Asian American History Final

Foreign Miners Tax of 1850 and 1852

1850: Targetted at Latino population: charged $20 for a mining license

1852: A three dollar a month tax imposed on all miner's who did not seek citizenship (all Chinese people)

One of the many tactics California Legislature used to reduce the immigration and mining competition of Asians (and other races) to California

Despite taxes, Chinese were very successful in mining operations. Ex: Chinese six companies. Mexicans left.

Page Law of 1875

This law prohibited the entry of prostitutes and contract laborers, but was so broadly applied that it excluded most Chinese women as a whole.

Chinese women had to undergo "rigorous interrogation," causing a large drop in the immigration of Chinese women. (p. 40)

Most Chinese women coming to the mainland before 1875 were prostitutes.

Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882

This law prohibited the entry of "Chinese laborers."

This act "singled out Chinese on a racial basis" (15) but also encouraged them to become "permanent settlers" (65).

Due to the decreased labor supply, the Chinese could also demand higher wages (92).

The law lasted 10 years and denied them naturalized citizenship. In 1888, it was broadened to include "all persons of the Chinese race" except "Chinese officials, teachers, students, tourists, and merchants" (111). Renewed in 1892, "extended indefinitely" in 1902

Sets up a precedent for excluding other immigrants from Europe and Asia.

Sets up a modern immigration government with documents like certificates of residence (lynchpin of all immigration policy)

Scott Act of 1888

Barred re-entry of Chinese laborers to U.S. regardless of re-entry certificates.

Expanded upon the Chinese Exclusion act and was the main premise of Chae Chan Ping vs. US

Geary Act of 1892

Extension and Renewal of the Chinese Exclusion Act, which was only for a period of 10 years.

Required all Chinese residents to have a certificate of residence (no papers after one year of residency=deportation), with white witnesses to vouch, and removed their ability to be witness in court

Chinese Exclusion act barred laborers, but the Geary act banned all Chinese persons (except merchants, scholars and diplomats) implying that Chinese people were unassimilable

Fong Yue Ting v. U.S.

Court case in 1893 involving a Chinese man who was not able to obtain a certificate of residence because he could not produce two white witnesses.

He argued that requiring the white witnesses was unlawful, but the Supreme court deemed that congress had every right to deport non-citizens and to regulate and prohibit immigration.

U.S. v Wong Kim Ark

Court Case in 1898 involving a Chinese man who was born in San Francisco, traveled to China and was denied entry

U.S. attorney argued that Wong Kim and Chinese in general couldn't assimilate.

Supreme Court ruled in Wong Kim's favor, denoting that the 14th amendment citizenship clause included all persons born in U.S. even children of foreigners.

The Philippine-American War

Following American colonization after the U.S. defeated Spain in the Spanish American War (1898)

Conflict (1899-1902) arose between the United States and Filipino Revolutionaries fighting for independence from American Colonization

U.S. upon victory, removed Catholicism as the official religion, and established English as the primary language, and the Philippines as a U.S. territory.

Motivations for colonizing the Philippines: Economic opportunities for trade with China, Manifest destiny (Primary source about a civilizing mission, to help the children raised by the decadent Spanish), and strategic annexation of Hawaii as a halfway base.

Waipahu Planation Strike of 1906

Hawaiian Japanese laborers struck on a sugar planation demanding higher wages

47 policemen armed with rifles were assigned to the plantation and marched to intimidate

The strikers forced planatation to grant concessions in order to end the strike

Represents an era of single ethnic (blood union) strikes against Plantations

Only successful because 40% of population was Japanese. Later, planation owners hired strike breakers of other ethnicities.

Tydings-McDuffie Act

Established (1934) the Philippines as a commonwealth and would provide independence and a Filipino constitution in 10 years

Purpose was Filipino exclusion - as residents of an independent country rather than a U.S. territory, Filipinos would no longer have unrestricted entry to the U.S., Limited to 50 per year

For the Filipino immigrants already living in the U.S., it meant that because they were not "white" and therefore could not become naturalized citizens, they were cut off from New Deal work programs.

Gentlemen's Agreement

Japan is a powerhouse in early 1900s. Beat the Russians and took over Koreans. As a result, were able to cooperate with American government about immigration.

