Discrimination against Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders

Introduction

What does AAPI Mean?

What inspired me to make this article?

Discrimination on the Transcontinental Railroad

When the Chinese were excluded from coming to America

America's Concentration camps

1.5 to stay alive

"These aren't the kind of men you send to jail"

When Los Angeles burned, and Korean-Americans suffered

The problems of today

Ending

During the COVID-19 Pandemic, there have been many hate crimes committed against Asian-Americans and Pacific Islanders (the AAPI community). But this isn't new. The history of discrimination against Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders is as old as the United States itself. Today, I will be explaining the history of discrimination against the AAPI community.

AAPI stands for Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders. In the United States, Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders have a population of about 21 million people-6.5% of America's whole entire population. Now, one common misconception about this is that AAPI, or more Asian-Americans, is that they are only referring to East Asians (those from China, Japan, Korea, maybe Taiwan, and maybe Vietnam). However, this is incorrect, to say the least. AAPI stands for every Asian-American and Pacific Islander. Not only are people native to places such as Hawaii, Micronesia, and the Marshall Islands excluded from this list, but also Indian-Americans, Pakistani-Americans, and much more. Now, let's get into the first example of discrimination against Asians and Asian-Americans, specifically Chinese-Americans.

Right now during the COVID-19 pandemic, there have been countless attacks against Asian-Americans. I noticed this a while ago, but last year, during AAPI Heritage Month, I saw this awesome documentary on PBS talking about the history of discrimination against Asian-Americans. If you are interested after reading this article, I highly recommend watching the series here. I couldn't remember much, but thankfully, this series came to Youtube. Since then, I have gathered lots of information. Here is what I have to share with you.

In 1869, the Union Pacific and Central Pacific railway companies finnished the Intercontinental railroad. Here is a map of it:

In Blue are the parts of the railway built by Union Pacific. These were mostly built by Irish immigrants. On the other hand, the red and green sections were built by Central Pacific, which was mostly made by Chinese laborers. The Chinese came to America hearing rumors about gold and silver in California. They came on overcrowded ships. But when they came, it was too late. Most of the gold was already taken. Many decided to work in the railroad industry. They are known as a cheap source of labor who will do virtually anything. In fact, the laborers would be paid only one dollar per day. Plus, the cost of food was subtracted from that. The rest was sent back home to China. While working on the Transcontinental Railroad, they are faced with many dangers. The first obstacle was the Sierra Nevadas. To do this, they would use dynamite to destroy solid granite. There was a constant risk of the roof caving in. Wintertime was the scariest time. Any moment, an avalanche would come and kill dozens of workers whose remains would be sent back to China. After six long years, the two companies linked the railroads. They took this famous photo:

But take a look. It might be hard to see, but none of these people in the frame are Chinese workers. Chinese workers were prohibited from entering the frame. After all their hard work, all their sacrifice, they weren't allowed into a picture that they should have been. And what would happen in the next few years was even worse.

I used this Wikipedia page for research, which if you're interested in the Transcontinental Railroad, you might want to check out. Also, I used Part 1 of PBS's 5-part series called  Asian Americans. Once again, I highly recommend watching some of the documentaries. 

After the Transcontinental Railroad was finished, many Chinese laborers went back to China. Those who stayed faced many hardships. Most of the Chinese-Americans lived on the West Coast. But the Chinese-Americans became to be known as a group of evil coming to America to steal everyone's jobs. They become to be associated with gambling opium and other bad things. Gangs would go around attacking and even lynching Chinese-Americans and Japanese-Americans. Their punishment for that? One dollar. Keep that in your mind, because I will mention it later. Oh yeah, the gangs would also burn down Chinese-American and Japanese-American businesses and homes. They began using the slogan "The Chinese Must Go." But then, it gets worse. In 1882, Chester Arthur signed a bill passed in the senate and the house. It made it so that no Asians could come to the United States with the exception of diplomats, merchants, and students. Also, it made it so that no Asian could become a citizen. This was the first time a group of people was banned from entering the United States because of their race. This law remained in effect until the end of WWII. Plus, people harassed and attacked Chinese-Americans all over the west coast. In Rock Springs, Wyoming, some miners were jealous of the Chinese immigrants and started robbing, shooting, and stabbing the Chinese miners. Many were burned alive in their homes, starved to death, or given to the carnivorous animals of the mountains. At the end of all this violence, 28 Chinese-Americans were killed. At the end of this, no arrests were made, nor was anybody held accountable for the atrocities committed*.

