Asian Americans have also suffered from racism

African Americans have suffered from racism for too many years. Race and skin color shouldn’t be hateful. Once again, racism has come to the fore after the tragic assassination of George Floyd in Minneapolis. Police brutality and racism have been considered to be the reason for his untimely death. There is a lot of confusion as thousands of people protest against racism.

Asian Americans have also been victims of racism over the years, although they are now considered the “model minority” by much of the population. They are seen as passive and accept their fate without complaint. Because of their past actions and overcoming some of the racism they faced, they are known as quiet Americans. They still face racism, but generally not as regularly or as harshly as blacks, although some Asian Americans have recently faced racism by being blamed for the coronavirus.

The first Asians to arrive in the United States were Filipino sailors who arrived in what is now Louisiana around 1750. Asians came to the United States in greater numbers in 1848 when gold was discovered in California. The Chinese came to try their luck with the fortune that seemed to be available. They had planned to return home as wealthy people. Other Chinese went to Hawaii to work on the sugar cane plantations. They also worked as gardeners, domestics, laundrymen, and in agriculture. Some became merchants. There were between 9,000 and 12,000 Chinese who worked on the railroad in the most dangerous jobs, but they were paid less than their European counterparts.

Chinese immigrant men were a major force in the construction of the Transcontinental Railroad. These were workers who helped build America’s infrastructure. However, they faced racism and were basically excluded from the ceremony that took place near Promontory Point in Utah when the railroad came together more than 150 years ago. His important efforts were left out of the history books until more recent times.

There was a Chinese Exclusion Act against the Chinese in 1882 to stop immigration. Japanese immigrants began arriving in the United States in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Then in 1924, there was a law to prevent further immigration from Japan. These were acts of racism and hatred towards people who were different from the general population of the United States.

Possibly the broadest example of racism against Asian Americans came during World War II, when Japanese Americans and their immigrant parents were forcibly evicted from their West Coast homes. These people were innocent of any wrongdoing and lost almost everything they owned to racism and hatred. It was massive racial profiling at its worst.

There have also been individual cases of racism against Asian Americans. Vincent Chin, a young Chinese American, is a good example. Vincent was a young man who was about to get married. He and some of his friends were celebrating with a bachelor party in Detroit. This was during the time when Japanese imported cars were beginning to gain favor with Americans after a severe gasoline shortage. Vincent and his friends were confronted by two white auto workers. The man and his stepson, who had been fired from his job at an auto plant, were angry at Japan and anyone who perceived themselves as Japanese. After an initial dispute, the groups parted ways. The white men drove for twenty minutes in search of Vincent and his friends. They were found at a McDonald’s where the fighting continued and escalated. In the end, Vincent was dead from being mercilessly beaten with a baseball bat. The two men pleaded guilty to the crime but were not jailed. Asian Americans were understandably outraged.

Many Asian Americans have been called racial slurs. They have been told to go back to where they came from even though they were born in the United States. They are often considered “perpetual aliens” simply because of their physical characteristics.

Although many African Americans and Asian Americans (as well as other ethnic groups) have been able to succeed in life despite racism in this country, racism remains a major problem. In general, Asian Americans have not faced racism as often and severely as many African Americans and continue to do so. Asian Americans and other minorities basically stand in solidarity with blacks by condemning racism and working for reform to ease racial tensions. Everyone deserves to be treated fairly and equitably without racism clouding the picture.