Ethnic Groups and Discrimination

While growing up in the United States I always have the belief that United States believes everyone is created equal. I do not remember reading in U.S. History about discrimination of race, ethnic or country of origin. This is a real interesting topic and also a learning lesson. After doing this research I have a different viewpoint about my life, my children's future and my responsibility as an immigrant and as a United States Citizen, through naturalization. United States has come a long way from the time Chinese immigrants were dealing with redlining and racism. I do agree Chinese traditions and customs are not easy to understand, however, I also do not understand the practice and traditional rules of other culture. Yet I do not want to judge and fear the other race's practice. Racial profiling will cause a lot of problem. This explains why many of the high ranking positions in the World are "Whites".

I never noticed it but when reading in the newspaper whenever I read about an important person and they have an Asian name, I tend to be very proud of this person and want to read more about them. I believe this stems from the natural (but unknown to myself) connection I have about all Asians. The limited opportunity they have and yet when an Asian reaches the ladder with other race, I am very proud. Racial profiling should not be allowed in schools or employment. However, racial profiling can be easily committed without you knowing. Notice your last name gives out a clue of your race. Well many companies require you fill out an employment application before they will interview you. The application asks for your full name, and birth place. The application may state that it is optional to provide your race. But many of us know, by reading the last time you can pretty much tell if the person is Asian or not. For example, I automatically can tell if I see "Tran, or Nguyen" and "Chan or Chau", "Cho, Kim". Tran is Vietnamese and Chan is Chinese. Chinese likes to combine the letter "CH" together. Vietnamese likes to combine "TR" and "NG". Cho and Kim are usually Korean names.

Official records shows only forty six Chinese had immigrated to the United States. The numbers dramatically increased over the years. Overcrowding in China, warfare, the Gold Rush and job openings in the West lured over two hundred thousand Chinese to America. Chinese were considered valuable resources to fill the manual jobs local Californians don't want. Traveling by ocean was affordable. Traveling across the continent was much cheaper than traveling within cities in the U.S. In the 1860, Chinese filled many of the positions at the Union Pacific. Schaefer (2006) states that, in 1869 Chinese accounted for 90% of the laborers. Working for the railroad was hard work and many Whites did not want to work under those conditions. "Despite the contribution of the Chinese, Whites workers physically prevented them from attending the driving of the golden spike to mark the joining of the two railroads" (Schaefer, 2006, p.97). "Chinese were looked up as a valuable resource to fill the manual jobs" (Schaefer, 2006, p.97). However, once the railroad work was partially completed, the need for Chinese laborers reduced. The railroad company did not want to encourage any more Chinese immigrants.

Dual Market labors affected the Chinese. Many Whites fear Chinese immigrants would be used as strikebreakers. Schafer wrote:

By 1870, Chinese works had been used for that purpose as far east as Massachusetts. When Chinese workers did unionize, they were not recognized by major labor organizations. Samuel Gompers, founder of the American Federation of Labor (AFL), consistently opposed any effort to assist Chinese workers and refused to consider having a union of Chinese restaurant employees admitted into the AFL. Gompers worked effectively to see future Chinese immigration ended and produced a pamphlet title "Chinese Exclusion: Meat vs Rice: American Manhood Against Asiatic Collieism-Which Shall Survive?" (Gompers and Gustadt 1908; Hill 1967)(Schafer, 2006 p.98).

Many employers were very happy to hire Chinese immigrants because their salary was very cheap. Many Whites resented the Chinese for fear of job competitions. Instead of resenting the employers for hiring immigrants, the laborers resented the immigrants for accepting such low paying jobs.

Schafer stated, racial fears motivated the anti- Chinese movements (2006). The number of Chinese immigrants was no match for the number of European immigrants; however the Chinese faced more discriminations than the European mainly because of their race.

Schaefer wrote:

From the sociologist perspective of conflict theory we can explain how the Chinese immigrants were welcome only when their labor was necessary to fuel growth in the United Sates. When the labor was no longer necessary, the welcome mat for the immigrants was withdrawn. Furthermore, as conflict theorist would point out, restrictions were not applied evenly: Americans focused on a specific nationality (the Chinese) to reduce the overall number of foreign workers in the nation. Because decision making at that time rested in the hands of descendants of European immigrants, the steps to be taken were most likely to be directed against the least powerful: immigrants from China who, unlike Europeans seeking entry, had few allies among legislators and other policy makers. (Schaefer, 2006, p.98)

Redlining seized the immigrants of Chinese to the United States. United States Congress enacted the Chinese Exclusion Act, outlawing the immigration of Chinese for 10 years. I am very shocked at this finding. I did not realize the Chinese went through such discriminations. This Act also denied naturalizations privileges' for any Chinese immigrants already in the United States. Relatives of the Chinese living in the United States were not permitted to join them. Only certain professions were exempt from this Act. Teachers, Tourists, Merchants and Government officials were permitted to enter the United States. This Exclusion was extended in 1892 for additional ten year. This Exclusion extension requires that all Chinese laborers apply for certificate of residences within a year of arrival or risk deportation.

Gee wrote:

Housing discrimination against Asian Americans has been noted by several authors. Given this, the present study used 2 measures of institutional housing discrimination, the index of dissimilarity and redlining. The dissimilarity index measures racial group segregation across neighborhoods. Redlining contributes to segregation, occurring when lending institutions are biased in regard to their loan dealings with members of racial minorities (2002, par 11).

Many Chinese Americans who settled in the United States have done so peacefully. I arrived in the United States a century after the exclusion ACT and did not have the same problem many of my ancestors encounter, presuming they arrived here legally. I have been following the last updates : The latest political topic "Amnesty for the Mexicans". After reading about the Chinese Exclusion Act, I start to ask myself : Are many of us bitter that the Mexicans are accepting the jobs that we US residents don't want to accept, should we all turn our directions and bitterness that the employer that is willing to exploit their citizens?

References

Schaefer, R. (2006). Racial and ethnic groups (10^th ed.) : Immigration and the united states (pp. 90-115). Pearson Education Inc.

Gee, G. (2002, April). A Multilevel Analysis of the Relationship Between Institutional and Individual Racial Discrimination and Health Status. American Journal of Public Health, 92(4), 615-623. Retrieved July 22, 2007, from EBSCOhost database.