Major Causes and Consequences of Racial Conflicts between Asian Americans and African Americans in the U.S.A over the Last 2-3 Decades
Racial discrimination is regarded as a major issue of concern in several nations around the world. For instance, in the United States of America, racial discrimination is rampant. As a matter of fact, in the last three decades, America has recorded a notable increase in the number of racial discrimination cases against African Americans as well as Asian Americans. The United States of America has had a record of the division of the minority and majority immigrants as well as natives along economical lines.
These divisions have recently increased to include disparities among the heterogeneous minority groups such as African American and Asian Americans. These differences have exacerbated fear, distrust as well as hopelessness. The Los Angeles riots that occurred in 1992 are a good example of the extent to which racial and class disparities in the United States of America have intensified. African Americans complain that Asian Americans do not offer them employment opportunities.
Thus, African Americans complain that Asian Americans are their main economic threat. Some African Americans regard Asian Americans as outsiders who grab their economical opportunities. On the other hand, some Asian immigrants are very disrespectful towards African Americans. They show no respect for African American individuals who are unemployed and often depend upon government programs. These conflicts have resulted in fights and riots that have caused the loss of lives and destruction of properties worth millions of money.
Causes of “Yellow Peril” from the 1960s to Date
The Yellow Peril is a term used to refer to the threat that has been experienced by the Americans due to the immigration of Asian laborers. Since time immemorial, Americans are known to treat Asian Americans in the same way they treat Asian countries. Anytime Americans are in trouble with the Asian countries, they find the Asian Americans to be the targets to lay their resentment on. They employ some stereotypes with which they use to evaluate the Asians. More often than not, Asian Americans are regarded as ruthless vigilantes most of whom are shopkeepers. In order to have a deeper understanding of the Asian American problem, it is important to examine the media representations in America with regards to Asians, concerning their experiences in the United States of America.
Past as well as recent films have represented the Asians as laborers from the time they migrated to America. It is from such biased media representations that the Americans have formed some general stereotypes for the Asians from which the Asians have suffered from racist attacks from the Native Americans each time they view them as a peril. Being one of the smallest races in America, Asian Americans have been involved in a network of financial, political as well as societal intricacies and divergences. For this reason, the concurrent prerequisite and undesirability of Asian labor in America are significant political-economic challenges that explain most of the past and present racist attacks that the Asians undergo in America.
Even though open racism, which included segregation and eviction from the public as well as spiteful stereotypes which were earlier directed to the Chinese immigrants have recently, declined, inferential racism which is often concealed behind prudence has increased of late.
For instance, Asian migration has often been termed as illegal immigration. This can also be noted in the welfare reforms act as well as through the stereotypes within ordinary films. Moreover, with the coming up of new video technology which includes cable as well as home video, and the fact that more television stations are currently relying mostly on reruns of past films, thousands of Americans have continued to access the Asian-American stereotypes that have mounted up for years.
Comparing and Contrasting the Old Asian Immigrants and New Asian Immigrants In Terms of Economic and Social Adjustment
The Chinese are often considered to be the first Asians immigrants into the United States of America. The Asians started migrating into the United States of America as early as in 1800s. In 1800, the Asians who had migrated to the United States of America were not allowed to get American citizenship. The Asian immigrants who were in the U.S. mainly sold goods in New York City while others worked in Hawaiian sugarcane fields.
In 1848, there was an influx of Chinese immigrants in the United States of America after the discovery of gold in California. The gold rush resulted in an influx of Asian immigrants in the U.S. which provoked some cities to enact laws that banned Asian immigration into America. The regulations of Asian immigration into the United States of America decreased as time passed and as a result of the election of new leaders who held different ideologies which enabled enacting new legislation that favored Asian immigrations. In addition, the election of Partsy Takemoto Mink as the first Asian-American woman in congress in 1962 boosted Asian immigration in the United States of America.
Similarly, the recommencement of the diplomatic relationship between the United States of America and China in 1979 helped to increase Asian immigrants in the U.S. The Asians who visited America before 1965 were mainly going to the United States of America to work as laborers in the American plantations, mines as well as to help in the building of railway lines. However, after 1965, most of the Asians who migrated to America had gone there either to do business, work in the hospitality industry, or to secure white color jobs. The Asian immigrants have for some time had a lot of conflicts with black Americans as a result of economical reasons.