The Gentlemen's Agreement (1907) was an agreement with the Imperial Japanese government to bar the emigration of its laborers

As a result, Korean immigration is barred because it's colonized by Japan

The Gentlemen's Agreement represented the unique diplomatic relationship that Imperial Japan had with the United States. Only Asians getting through were Japanese immigrants until 1924 immigration act

Angel Island

Ellis Island was the immigration station for those coming in through New York.

The majority of immigrants processed at Ellis Island were from Europe, particularly Eastern Europe. However, some Asian immigrants did come through this immigration station.

Ellis Island's equivalent on the West Coast was Angel Island. Angel Island, on the other hand, was more commonly associated with Asian immigration.

"Paper Son"

Many Asian immigrants, particularly the Chinese, came to the United States under false claims to citizenship.

"Paper sons" purchased the birth certificates or forged certificates of American citizens born in China and then claimed they were citizens in order to enter the United States, after which they would go back to China and bring other "sons."

The purchase of birth certificates did not guarantee "paper sons" could enter the United States. They were detained at Angel Island where they had to pass an examination to prove their American identity.

"Paper sons" would use "crib sheets" to memorize information about the families of their "fathers" and before they reached shore would throw the sheets overboard.

The "paper son" phenomenon would not have been possible without the San Francisco earthquake. The immigration that occurred as a result of the earthquake and people claiming to be "paper sons" made the Chinese population in America as it is today possible. (Takaki, 234-238)

Picture Brides

The picture bride system was based on the custom of arranged marriages in Japan. Marriage in Japanese society was a family concern rather than an individual matter.

In picture bride marriages, the potential bride and groom would exchange photographs before the initial meeting; however, many young brides would arrive in America and be disappointed/shocked that their husbands were actually much older than in their photographs. The Japanese government policy for the emigration of women and picture bride marriages was based on the 19th century norm of Japanese women becoming wage-earning workers rather than working in home services. Japanese women were also more educated and receptive to the idea of travel than Chinese women, who tended to stay in their homes and were still limited by traditional Chinese family structures (men work, women stay at home). Many Japanese women secretly had their own extravagant reasons for going to America - to explore the outside world and saw being a picture bride as a way to get there. (p. 47-48)

Mention "Picture Bride" the movie

California Alien Land Law of 1913

Anti-Japanese legislation that prevented them from owning land. The law did not specifically refer to the Japanese, but it was clearly aimed at them, declaring unlawful the ownership of "real property" by "aliens ineligible to citizenship" and stipulating that aliens could not lease agricultural land for terms longer than three years.

This caused many Japanese to organize their lives around 3 year leases by planting short term crops. The law was acknowledged to have racial intent and based on a concern for "race undesirability".

The purpose of the law was to prevent the Japanese from staying and settling in large numbers. However, the Japanese were able to find some loopholes and were able to own land by leasing land under their American born children.

They also operating their farms through land corporations and switched the land to their children's names when they came of age.

As laws became stricter, the Japanese also entered unwritten arrangements with white landlords and leased the land while appearing to serve as a salaried manager. (p. 203-206)

Immigration Act of 1917

Created an Asiatic Barred Zone that was mainly targeted at Asian Indians

Reflects how U.S. is faithful to Britain by closing off ways for Indians to make nationalistic movements outside of India)

Prevented Asian-Indian women from immigrating with their husbands, causing the Asian-Indian population in America to be a largely a bachelor society or society of "uncles".

Asian-Indian men were usually prohibited from marrying white women, so they frequently married Mexican women.

Through their Mexican wives, Indian men could secure land. However, many Mexican-Indian marriages failed due to cultural differences, including the Indian men finding the women too "free". (p. 308-310)

The Immigration Act of 1917 barred many different types of people from immigrating, including homosexuals, mentally challenged, illiterate adults, criminals, alcoholics...and used a literacy test to exclude the poor.

Immigration Act of 1924

Annual immigration quota: number coming in = how many were in U.S. during 1880 Census

Reduced Annual legal immigration from Europe (150,000 Quota) and significantly reduced flow of Southern and Eastern Europeans

Barred immigration for all "aliens ineligible for citizenship'

Though not stated explicitly, the Japanese were being singled out, since the Chinese and Asian Indians had already been excluded by other legislation.

