The Asian American Movement

Enstad mentions words such as “invisible” (57, 58), “unanticipated” (61), and “threaten” (60). These words indicate the unknown which stirs a sense of terror among her readers. The unknown remains a mystery, and there is no way to predict its movements. By doing so, she underscores the direness of the spread of this toxicity by pushing against this fear. Enstad even blatantly acknowledges the emotions she’s evoking by jeering that after reading her essay, readers might want to “sanitize one’s own environment” (63). As an author, she empathizes with her audience’s thoughts on her essay which allows her to relate to her audience thus, igniting a need to take charge and further analyze this toxicity that plagues Americans. It is common for a community of people to begin scrambling for solutions to an issue when the danger is imminent compared to a future problem. On the other hand, Kim’s article not only brings together a community for a common cause like Enstad’s but, she appeals to a different emotion through her use of a history strand. Kim’s history strand consists of phrases such as “imperialism” (3), “political turmoil” (4), and “immigrant” (4). She motivates her Asian American audience to unite due to the shared histories of the community. The cultural roots of Asian Americans are not often portrayed in American media and is not commonly discussed. Kim

     While other prominent civil rights groups were engaging in non-violent protests such as sit-ins and rallies, the Black Panther Party was determined to take a bolder stance against injustice. The Party believed that the methods that organizations such as the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) and Universal Negro Improvement Association (UNIA), and leaders such as Booker T. Washington and Martin Luther King, Jr. were implementing remained ineffective against an extremely discriminatory America:

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

The Civil Rights Movement’s mission was to end segregation and advance equality for African Americans (Hanks, Herzog, and Goetzman). Almost one hundred years after the civil war, African Americans were still struggling to gain the same rights as white Americans. The movement was led by leaders like Martin Luther King Jr., Malcolm X, and Rosa Parks. Gaining momentum in the 1950’s with the Supreme court’s ruling of Brown vs. Board of Education where public schools were desegregated, the Civil Rights movement flourished in the 1960’s. One of the group’s main goals was to take on the Jim Crow South. Segregation prevented African Americans from drinking out of the same water fountain, using the same restroom, and even sitting at the same lunch table as white people. By promoting peaceful protest, they were able to educate others on their issues.

The civil rights movement was one of the main elements that were responsible for agitation and protest that greatly expanded in the 1960s. This social movement “originated among black Americans in the South who faced racial discrimination and segregation, or the separation of whites and blacks, in almost every aspect of their lives” (“Protests in the 1960s,” 3). There was constant racial

During the 1960s, a number of movements of oppressed or underrepresented groups in American society emerged protesting the discrimination they experienced. The democratic ideals they advocated for were not limited to more voting rights as underrepresented minorities, but also included social and economic justice so they could serve as fully functional members of society. In doing so, the leaders of each movement tackled the advocation of their rights in varying manners, based largely on their beliefs and the objectives of the movement they were involved with. Some people believe each all protest movements of the 1960s sought to redefine American democracy to similar or identical levels. However, both ethnic minority groups and women sought

American minorities made up a significant amount of America’s population in the 1920s and 1930s, estimated to be around 11.9 million people, according to . However, even with all those people, there still was harsh segregation going on. Caucasians made African-Americans work for them as slaves, farmers, babysitters, and many other things in that line. Then when World War II came, “World War II required the reunification and mobilization of Americans as never before” (Module2). They needed to cooperate on many things, even if they didn’t want to. These minorities mainly refer to African, Asian, and Mexican-Americans. They all suffered much pain as they were treated as if they weren’t even human beings. They were separated, looked down upon,

The Japanese Americans sustained many injustices during the pre-World War Two era, including exclusion from traditional establishments and occupations. It was noted, “the [economic] argument and the discriminatory measures are plain contradictions” (Goto 105-106). Although the stated goal of Californians was to have a unified population, their actions belied their true motives. The colossal nature of the assimilatory feats performed by Japanese dictated that “even Californian agitators themselves, in their moments of private reflection, admit the wonderful power of adaptability of Japanese,” but, “in public they do everything to prevent the process of assimilation from running its natural course” (Goto 106). Often, the bigoted owners of white establishments barred people of Japanese

The common perspective of the civil rights movement is often seen from one angle: and that is the African American civil rights movement towards racial equality. And though this movement had significant historical context in American history, the pursuits of other minorities such as the Asian American civil rights movement are often undermined and overlooked. Yet, the Asian American movement surpassed the efforts of the African American movement despite the social and cultural obstacles faced with integrating into a new society. Through intrinsic cultural unity and the influences of the African American civil rights movement, the Asian American civil rights movement achieved more success than the African American civil rights movement

When discussing the significance of war on Asian American communities, it is important to consider the effects of World War II. Largely regarded as one of the most international and important conflicts in American history, World War II involved America and the Allied powers fighting against the Axis powers. The experiences of Asian Americans at the time take on two different sides: while many Asian American groups such as the Chinese were able to gain more liberties under new legislation, Japanese-Americans were subject to discrimination and incarceration. These two experiences may seem separate from one another, but they both illustrate the process of race reconfiguration at the time. The race reconfiguration occurring during World War II

The murder of Vincent Chin’s influence also had a nation-wide influence on the Asian American civil rights movement. Never before had such an influence from one event had such an impact on uniting Asian Americans. Many incidents relevant to Asian American history are taught in schools, such as anti-Chinese legislation, Japanese Internment camps, or even the multiple wars against Asian countries such as the Philippines, Korea, or Vietnam (Wu). However, none of them caused a pan-Asian movement like the Vincent Chin case was able to, and the Vincent Chin case isn’t taught in schools (Wu). The Vincent Chin case united Asian Americans from multi-ethnic background and gave them something to rally against- the killing of innocent Asian Americans (Wu).

Lisa Lowe, a professor of English and American Studies at Tufts University, boasts many accreditations to her name. She holds her PhD. in Literature from the University of California at Santa Cruz, and her B.A. in History from world-renowned Stanford University. In 1996, Duke University Press published her book Immigration Acts: On Asian American Cultural Politics. In Immigrant Acts, Lowe discusses the contradictions in society where Asian Americans have been included in the workplace and markets of the U.S., but are often distanced from the ground of the national culture via exclusion laws and bars from citizenship.

The first is Asian American Movement. I put this topic to the first one because I am Asian and I really curious about the Asian American’s history. Asian American Movement born out of civil right movement. Before 1968, there are no concept called “Asian American”, this concept comes from civil right movement, and during 1960s more and more Asian Americans went to American college and society focus on this community. Vietnam War also give Asian American more signs that to let them realize

The Asian American community history is filled with countless events of social and racial injustices against the community that the common public does not recognize.

The culture that I chose to present is the Asian American culture. It is one of the fastest formed ethnic groups that had their population grow 63% from 1990 to 2000 (Nguyen, 1). The history of the first Asian immigrants started around the gold rush in California. Many Asian immigrants wanted to pursue fortunes in America because of economic hardships in China. Many Chinese started moving to the United States in hopes to get some of the gold in California. Many Chinese were also contracted to work on the railroads in the United States where they worked in very poor conditions for little money and recognition for their hard work. The Chinese even demanded high wages for their work in these poor conditions, but ultimately they were shot