We are still finishing up "A Different Mirror" by Ronald Takaki. This week, we delved into the Asian-American experience, particularly the Chinese and Japanese (and some Filipino) and their separate struggles in the Western United States.
Chapter 8 recounted the Chinese experience in regards to the reasons behind their immigration to the U.S. and the work and jobs that they were able to procure. Planned as the main site of commerce to the trade close to the Pacific Ocean, San Francisco needed laborers to build railroads and agriculture. Differing from the experience of other immigrants such as Eastern Europeans, Irish, and, later, Mexicans, the United States welcomed Chinese immigrants and labor. During the mid-1800s, labor was needed to expand transportation across the Pacific states and the Chinese were seen as the perfect labor force due to their perceived docility. Chinese people were also seeking refuge due to hardships experienced in their home land. They experienced similar hardships as the Irish: British colonialism, poor economic conditions, high taxes, natural disasters, and starvation. The United States promised equal opportunity and the accumulation of wealth. Most of the migrants were able-bodied men sent by their families and wives to work and send money back home.
Chinese immigrants found new homes on the West Coast, particularly California and Oregon. In 1870, a forth of California's Chinese population made homes in San Francisco. It would be interesting to find out how many Chinese currently living in San Francisco are descendants of this initial wave of immigrants. Referencing the San Francisco Bay Area, Takaki put a lot of the history into perspective for me. I was able to imagine what the landscape looked like in the San Francisco of the 1800s: the beginning of Chinatown, the new railroads, the burgeoning businesses, and the gold miners looking to strike it rich.
Of course, earlier sentiments of acceptance turned sour once white Americans had to compete for gold and jobs with Chinese. Racist laws such as the 1882 Chinese Exclusion Act were enacted and the Chinese were unable to become citizens or inter-marry. When the economy slowed at the end of the 1800s, many Chinese laborers found themselves excluded from traditional work. This led to self-employment in Chinese-owned businesses such as laundries
I found the struggle of Chinese women particularly heartbreaking. Due to Chinese culture, the men could move to the U.S. to find work and had to leave their families and wives back in China. This strategy insured that the son would send money back since he didn't have his wife with him and couldn't start a new family in the States. An 1875 law banned the entry of Chinese prostitutes but the language was such that even wives could not enter. Despite the law, many Chinese women were forced into prostitution. Chinese prostitutes. the victims of "double discrimination" (much like their Japanese counterparts), led lives of dismal prospects. Many became opium addicts, suffered from sexually-transmitted diseases, beaten by their customers or owners or committed suicide due to despair. It's easy in my modern mindset to wonder why these women didn't try to improve their lot in life, but honestly, they had no other choice. Even if they were freed from bondage, they still faced innumerable hardships due to their sex and race.
It's strange that the San Francisco earthquake could be seen as a catalyst for good, but the subsequent fires destroyed most municipal records and opened the floodgates for a new wave of Chinese immigrants. Many of these new immigrants could claim that they were U.S. citizens, born in China to American parents, and bring their wives with them. These immigrants were no longer looking to toil in the U.S. and then return to China. No, they wanted to stay for good.
In Chapter 10, Takaki outlines the Japanese immigrant experience, especially in relation to their labor in Hawaiian sugar cane fields. From 1885-1924, 200,000 Japanese emigrated to Hawaii and another 180,000 moved to the mainland. Unlike the Chinese culture, Japan encouraged the emigration of women. In Japan, women could work in heavy industrial labor such as coal mines, construction, and textile mills. They were also encouraged to seek an education. English was a required class in many Japanese schools so new Japanese immigrants mastered the dominant language prior to their move.
In comparison to the Chinese experience, the Japanese life in Hawaii almost seems ideal. Although they had to toil in the sun working on sugar plantations, they were often paid a fair wage and had the support of both their fellow countrymen and family. Their existence didn't seem as lonely as the Chinese bachelor.
It was difficult for new Japanese immigrants to find work in more specialized or skilled fields. Racism was a huge factor in the bureaucratic hierarchy of many plantation. The skilled and prestigious jobs automatically went to whites, while the menial jobs were reserved for Japanese, Filipino, and Portuguese.
Filipino and Japanese workers formed the Hawaii Laborers Association together, in pursuit of better wages and benefits, despite ethnic differences. This truce was short lived at the time since plant owners used the time-honored tradition of pitting different elasticities against each other to distract them from their common enemy.
Second-generation Japanese kids were encouraged to gain an education despite suppression efforts from plant owners to keep them ignorant. Like the Mexicans, the Japanese were encouraged to quit school before high school since educated people would seek better careers than plantation labor.