"aliens ineligible for citizenship"

14th amendment clause states that Black and whites can naturalize legally (Mexicans considered white).

This term was used to target the Chinese first (they were legally categorized as this as part of the Chinese Exclusion Act) and other Asian immigrants later on.

In the Alien Land Law, this phrase was used in legislation to prevent Asian immigrants (mainly Japanese) from owning land.

1924 Immigration act used the phrase to target Japanese by barring all aliens ineligible for citizenship.

Women who married immigrants or Asians would lose their citizenship.

Ozawa v. U.S.

In 1922, the US Supreme Court decided the question of Japanese eligibility to citizenship. Takao Ozawa had filed for an American citizenship but was denied, despite having been schooled in America for years, worked in an American company and settled down to raise a family in the US.

The court ruled that Ozawa was not eligible for naturalized citizenship because "in every way qualified under the statutes to become a US citizen except" that he was not white.

Ozawa went to court again six years later, declaring that he was "a true American" and did not have an connection with the Japanese government, but he was denied again since he was "clearly" "not Caucasian". (p. 208)

These cases confirmed Congress ability to discriminate based on race for naturalization.

Also raises question of whether or not he could apply for citizenship as a black person.

Japanese American Citizens League

The JACL was a national organization that brought together Japanese-Americans under one umbrella.

The JACL helped connect Nisei professionals around America and allowed them to claim that they were "Americans".

The overarching intent of the society was three-fold: they desired to contribute to the social life of the nation, economic welfare, and civic welfare (as educated voters).

The philosophy of the group was to improve themselves to the extent that Americans had to accept them since they would be equals.

Executive Order 9066

"From which any or all persons may be excluded, an enemy alien designation"

This was the Order signed by Roosevelt which gave the Secretary of War the power to prescribe military areas to whomever he wanted.

This resulted in the Japanese internment, which was a violation of civil rights in America.

Some Germans and Italians were interned, but only those that had individual charges as potential threats

General DeWitt evacuated the Japanese and placed them in internment camps on short notice. This had collateral consequences for many Japanese who were entirely innocent and were forced to give up their possessions.

This happened even though an investigation into the threat of Japanese-Americans, called the Ringle report, concluded that they were not an actual threat.

Korematsu v. U.S.

Korematsu was a high class, Americanized, Japanese-American who never registered for internment camps

Landmark case regarding the constitutionality of Executive Order 9066 under the fifth amendment. The Court ruled that the order was constitutional and held that the need to protect from espionage outweighed Korematsu's rights, under wartime circumstances.

However, it was later revealed that there was little evidence of any Japanese espionage at the time. The decision has since been conceded to have been "made in error" and can no longer be used as a precedent.

Conviction overturned in 1983, 1988: Congress apologized for internment, and admitted it was based on race prejudice, war hysteria, and failure of political leadership

"no-no boys"

No-no boy was a term from Okada's novel No-No Boy that described Nisei during the internment of the Japanese during World War II who answered no to two questions on a loyalty questionnaire

The first asked if prisoners would serve in the armed forces and the second demanded unqualified allegiance to the U.S.

Nisei who answered no-no were stigmatized in Okada's Novel as traitors as most answered Yes to both questions out of fear, or to confirm their patriotism. No-No boys served time in prison

Many protested the questions as the questions assumed that Nisei may have allegiance to the Japanese emperor. Others thought it was unfair that they were asked to serve in armed forces while being held prisoner in camps.

Some Japanese-Americans retaliated, and published articles fiercely encouraging a no-no answer. They formed the fair play committee at Heart Mountain internment camp.

Okada's novel No-No boy, which explored the bitter aftereffects of Japanese-Americans after interment, was not well received during the Cold-War period. American's were more enthusiastic about coercive Asian-American works such as Flower Drum Song.

Fair Play Committee

The Fair Play Committee was formed at Heart Mountain internment camp. It was a movement that gathered widespread support protesting the draft of interned Japanese Americans during World War II, deeming it unconstitutional.