I used the same documentary as above, Part 1 of PBS's Asian Americans.

*People who lynched Chinese laborers got a fine of $1.

It was a cool night on December 6, 1941. Nobody knew what would occur the next day. Japan attacked Guam, the Philippines, and most notably, Pearl Harbor. With this, the United States entered WWII. If you want to learn more, click on the link I put there. During WWII, fear spread in the United States that there might be Japanese spies. And that might seem reasonable: Japan sending spies over to the United States in order to gather important information. No, not German spies, or Italian spies, Japanese spies*. Yeah. Oh, did I mention that this order came directly from the President, Franklin Roosevelt? And that anyone who went to the internment camps lost all their property? And that they were only paid 20,000 dollars in compensation—forty years later? And that Japanese-Americans fought on the military while the rest of their family was in the internment camps? Now how, you may ask, does the government know where these Japanese-Americans live? Census data. That's right, the United States Government used Census data (which was, and still is, illegal to find the location of a group of people using the census data) to find out where Japanese-Americans lived. I keep bolding Americans because these people aren't Japanese citizens, nor are they proven to be spies; they are Americans just everyone else. These Japanese-Americans could only bring what they could carry; everything else was left behind. Their property was sold off for much less than it was worth. After WWII, most families had to start over with nothing. These innocent American citizens were forcibly moved from their homes to what is equivalent to concentration camps.

Once again, I used PBS's Asian Americans, but this time, I used part 2.

ㅤ* In total, 10,000 Germans-Americans and Italians-Americans were put in Internment Camps, along with 5,000 Hungarian-Americans, Bulgarians-Americans, and Romanians-Americans, compared to 110,000 Japanese-Americans

The Marshall Islands are a republic composed of 29 atolls. The atolls are located here:

Here's another perspective:

During WWI, Japan had captured the Marshall Islands from Germany, but after Japan's defeat in WWII, it was handed over to the United States. The Marshall Islands were the perfect place for the military. Even today, you can find a substantial military presence here, and it is a win-win: the Marshall Islands need money, and the US military needs a place to test things such as the ballistic missile defense system, or in this case, nuclear testing. After the atomic bombs were dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, NATO and Allies competed against the Warsaw Pact and allies to develop the most nukes that would eventually overwhelm the other side. The United States thought that the Marshall Islands, specifically Bikini Atoll, was the perfect place to test nukes: they were isolated, didn't have many people, and were owned by the United States. On 240 ships came over 4,000 soldiers who started preparation. Then, you get this:

This was one of many tests conducted on Bikini Atoll, but from every single nuclear test that has been taken, this was the fifth largest. You might be wondering, "How would the Marshallese give the Americans permission to nuke themselves?" The answer to this is pretty simple: when they were asking the leader of the Marshall Islands, his response (translated to English) was "Everything is in the hands of God,"  which is as much of a NO as you can get. But the military didn't understand that. Their response was "Well, everything being in the hands of God, it can't be better than good." Nothing was thought of the hundred residents of Bikini Atoll, who left their homes, never to come back to Bikini Atoll again.

In more recent times, things have been, in some ways, worse. As many of you will know, there earth is warming, meaning that glaciers are melting, and oceans are rising. That means that island nations such as the Marshall Islands are sinking. Not only that, but livelihoods are being ruined. In the Marshall Islands, it is normal for the sea to splash onto buildings, destroying them. That's were the 2017 Paris Agreement comes into play. In 2017, representatives from 196 states came to Paris to talk about climate change. The Marshall Islands is an island nation with less population than Westborough, MA, a city small enough that chances are, you haven't ever heard of it. However, it was able to create a coalition with some of the biggest powers of the world, including the United States and most of the EU, with the slogan 1.5 to stay alive. Now in stories, the underdog is supposed to win. But with so many politicians denying climate change like Donald Trump, it seems like all of Marshall Island's work hasn't done much.

