various approaches to improving the situation

In novel No-No Boy, Japanese-American writer, John Okada, tells a story centered around the life of a young Japanese-American boy named Ichiro Yamada who was seen and treated as a “No-No boy” during/after World War II. After Japan’s attack on Pearl Harbor, the United States government ordered the mandatory relocation of people with Japanese ancestry regardless of their citizenships and incarcerated them in internment camps. In internment camps, Japanese Americans who refused to sign the Loyalty Oath and refused to serve in the U.S. Army were defined as “No-No’s,” and would be sent to prison. The novel discussed the continuous struggle of Japanese-American community in the racially alienated American society during that time period

They did not know the consequences of their choices on this questionnaire, and this was a great conflict for the Japanese Americans. Many had different interpretations of the questions. Many argue with one another about their answers, and their meanings of the questions. Answering yes to the second question would imply an admission of allegiance to the Japanese emperor in the past. For aliens in the United States answering yes to question 28 would mean that they would be without a country, as japan was their home country. However, answering no could result in deportation for them. Everyone was confused on what to do. The “no-no” boys were protestors to the questions 27 and 28. They were protesting the way in which they were being treated. They refused to go into the military, and were then labeled “no-no” boys. During the time when they needed to declared their loyalties, while the “no-no’s were deemed as disloyal.

The pain and the suffering, the oppression, and the exclusion all describe the history of Asia America. When they arrived to the United States, they become labeled as Asians. These Asians come from Japan, China, Korea, Laos, Thailand, and many other diverse countries in the Eastern hemisphere. These people wanted to escape from their impoverished lives as the West continued to infiltrate their motherland. They saw America as the promise land filled with opportunity to succeed in life. Yet due to the discrimination placed from society and continual unfair

The United States of America a nation known for allowing freedom, equality, justice, and most of all a chance for immigrants to attain the American dream. However, that “America” was hardly recognizable during the 1940’s when President Franklin Roosevelt issued Executive Order 9066, ordering 120,000 Japanese Americans to be relocated to internment camps. As for the aftermath, little is known beyond the historical documents and stories from those affected. Through John Okada’s novel, No-No Boy, a closer picture of the aftermath of the internment is shown through the events of the protagonist, Ichiro. It provides a more human perspective that is filled with emotions and connections that are unattainable from an ordinary historical document.

John Okada’s novel of the same name of these ‘disloyal’ men, No-No Boy, traces 25 year-old Ichiro Yamada’s experience directly after his internment and imprisonment, as he moves back home to Seattle. Here, he is attempting to reconcile his internment in a nation he once thought belonged to, and now is placed in a nation that is cold and unwelcoming to Japanese-American citizens. Ichiro returns home to his mother, father and brother who all have helped manifest Ichiro’s identity crisis in some way. Although Ichiro was born in American and his full American citizenship, he feels displaced by his own citizenship, Okada writes, “I blame myself and I blame you.” (Okada 17). Ichiro blames himself for his imprisonment, but also blames his mother. Before his four-year imprisonment, Ichiro was a scholar, Okada writes, “He had almost forgotten that there had been a time before the war when had had actually gone to college for two years and studiously applied himself to courses in the engineering school. The statement staggered him. Was that all there was to it? Did she mean to sit there and imply that the four intervening years were to be casually forgotten and life resumed as if there had been no fours and no war…” (Okada ##) Importantly, Okada demonstrates that Ichiro’s disillusionment is learned and brought onto him by outside forces. Ichiro does not see his dual identity, or does not view it as a negative, until he is imprisoned by the United States government. Authors such as,