Many of the Fair play committee members answer "no-no" to the 1943 loyalty questionnaire, declining to join the draft or swear allegiance to the U.S.

The Fair play committee declared they would not cooperate with the draft unless their citizenship rights were restored first

FPC gained supporters using newspapers and reasoned that they were fighting for their country, defending the ideals of the constitution

FPC was unsuccessful as their movement was shut down by the government, and many no-no boys were sent to prison.

The majority of Nisei answered yes, and many chose to express their patriotism in defense of the country, serving as translators on the Pacific front

Repeal of Chinese Exclusion

In 1943, America finally allowed a meager quota of 105 visas of Chinese immigrants, the official end of Chinese exclusion since the 19th century, and the first instance of naturalization of Chinese immigrants

Since Japanese propaganda made many references to Chinese exclusion to weaken the tie between China and U.S. during WWII, this repeal was largely motivated to prevent a pan-Asian alliance.

The quota did not increase Chinese immigration, as laws such as the "aliens ineligible for citizenship" clause in the 1924 Immigration act still prevent Chinese immigration.

Chinese immigrants would not enter America in significant numbers until the McCarran-Walter Act of 1952.

The bill represented a political move for the "salvation of the white race." It represented one of the last periods of clear political restriction and discrimination of Chinese-Americans, and the frontier towards integrationist and multicultural American policy.

Luce-Cellar Act of 1946

Following the repeal of Chinese exclusion in 1943, the Luce-Cellar Act similarly allowed a quota of 100 Indian immigrants, and allowed some Indian immigrants in America to naturalize.

It was proposed in 1943, with a similar motive as the repeal of Chinese exclusion: a measure of good faith to prevent a pan-asian alliance under Japanese imperialism.

Although its impact was small on the number of Indian- Asian immigrants, it signaled the beginnings of integrationist and multicultural American policy.

It represents a large shift after WWII of sympathy towards Chinese and Filipino as they were remarked as great allies during the Pacific War.

Still, Asian immigrants would not enter America in significant numbers until the McCarran-Walter Act of 1952.

Japanese War Brides

Japanese war brides were women that met American soldiers during World War II during occupation in Japan, and married them. These women were promised free passage to the U.S. through the War brides Act ( a non-quota loophole)

In class we read an article by Social Worker Bok-Lim C. Kim that Describes the Social Isolation and Alienation of War Brides

The article describes how war bride marriages were largely unsuccessful.

General Anti-miscegenation sentiment in America exacerbated marital problems leading to spouse abuse, separation and divorce

Japanese War brides often suffered a psychosocial isolation, especially because of the language barrier.

In their home countries, they were loved and esteemed, dealing with familial and marital issues orally, akin to eastern culture. In America, they were unable to exercise their rights as wives of military personnel.

Oyama V. California

In 1946, Fred and Kajiro Oyama purchased 6 acres of land in California, and made a transfer, but then were interned during WWII. Their transfer was considered illegal according to California alien land laws since Kajiro was an alien ineligible for citizenship, and the land was confiscated.

Transferring property to sons was a common loophole used by Asian-Americans in California to avoid illegal possession of land by California Alien Land Laws

The supreme court deemed the confiscation unfair because it violated Oyama's equal protection guarantees by the fourteenth amendment.

The Alien land laws would not be deemed unconstitutional until 1952.

Part of a general trend during the 1940s and 1950s of weakening discrimination, especially to prevent pan-Asian alliance. Along with other supreme court cases such as Perez v Sharp and Shelly V. Kramer, Asian Americans slowly gained many rights as American citizens.

McCarran-Walter Act of 1952

The act specifically ended "Asiatic Barred Zone" and granted naturalization rights for Asian immigrants

Still a national origins quota (considered discriminatory) but used 1920 census so it wasn't as discriminatory as before. Many Asian immigrants were still permitted despite a low quota because they were considered "non-quota" immigrants. It began immigration policies focused on family reunification and skill sets that set the basis of later immigration acts such as the Hart-Cellar act in 1965.