Wendover Productions has a documentary about the Marshall Islands if you are interested.

Vincent Chin was a Chinese-American living in Michigan. He was set to be married on June 28, 1982. But instead, he was buried a day later. This all happened on June 19. That day, he was hanging out with some friends at a bar when two men, Ronald Ebens and Michael Nitz came up to him. Ebens was a supervisor at Chrysler while Nitz was a laid-off worker. The two men blamed him for Japan's successful auto industry (which, along with the rising prices of oil, led to the downfall of the American auto industry), even though he was Chinese. A fight broke out, and Chin was beaten with a baseball bat. His last words were "It isn't fair. It isn't fair." Chin later died from the injuries he sustained. Ebens and Nitz were arrested and were recommended to serve 15 years in jail. But Judge Charles Kaufman said, "These weren't the kind of men you send to jail... You don't make the punishment fit the crime; you make the punishment fit the criminal," and ordered the men 3 years probation and to pay a $3,000 fine and $780 in court costs. However, this was later overturned after pressure and protests, becoming the first hate crime that was targeted against an Asian-American. Ebens was sentenced to 25 years in jail, but this was overturned with an appeal. Neither would serve a day in jail.

In the 1990s, there was tension between the Korean-Americans and African-Americans of Los Angeles. From an African-American perspective, many of the Korean storeowners were unfriendly to African-Americans. Also, Korean-Americans were slowly moving to southern Los Angeles, a majority African-American, and Latino region. From a Korean-American Perspective, there was fear of African-American robbers. Plus, Korean-Americans were mostly immigrants and didn't know about the history of civil rights. Both sides were competing for jobs, housing, and businesses. In the in-language Korean newspapers (papers published in Korean), there were headlines about shootings and robberies committed by African-Americans. But in the L. A. Times, the focus was on how rude Korean-Americans were. This tension reached its peak in March. On March 3, Rodney King was beaten by police officers while exiting from a car. Later, less than two weeks later, on March 16, 1991, Latasha Harlins went to a store to buy a bottle of orange juice. Soon Ja Du, the storekeeper, pulls Latasha over the counter, and in the ensuing fight, shoots Latasha, who later dies. Judge Joyce Karlin gave Du five years probation, 400 hours of community service, and a $500 fine, which sparked anger in the African-American community. The officers who beat King were acquitted. Suddenly, Korean-Americans were seen as the same as the officers who beat Rodney King. African-Americans literally destroy Koreatown, with looting, burning, and arson. With the fire department not coming because they felt unsafe, Koreatown was left to burn. With no police or firefighters coming, the Korean-Americans are left with one choice. Most of the Korean-Americans were first-generation immigrants, and since joining the military is mandatory in Korea, most of the immigrants had arms to use to defend themselves. After all the chaos was over, 2,000 stores are damaged/destroyed, and $400 million were lost in damages.

Once again, I used a PBS series called Asian Americans for this part's research, but this time, I used part 5.

As most of you will know, we are (as of the time of writing), in one of the deadliest pandemics of world history. More than 3 million lives have been taken by this horrible virus. This has impacted the AAPI community severely, especially in China and South Korea, first hit by the virus. But in America, Asian-Americans, especially Chinese-Americans, have been bullied, robbed, and attacked all across America. But even before Covid-19, there have been some problems.

NOTE: In most of the following links, there is either racist language or violence against Asian-Americans. Proceed with caution.

In 2017, a woman in New York called Shen Siwei, who was visiting New York, "Asian Dogs," when they didn't allow her to sit across from them while they were ordering. Now, things are getting worse. Over the course of a year, hate crimes directed at Asian-Americans have surged 169%. Former President Donald Trump called COVID-19 (Coronavirus, SARS-CoV-2) things such as "China Virus" and "Kung Flu," very racist comments. In San Francisco, San Francisco (again), New York, New York (again), Houston, San Francisco, and London, Asians and Asian-Americans have been attacked, verbally or physically. In Atlanta, a man killed eight people in spas, six of which are either Asian or of Asian descent. There are so many examples of this*.

*On the Wikipedia page of Xenophobia and racism related to the COVID-19 pandemic, you can find many more examples of racism related to the COVID-19 pandemic.