Asians have gone through racial discrimination ever since they first set foot on American soil. This consistent racial profiling led to person of Asian descent to be excluded from positions of power and influence in the society. The Asian community is still viewed as a group of perpetual foreigners who have no rights in American society.
Parallels can be drawn to the lives of African American who also came back home from the war. Racism and segregation was ripe in both situations. Mass relocation from homes was done for the “safety” of Caucasian Americans who thought that both the Japanese and African American communities might have had extremists who were hell-bent on destroying a fairly stable society. The better schools, hospitals and services were reserved for the Whites as the non-whites were confined to overcrowded areas that were constantly monitored by the authorities ( Takaki, 2012). The Tuskgee Airmen came back home to racial abuse and segregation despite their service to the country. They were accepted but not considered equals to the other whites with whom they had fought side by side.
Delegate your assignment to our experts and they will do the rest.
The Asian-Americans and African Americans were targets of prejudice in terms of property ownership and employment. The Japanese-Americans’ property was confiscated as they were just leaving the internment camps while the African Americans lost their houses through fraud and foreclosures (Takaki, 2012). They were both forced to live in overcrowded areas and out into pyramid schemes and systems that in essence kept them in continuous debt. Whites were getting the jobs that paid better. Even in situations where African-Americans or Asian Americans were getting jobs, they were paid much less compared to what their white counterparts were receiving.
Both African-Americans and Asian Americans had no access to basic human rights like proper healthcare and access to educational facilities. Many of them had to suffer through painstaking jobs and had to undergo abuse, incarceration and sometimes violence against them for which no justice was accorded. Racial slurs and attacks in public areas was common place for both groups of people. They suffered together and supported each other in their respective communities as they had a common oppressor.
References
Takaki, R. (2012). Strangers from a different shore: A history of Asian Americans (updated and revised) .