The McCarran-Walter Act moved away from excluding immigrants based simply upon country of origin. Instead it focused upon denying immigrants who were unlawful, immoral, diseased in any way, politically radical, etc

The McCarran-Walter Act was not legislation concerned with bettering the lives of Asian Americans. The main objective of this was to block any spread of communism from post WWII countries.

President Harry Truman recognized the legislation's discriminatory and un-American sides, and attempted to veto the bill, but his veto was overturned. Truman's mentality represents the 1950s shift towards pro-Asian and anti-discriminatory attitudes rising in the wake of the Cold War.

The Cold War

The Cold War was a period of military and political tension between communist and non-communist forces during the second half of the 20th century.

The Cold War demonstrated a dramatic change in the U.S.'s attitude towards Asian Americans as they confronted the idealogical threat of communism

As racism was inherent in communist ideology, The U.S. wanted to project feelings of sympathy, anti-racism, and multiculturalism in America.

As a result, media and politics adopted pro-Asian attitudes, which can be seen in the release of novels such as Flower Drum song, "Fifth daughter" by Jade Snow Wong, Asian adoption programs by Pearl Buck, and musicals back Roger and Hammerstein.

Klein's "Cold War Orientalism" expertly highlights many aspects of American culture during the cold war that promoted a "sentimental education" towards coercion with non-communist Asia.

In general, Cold War America was more focused on bettering the lives of The Asian-American community, finally allowing a sense of belonging through an anti-communist umbrella. (Klein talks about how many Asian-Americans joined anti-communist groups and efforts through which they felt they were more accepted into American society )

Relate to Hmong and Vietnam War.

The Chinese "Confession Program"

In 1955, the American Consul in Hong Kong warned that Chinese Communist spies could use false citizenship papers to gain passage to the United States.

The U.S. authorities, motivated by an anticommunist agenda during "the red scare", began investigating thousands of Chinese Americans, many of whom had immigrated illegally as "paper sons."

Paper sons were...

Thousands eventually participated in the program, and were granted immunity and usually were not deported (99%).

Politically, it was a success as it rectified many illegal statuses, and better organized the citizenships of the Chinese-American community

Despite its label as an "amnesty program" it proved problematic in the Chinese-American community, creating much distrust as Asian-Americans were encouraged to implicate each other

Flower Drum Song

1957 novel written by Chinese American author C.Y. Lee, Broadway musical made (in 1961) by famous playwrights Rodgers and Hammerstein and, the first movie with an all Asian American cast

Along with other burgeoning Asian-American pieces such as "Fifth Chinese daughter" by Jade Snow Wong with a large American readership, it introduces Americans to the story of Chinese immigrants in San Francisco

It shows family-centered Asian Americans with a focus on the generational gap between the older and younger generations. This greatly contrasts with pre-1945 conventions of displaying Asian-Americans as a deviant bachelor society.

From scenes such as Asian-Americans enjoying baseball, or use a commercial bank, the overall effect is a more sympathetic, and unifying outlook towards Asian-Americans. This outlook towards Asian Americans is reflective of the cold war era, towards bridging connections with non-communist Asia.

Hart-Cellar Act of 1965

Also known as The Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965, it abolished Immigration policy structured around the National origins act (used in 1952 and 1924).

It was considered a radically liberal policy, motivated by the civil rights movement, which considered the quota system intolerable (Kennedy's Quote).

It focused on family reunification , those with useful skill sets, or political refugees, placing a cap in the hundreds of thousands of range. Immigration numbers would skyrocket as immigrants were reunited with their families, and refugees from Cold-era conflicts such as Cuba or Eastern Europe, and Hmong/Vietnam conflicts escape post-war poverty.

Post 1965 marks an era of immense demographic change as Latin-american and Asian-American populations began to constitute a significant portion of the American population.

Contrary to Kennedy's projection that the demographics of America would not significantly change, America experienced a large, unexpected flow of non-quota Asian immigrants (like Vietnamese) and Latin American immigrants. As a result, US immigration has become more restrictive since 1965 (1965 was the least restrictive time in history).

Samuel Hayakawa

Samuel Hayakawa was a pivotal figure in the San Francisco State College strike of 1968-69.

