Essay On Japanese-American Disempowerment

The history of Japanese-American disempowerment is a crucial component to the understanding of racial oppression in America, yet it is a topic that is often unspoken of in American history. The concept of race has often been used to distinguish one group from another– racism and discrimination is used to belittle and treat one group unequally whether that be by denying freedoms and rights or violence. In American society, the concept of race was often used to justify the institution of African-American slavery as white-Americans believed in the concept of racial superiority and inferiority, most commonly known as eugenics. The institution of African-American racism is widely represented through American society and yet, little is spoken about the impact of race on the treatment of …show more content…
In 1898, the Japanese were able to enter U.S. mainland without a visa from Hawaii, resulting in a mass immigration of Japanese people (JACL, 3). In order to understand the history of Japanese-Americans, first, the origins of Asian-Americans must be understood. Broadly speaking, the term “Asian-American” refers to those of East, South, and Southeast Asian descent, with Chinese and Japanese-Americans consisting the largest portion of the Asian-American community. As Erika Lee, author of The Making of Asian American History puts it, “By the time large-scale Asian immigration to the united states began in the mid nineteenth century, diverse Asian people were considered one monolithic group and were fixed in the American mind as backward, submissive, and inferior” (Lee, 7). Thus, after the first wave of Chinese people– the first large Asian group to immigrate to America (Lee, 8)– other Asian immigrants, including the Japanese were labeled as racially inferior and disruptive to American society. The Naturalization Act of 1790 prohibited non-white immigrants from becoming naturalized citizens (JACL,