For February 28th, we were asked to watch a video on the internet regarding the immigration of Japanese and Chinese and their struggle to escape stereotype during World War II. Many of these individuals were sent to camps in various locations to be monitored by the United States government. Many were thought to be spies, and had to live in barracks with many other people and their own families. It presented many challenges for these immigrants that were very reminiscent of the African American slavery 100 year before. However, it was more interesting on how the film presented this injustice.
The film showed happy citizens of these camps, people who spent long hours in fields and machining. It showed families that were content with building partitions in barracks to separate themselves from other families and have a makeshift home. These people were ripped from their homes, many of them being 2nd generation, and put into a confined area. The film tried to justify this treatment as a service to these people, and showed that thanks to these camps these people picked up traits that they normally wouldn't have.
A question that I would present is why incarcerate all Chinese/ Japanese citizens while other dangerous groups roam free? We did not put any German citizens into camps, neither the Italians and they were both against us in World War II. It presents certain questions about ethics because both of those groups are from the European continent while the Asian culture is very little understood and were thought savage. It makes little sense to only hold those people incarcerated while some of the high risk groups are walking free.
I felt that this video was blatantly racist, but showed how the government wanted to absolve themselves because they knew it was wrong to do. The government tried to show that there was benefit to put these people into the camps and many learned new trades and dispersed out of the California region. It really presents a question of ethics, whether it is right to concentrate on one group of people while letting others go free.
Wednesday, February 28, 2007
Monday, February 26, 2007
Post for Feb. 26th, 2007
For this reading, we studied chapter 10 of Takaki entitled "Pacific crossings: seeking the land of money trees". It basically described the lives of Japanese immigrants throughout the 1800's and into the 1900's and their struggles with customs that have been around for centuries. One of the customs that was most discussed in this chapter was the idea of arranged marriage and the purpose of children in Japan. According to Takaki, there were to be three children in an ideal Japanese family; "One to sell, one to follow, and one in reserve". The daughter was the one to "sell", the eldest son follows in his fathers footsteps and the one in reserve is in case something happens to the eldest son.
Takaki goes on to talk about the workforce of Japanese in Hawaii in growing sugar cane. With the influx of labor migrating east, it was more profitable to devote their energy towards one cash crop that was successful. Immigration actually regulated on how many people of the Chinese culture and Japanese culture could immigrate because the Japanese had so many people coming east that it threw off the proportion of Chinese. It was put into effect that 2/3 of immigration coming east must be Chinese and 1/3 could be Japanese
The main question that came to mind during this chapter was that the Chinese and Japanese work force was in essence a type of slavery. Why was there no emphasis on equality for these people but more emphasis towards African American slavery? One answer could be that it was less obvious for people in the most populated area's to realize what was going on. It was rare for people on the east coast to meet a person from the Asian continent. However, in a time where fighting for racial equality was so important, it does not make a lot of sense that this type of cruelty still continued, even though they were paid workers, but poorly at that.
In my opinion the chapter shows that even after the "end of slavery" there were ways around it so that cheap labor could be bought. Immigrants in this time were a large reason for the success of the United States, but little is known of the Chinese and Japanese struggle on the west coast. luckily, authors like Takaki brought these struggles to the forefront by writing books like this.
Takaki goes on to talk about the workforce of Japanese in Hawaii in growing sugar cane. With the influx of labor migrating east, it was more profitable to devote their energy towards one cash crop that was successful. Immigration actually regulated on how many people of the Chinese culture and Japanese culture could immigrate because the Japanese had so many people coming east that it threw off the proportion of Chinese. It was put into effect that 2/3 of immigration coming east must be Chinese and 1/3 could be Japanese
The main question that came to mind during this chapter was that the Chinese and Japanese work force was in essence a type of slavery. Why was there no emphasis on equality for these people but more emphasis towards African American slavery? One answer could be that it was less obvious for people in the most populated area's to realize what was going on. It was rare for people on the east coast to meet a person from the Asian continent. However, in a time where fighting for racial equality was so important, it does not make a lot of sense that this type of cruelty still continued, even though they were paid workers, but poorly at that.
In my opinion the chapter shows that even after the "end of slavery" there were ways around it so that cheap labor could be bought. Immigrants in this time were a large reason for the success of the United States, but little is known of the Chinese and Japanese struggle on the west coast. luckily, authors like Takaki brought these struggles to the forefront by writing books like this.
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