The strike was driven by the Black panthers and Third World Liberation Front who organized a radical protest against the Euro-centric ideologies of the education system, and demanded a policies forged towards racially inclusive education, the benchmark demand the establishment of the first school of ethnic studies.

Hayakawa, president of the SF state at the time, was controversial, actually representing the more conservative view, pressing for liberal assimilation.

In Chains of Babylon, by Maeda, Hayakawa's conservative opinion clashed dramatically with radical Asian-Americans who for the first time, began to rally behind the racial identity "Asian-American." These radical Asian-Americans represented the first Asian-American civil rights movement, coercing with the Black Panthers and Third World Liberation Front. The chapter's title "Down with Hayakawa!" signifies this clash between conservative and radical views.

Hayakawa gained conservative government support and called for the state militia to put the protest down, suffering massive defamation as he was an Asian-American that possessed the power to make significant liberal change during this widely publicized civil rights movement.

A school of ethnic studies was eventually established, but the demands of the radical movement were mostly not met.

Hayakawa later became Republican senator of California.

Red Guard Party

The Red Guard was a radical Chinese-American street youth organization in 1969, formed from the deplorable conditions of San Francisco Chinatown, which was plagued by poverty and tuberculosis

The Red Guard party built community programs (Sunday Brunch) and protested against the Vietnam War.

The Red Guard party was heavily influenced by Third World Solidarity and the Black Panther party, using a ten-point plan that called for rights of self-determination, social mobility, and the breakdown of racial oppression, and called attention to police brutality

The Red Guard party represented a major part of Asian-American civil rights as they allied with the Black panthers, and identified with the "blackness" in Asian-Americans as an oppressed minority, and not with the popular model minority myth.

The Red Guard party also strongly identified with China, rather than as Americans, fighting assimilation. This contrasted with more conservative views like other voices such as Frank Chin and Hayakawa.

Frank Chin's play: identifying with black masculinity (Stereotypes). "Yellow menstrual show"

As a result, they were essential in the creation of the racial identity "Asian-American."

The Vietnam War

The Vietnam War, from 1955-1975, was a proxy war fought between the U.S. and Vietnam, which was part of the U.S.'s containment procedures to prevent the spread of communism during the Cold War.

The Vietnam war was considered by many to be an unnecessary intrusion into a a third world Asian country, Vietnam a victim of western imperialism, and also created racial strife between Asian-Americans and whites in America.

Asian-Americans, especially those in radical and liberal organizations such as the red guard party or Triple A, widely supported the withdrawal of all troops from Vietnam, considering the Vietnam war an anti Asian, not anti-communist war.

Many Asian-Americans were able to find a sense of belonging by protesting against the Vietnam war, gaining the sympathy of many white Americans.

As events such as the My Lai Massacre were publicized, the eventual withdrawal of troops in 1973 ended protests against the War.

Kao Kalia Yang's The Latehomecomer

General Vang Pao - Hmong general who helped the US during the Vietnam War but abandoned the Hmong people after the war ended

Yang implicates the United States for using Hmong to fight against the Vietnamese and Pathet Lao Communists; first using the men and then using the boys to exercise guerrilla warfare and act as translators. After the Vietnam War, the US failed to repay the Hmong for their help, leaving them to be slowly picked off by Communists from Russia and China as well as from Vietnam and Laos, where they lived. Additionally, even Thailand, a place of refuge, did not want the Hmong (even mistreating them and later closing camps), which challenges a pan-Asian identity. Even though the US puts itself in a positive humanitarian light by later agreeing to grant refuge to Hmong, it covers up that the US was COMPLICIT in causing a sustained refugee crisis. Due to the view of Vietnamese and Hmong as "children," they lose their agency, causing anger and resentment.