Black Americans have often viewed Asian Americans as a major threat to their economic accomplishment. However, nowadays, there has been a great change in the manner in which Asian Americans relate to black Americans. There has been an increased degree of accommodation between the African Americans and the Asian Americans who are currently living in the United States of America. As a matter of fact, today, Asian Americans are said to treat African Americans with more respect than they did before. Asian Americans now understand why some black Americans are unemployed and have to depend on finances from government programs.
The black Americans, on the other hand, have stopped considering the Asian Americans as outsiders and embrace them as their fellow brothers and sisters. This new perception has greatly enhanced a favorable relationship between black Americans and Asian Americans. This has seen Asian Americans employ most black Americans. Thus, black Americans no longer consider Asian Americans as a threat to their economic success. Instead, they now thrive together in peace and unity which is very beneficial to the two races as well as to America at large. The Asian Americans and especially the Koreans have started promoting mutual understanding initiatives between diverse racial factions in Los Angels.
For example, the Black-Korean Christian Group, Trips to South Korea that is sponsored by the Korea government as well as Scholarships of African American students. Besides, currently, there has been a proposal to set up an Asian American and African American human relation convention that will help to solve the inter-ethnic differences through substituting customs and thoughts, discussions as well as communal insights among the races in the U.S.
Why the “Model Minority” Concept and Glass Ceilings are Problematic to Asian Americans
The Asians are considered to be the minority group in the United States of America. They are seen to be highly educated and are considered to be highly successful. However, people who argue for discrimination of the minority groups in the United States should explain why Asians come to the United States of America and get such great success. Nevertheless, some people argue that although there are some Asian immigrants who are exceptionally successful in America, the number comprises the Asians who are highly educated. They argue that the United States of America policies are discriminatory and appear to favor the immigrants who possess professional skills as well as higher education.
Research has indicated that Asian families in America have a high proportion of their members being employed and have their average earnings considerably high. However, it is evident that Asian income suffers from severe inequality. For instance, the Asian-American poverty rate was 15.3 compared to national rate of 14.5 in 1994. The assertion of Asians as a model minority is therefore difficult to determine.
This is because those Asians who migrate to the United States of America come from average or rich backgrounds and are therefore not subjected to extreme poverty, legal discriminations, racism as well as prejudice from their own nations. Thus, it is unfair to compare this scenario with that of the black Americans who have experienced these challenges for long.
Why Communist Wars Occurred in Asia and how These Events Have Affected Asian Americans
By the end of the 1940s, the western nations feared that communism would spread to East Asia. They feared that more nations would end up being under the communist rule. America, in particular, was frightened over the idea of an exclusively anti-capitalist Asia, under the influence of the Soviet Union. For instance, in 1949, when China developed into the People’s Republic of China, America’s fears seemed to have been realized.
They believed that in case China collapsed, the same case would happen to other Asian nations including Indonesia, India, Burma, Thailand, as well as Australia. This hypothesis was referred to as the ‘domino effect’ by the serving American head of states at that time, General Dwight Eisenhower. Thus, when the Americans felt that Korea was going to fall into communist’s power, America had to react.
This reaction led to the Second World War, after which the Northern part of Korea was mainly occupied by the Russians, while the southern part was mainly occupied by Americans. Since the Russians as well as the Americans had not come into agreement with regards to a common government for Korea, the Russians set up a communist government in the Northern part of Korea while the Americans established a western-oriented government in Southern Korea.
In 1950, the Russian troops in the northern part of Korea attacked the Southern part and tried to unite Korea and establish a communist government for Korea. On the other hand, the American leaders were conscious of the significance of having a non-communist South Korea for the defence of Japan and thus sent large troops to attack the ones in North Korea. However, they were met by a strong resistance of the Chinese Communist troops who contributed to the end of the war.
As a result of the Asian wars, Korea became very distressed. On the other hand, China was defended by a buffer state, North Korea, in her northeast while China and the Soviet Union developed into very close associates following the war. Moreover, since the western countries had offered some military assistance to the United Nations in the attempt to battle in opposition to the antagonism, the influence of the United Nations was sustained to date.