When compared to the openly racist attacks the Japanese had to endure in the mainland, Hawaii seemed like a safe haven for different elasticities. Unlike the continental U.S., it seems that from early on, Hawaii practiced multiculturalism. This spirit lives on in the present. One of my close friends that is Chinese proclaims her love for Hawaii because she isn't a minority.
I would have liked to learn more about the native Hawaiians and whether Hawaii's unique melting pot is due to the preservation of their culture or because of the influx of a vast array of Asian peoples. Takaki doesn't specify in this chapter.
Overall, I felt less angered by this week's readings. Perhaps I'm becoming used to the tools of dominant American sentiment at this time. Or perhaps there was a spread of the idea of greater acceptance of all races. I know that this had yet to be realized in the years leading up to World War II (especially the concept of internment camps) but slowly, the tide started to change towards grasping the purist ideals of the United States.
Sunday, February 21, 2010
Monday, February 15, 2010
Week 5 Reading Response
I'm back after taking a couple weeks off due to a crazy schedule and an unforeseen illness!
This week, we read Chapters 7 and 12 in "A Different Mirror" by Ronald Takaki. These chapters specifically dealt with the Chicano and Latino experiences within two different time periods in the United States. The first chapter recounted the annexation of the Southwest, particularly Texas and California, into the United States. The second chapter we read speaks of the experience that migrant Mexican workers found once they moved to "El Norte" in search of work.
Chapter 7 is titled "Foreigners in Their Native Land" for good reason. As the Americans have been wont to do throughout the course of their short history (to this point), they once again declare foreign land as their own and subject the rightful owners to unspeakable acts of degradation and humiliation. Oh, Americans of the mid-19th century, why? Instead of just being upfront about being out-right thieves, the Anglo-Americans (there has to be a distinction), once again make the land into a race issue. The land MUST belong to the civilized and god-fearing Anglo men, of course! I'm feeling a bit more sarcastic this week because I've been tiring of this form of reasoning because it seems so false! The Anglo-Americans must have known their own spurious reasons for taking land that isn't rightfully theirs. Yet, instead of going about it in a "civilized" manner (since that is what they purpose to spread throughout the new United States, right?), they resort to war, fear-mongering, and race baiting. I found it ironic that Commander Vallejo, forced from his ranch in California, found the American frontiersmen as "exiles from civilization." Also, these men and other American soldiers in Texas and California were "illegal aliens" in Mexican land. This did not hinder their progress, however. Perhaps this lead to the current anxiety regarding "illegals"? Perhaps there is a collective Anglo memory that understands their forefathers' theft of the land, and they must keep the current Mexican "illegal aliens" from what is currently U.S. land. Lest these "illegals" reclaim their ancestors' rightful lands?
By 1848, Mexico ceded Texas and other Southwestern territories to the U.S. for $15 million, leaving Mexico with half of their prior land. This created the odd predicament of Mexicans being "foreigners in their own land." New Anglo residents moved into California and Texas and brought their foreign language and laws with them, creating an uneasy divide between conqueror and conquered. This started the Mexican caste system, wherein former land owners were now forced to give up their ranches and farms due to debt and had to work for the new Anglo landowners. Mexicans moved from landowners to laborers, much like the Irish under English rule. There became an apparent divide across racial lines. Whites became landowners, Mexicans became laborers.
The silver lining in Chapter 7 was revealed at the end when Takaki described the alliance between Mexican and Japanese laborers in the form of the JMLA Union: The Japanese-Mexican Labor Association. These two minority groups were able to form an alliance in class against Anglo landowners. When the dominant union was going to take the JMLA under their wing if they dumped the Japanese laborers, the Mexicans stood fast and refused to turn their backs on their "Japanese brothers."
Another interesting group in Chapter 7 were the Mexican mutualistas, groups of Mexicans that banded together in their struggle to retain their Mexican culture and customs in spite of being American-born. This balance of identity continues on today. How does one create a place for themselves when their backgrounds straddle two different nations? What does it mean when you feel more affinity for a nation that is not your current homeland? How does one reconcile this inner struggle in the face of assimilation?
Chapter 12 in Takaki's book spoke of Mexican immigration in the 20th century. Since it was easy for Mexicans to come to the United States since the countries bordered each other, the early 1900s saw an influx of Mexican people in the Southwestern states. These people came for migrant and seasonal farm work offered by Anglo farm and ranch owners. By 1918, 70% of the Mexican population in Los Angeles were unskilled laborers. Much like the struggle of post-Reconstruction African-Americans, many American-born Mexicans found themselves segregated in their own country. Mexican-Americans were forced into separate institutions and public places from their fellow white countrymen. It was depressing to think of the institutional reach of this racism and classism. Mexican-American children, forced into segregated schools, were discouraged from receiving an education because this would make them poor laborers or inspire them to work within the white collar professions. So, the Mexican-Americans were disparaged for being "shiftless, lazy, and docile" but were discouraged from bettering themselves through education because white ranch owners needed cheap labor. Huh? And it continues today, that's the thing that is so pervasive in these readings. All of the social, racial, class, and gender hierarchies were put into place long before any of us were born. This is the system that people of color are still fighting against. It's incredible to think that these struggles are STILL raging.