Yang, a Hmong American, follows the history of her family's entry into the United States in order to escape political persecution by Communists in Laos. Her parents initially met as teenagers in the Laotian mountains, but continuous attacks by the Pathet Laotian military, who were also influenced by the Russian Communists, forced them to keep moving toward Thailand, where they hoped to find refuge. Several months, one baby (Dawb), and one imprisonment later, her parents eventually arrived at and crossed the Mekong River into Thailand, narrowly avoiding the massacre waged on refugees by Laotians a few days (weeks?) later. In the Ban Vinai Refugee camp, where they reunited with her father's extended family, Yang's family live for about seven years, during which Yang is born. They later move into a transition camp called the Phanat Nikhom Processing Center, where the Yangs learn English and aspects of American culture so they can move into the U.S. Continuously reminded that "I am Hmong" (demonstrating survivor mentality rather than victim mentality), Yang forges strong relationships with her family members, especially her grandmother, who was a shaman in Laos, but is now forced to be a weak, dependent woman.

In the US, Hmong refugees contrasted with the traditional "model-minority" immigrants, who due to the 1965 Immigration Act were normally skilled professionals; in contrast, Hmong were poor and uneducated. Nonetheless, they fit the model minority in that Hmong parents emphasized the importance of education to have better jobs later (the Yang's father stayed in school rather than taking a job right away), as well as not to "look at" Americans in order to stay invisible. Yang and her siblings experience much success in the US.

Questions to ask: How does the Hmong experience compare to that of previous immigrants? Is it the same as other ethnicities, 100 years in the future? One difference: agricultural vs. industrial. Will they face the same "trajectory" as previous waves of immigrants? Do the Hmong fit a "collective" Asian-American identity?

See Xang Mao Xiong's article about his Hmong family's "Flight from Laos, 1975" - in contrast to his article, Yang portrays the Hmong very positively: as very assimilable and as survivors. She is careful not to critique US government and elicits as much sympathy as possible.

Vincent Chin

Chinese American man who was severely beaten in Detroit June of 1982, lead to his death four days later. The perpetrators, Ronald Ebens and Michael Nitz, clubbed Chin with a baseball bat during a bar brawl late at night.

Many witnessed testified that they had a racial motive, as many layoffs in Detroit, including Nitz's, occurred because of the increasing market share of Japanese automakers.

Ebens and Nitz, through plea bargaining, received a meager sentence to three years probation, guilty of manslaughter.

The case was sensationalized by the media, and sparked a movement calling for justice for Vincent Chin. The ruling for the appeal case was not in favor of Vincent Chin however, dismissing a racial motive and quelling the call for national activism.

The national activism of many Asian ethnic organization represented the possibility of an Asian American civil rights movements. It is consistently referenced to regarding later events such as the case of Peter Liang, and the death of Wenjian Liu. These cases together represent the injustices Asian-Americans still face in court and in society.

"model minority"

Model Minority was a term coined in the 1960s that described Asian-Americans as an ethnicity that was well-assimilated, politically non-threatening, and definitively not-black.

With the rise in radical liberalism and global wars, Asian-Americans experienced a huge change in national percetion from, being called "aliens ineligible for citizenship, to a model minority

In the U.S., it has been used to characterized Asian-Americans, particularly East Asians and South Asians in America, backed by statistics due economic success, and high representation in "white collar" professions

Many Problems with the term:

The term does not address where Asian-Americans lack: they are underrepresented in positions of political leadership, it groups Asian-Americans as a single group successful and well-off, disregarding struggling ethnicities such as Southeast Asians and Hmong people, and assumes that Asian-Americans have made it, and appeals towards the "whiteness" of Asian-Americans.

In Ellen Wu's article "The Color of Success" The Asian-American model minority is a construct used to to assimilate other minorities, and ultimately U.S. Expansionism through the veil of a racial democracy.

In reality, Asian-Americans still face social injustices and oppression, which is a staple of the Asian-American civil rights movement. In Okihiro's "is Yellow black or white?," he explains the complicated placement of Asian-Americans on a spectrum from white to black.

Balbir Singh Sodhi

A Sikh Indian that was murdered in the aftermath of September 11th attacks, as acts of retaliation to terrorist attacks, covered in the documentary Divided We Fall

Represents the intense discrimination that middle-easterners, and all that resembled them faced post-9/11. Sikh-Indians, who come from a very peaceful Islamic faith from Northern India, found extreme discrimination, because of their false association with Arabs and Osama Bin Laden for wearing turbans and long beards.

His incident implicates Asian Americans and asks them, who deserves to be called "Asian American"? Is it just reserved for those of East Asian descent?