1

Historical Report on Race ~ Asian Pacific American Yuma N. Vuono ETH125 Cultural Diversity December 2, 2012 Tamira M. Moon, MPH, CHES Axia College of University of Phoenix

2 Asian Pacific American Asians have had a long and torrid affair with America going as far back as the 1500s settling in Louisiana, Hawai'i, and California. The first large-scale Asian migration to the United States began in 1848, during the gold rush in California. Before we continue, let us examine what it means to be an Asian or Pacific Islander American. The term Asian refers to people originating from or related to the original inhabitants of the Far East, Southeast Asia, or the Indian subcontinent and the term Pacific Islander refers to ancestry traced back to the original inhabitants of Hawai'i, Guam, Samoa, or any of the other hundreds of Pacific Islands. The Asian Pacific American (APA) population is a dynamic and complex mix of ethnicities, rich in traditional cultures and religions. Asians and Pacific Islanders have shown remarkable perseverance and resilience in claiming America as their home despite the resistance they have faced. Asian Pacific Americans have experienced increasing patterns of unfair treatment because of cultural stereotypes and perceived characteristics associated with their various races, ethnicities, cultures, and religious practices. The first large influx of Chinese immigrants greatly benefited America because they built railroads, mined gold, and ran small businesses such as diners and laundry services with unbelievable efficiency and accuracy. Sadly, lawless citizens and duplicitous politicians began the brutal and systematic "ethnic cleansing" of Chinese Americans in California and the Pacific Northwest in the late 19th century. The year 1958 marked the first law barring entry of Chinese and Mongolians into California which sparked a long line of exclusion laws against the Asians as far back as 1858. In 1907, The Asiatic Exclusion League attempted to rid America of more Asian which initiated additional congressional exclusion laws in 1917 and 1923 which restricted and denied citizenship rights and

3 residency of Asians in the United States. Exclusion from immigration, denial of landownership and naturalization rights (a right given to all European immigrants), segregation in public schools, exclusion from certain areas of employment and housing, increases in physical violence (e.g., lynching, murder), and expulsion from settlements are just a few of the obstacles faced by Asian Pacific Americans since they set foot on this continent. The Chinese, however, fought back by filing the first lawsuits for reparations in the United States. They sued for the restoration of their property, prosecution of white vigilantes, demanded the right to own land, and won access to public education for Asian Pacific American children. World War II marked another dark period in America's racial and discriminatory past. Japanese Americans both citizens and non were relocated to assembly centers and internment camps. In 1944, a Supreme Court ruling halted the detention of U.S. citizens without cause and rescinded the exclusion order returning many Japanese Americans to rebuild their now destroyed homes and lives. The United States paid over $1.6 billion in reparations to Japanese American detainees and their descendants. Currently, there is an estimated 17.3 million Asian Pacific Americans residing in the United States, which is approximately 5.6 percent of the total population. Asian Pacific Americans Despite legal barriers in the past, Asian Pacific Americans developed families, businesses, and communities in the United States. They also developed highly sophisticated governance structures to meet the needs of their communities as well as the legal and extra-legal challenges imposed by the dominant society and its laws. Asian Pacific Americans have strong work ethics, close family ties, higher education levels, and social and community networks which contribute to a lower unemployment rate. Rather than lay off employees during the current economic recession, Asian Pacific Americans will spread the work out and utilize family labor to support one another to keep their small businesses in operation. Asian Pacific Americans have

4 larger households with more workers contributing to the family "pot". Furthermore, Asian Pacific Americans tend to gravitate toward jobs with greater security such as nurses, teachers, postal employees, and technicians. As American society becomes more diverse both in racial and economic terms, it is in the best interests of Asian Pacific Americans to increase awareness about their history, educate future generations about racial biases and injustices in American history, and develop alliances with other minorities to create a unified stance against racial prejudice and exclusion. Despite their positive growth in this country, Asians and Pacific Islanders are still a minority group and are more closely connected to other minority groups. All Americans must influence public policy and fight against biased policies that negatively and unfairly affect the Asian Pacific American or any other minority groups in the United States.

5 References

Harrell, E, Ph.D. (March, 2009). Bureau of Justice Statistics: Asian, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander Victims of Crime. Retrieved 11/22/2012 from http://bjs.ojp.usdoj.gov/content/pub/pdf/anhpivc.pdf Macionis, J. J. (2012). Social problems (4th ed.) Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Prentice Hall. Schaefer, R. T. (2012). Racial and ethnic groups (13th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Prentice Hall.