This week, we read Chapters 7 and 12 in "A Different Mirror" by Ronald Takaki. These chapters specifically dealt with the Chicano and Latino experiences within two different time periods in the United States. The first chapter recounted the annexation of the Southwest, particularly Texas and California, into the United States. The second chapter we read speaks of the experience that migrant Mexican workers found once they moved to "El Norte" in search of work.
Chapter 7 is titled "Foreigners in Their Native Land" for good reason. As the Americans have been wont to do throughout the course of their short history (to this point), they once again declare foreign land as their own and subject the rightful owners to unspeakable acts of degradation and humiliation. Oh, Americans of the mid-19th century, why? Instead of just being upfront about being out-right thieves, the Anglo-Americans (there has to be a distinction), once again make the land into a race issue. The land MUST belong to the civilized and god-fearing Anglo men, of course! I'm feeling a bit more sarcastic this week because I've been tiring of this form of reasoning because it seems so false! The Anglo-Americans must have known their own spurious reasons for taking land that isn't rightfully theirs. Yet, instead of going about it in a "civilized" manner (since that is what they purpose to spread throughout the new United States, right?), they resort to war, fear-mongering, and race baiting. I found it ironic that Commander Vallejo, forced from his ranch in California, found the American frontiersmen as "exiles from civilization." Also, these men and other American soldiers in Texas and California were "illegal aliens" in Mexican land. This did not hinder their progress, however. Perhaps this lead to the current anxiety regarding "illegals"? Perhaps there is a collective Anglo memory that understands their forefathers' theft of the land, and they must keep the current Mexican "illegal aliens" from what is currently U.S. land. Lest these "illegals" reclaim their ancestors' rightful lands?
By 1848, Mexico ceded Texas and other Southwestern territories to the U.S. for $15 million, leaving Mexico with half of their prior land. This created the odd predicament of Mexicans being "foreigners in their own land." New Anglo residents moved into California and Texas and brought their foreign language and laws with them, creating an uneasy divide between conqueror and conquered. This started the Mexican caste system, wherein former land owners were now forced to give up their ranches and farms due to debt and had to work for the new Anglo landowners. Mexicans moved from landowners to laborers, much like the Irish under English rule. There became an apparent divide across racial lines. Whites became landowners, Mexicans became laborers.
The silver lining in Chapter 7 was revealed at the end when Takaki described the alliance between Mexican and Japanese laborers in the form of the JMLA Union: The Japanese-Mexican Labor Association. These two minority groups were able to form an alliance in class against Anglo landowners. When the dominant union was going to take the JMLA under their wing if they dumped the Japanese laborers, the Mexicans stood fast and refused to turn their backs on their "Japanese brothers."
Another interesting group in Chapter 7 were the Mexican mutualistas, groups of Mexicans that banded together in their struggle to retain their Mexican culture and customs in spite of being American-born. This balance of identity continues on today. How does one create a place for themselves when their backgrounds straddle two different nations? What does it mean when you feel more affinity for a nation that is not your current homeland? How does one reconcile this inner struggle in the face of assimilation?
Chapter 12 in Takaki's book spoke of Mexican immigration in the 20th century. Since it was easy for Mexicans to come to the United States since the countries bordered each other, the early 1900s saw an influx of Mexican people in the Southwestern states. These people came for migrant and seasonal farm work offered by Anglo farm and ranch owners. By 1918, 70% of the Mexican population in Los Angeles were unskilled laborers. Much like the struggle of post-Reconstruction African-Americans, many American-born Mexicans found themselves segregated in their own country. Mexican-Americans were forced into separate institutions and public places from their fellow white countrymen. It was depressing to think of the institutional reach of this racism and classism. Mexican-American children, forced into segregated schools, were discouraged from receiving an education because this would make them poor laborers or inspire them to work within the white collar professions. So, the Mexican-Americans were disparaged for being "shiftless, lazy, and docile" but were discouraged from bettering themselves through education because white ranch owners needed cheap labor. Huh? And it continues today, that's the thing that is so pervasive in these readings. All of the social, racial, class, and gender hierarchies were put into place long before any of us were born. This is the system that people of color are still fighting against. It's incredible to think that these struggles are STILL raging.
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