Stranger From A Different Shore
Strangers From A Different Shore by author/professor Ronald Takaki has brought a new perspective of my growing knowledge of the hardships and endless obstacles that Asian-Americans have struggled with through their immigration experience. Immigrants of Asia represent many countries and many different situations that have brought them to this "better" country with hopes for "more opportunities" to succeed. Asian-Americans are those whose roots are from Vietnam, Laos, Thailand, Philippines, Japan, China, Cambodia, Korea, and Hmong to name the most common. Asian-Americans have overcome drastic situations to carry the status that they do today. Currently Asian-Americans represent the fastest growing minority group in the United States. Half of all immigrants that enter the U.S. annually are Asian. Asian-Americans come from the same part of the world, the same continent, yet their struggles have left them in different situations. Although the commonalities of hardships that exist between the Asian ethnic groups are greatly the same that can also be separated from likeness just as easy. A common ground brings these people together but their separate countries and even within a country different regions w
Longing for gold wasn't just an American issue. The topic of gold affected many people including the Chinese. About the same time gold was discovered in California, famine hit the Guangdong Province in southeast China. Hearing about California's gold, many Chinese men left for America hoping to make a fortune and return home a few years later to their loved ones. Few struck it rich and the rest fought to survive. The Gold Rush in California and the Pacific Northwest increased the demand for railroads to connect these remote parts of America. Building railroads required lots of low-paid labor, which hungry immigrant Chinese provided. By 1880, there were about 300,000 Chinese in America, but American accepted few once the railroads were completed. In 1882, Congress passed the Chinese Exclusion Act, the first time in American history that immigration restrictions were aimed at one ethnic group. Takaki, a professor at U.C. Berkeley in Ethnic Studies and the grandson of immigrant plantation laborers from Japan has both the knowledge and personal passion of Asian-Americans that allows him to go into great details of the history and diversity of this ethnic groups struggle to become recognized in America for who they are and why they are here instead of what they did for this country. Takaki goes in depth on nearly many occurrences that each Asian country has overcome and currently deals with. The 1924 Immigration Act cut the flow of Japanese immigration. Eventually Japantowns emerged, otherwise known as the Japanese ghettos. In 1941, Japan attacked Pearl Harbor in Hawaii and introducing war, which led to the signing of "Executive Order 9066." This gave the Issei and Nisei 10 days to sell everything they had. None of their rights were protected because although the 2/3 of the 120,000 people who were thrown in the internment camps was U.S. citizens by birth it did not matter. Today Japanese-American communities exist, especially in Pacific Coast cities like Seattle and Los Angeles, where Nisei Week celebrations continue and so does strong economic power that Japanese-Americans withhold. Some Chinese were forced onto boats returning to China
Some common words found in the essay are:
Ethnic Studies, Unlike Asian, Exclusion Act, Vietnam War, Lao Laos, Asian Asian-Americans, Act American, Whereas African-Americans, Chinese Japanese, Issei Nisei, chinese exclusion, chinese exclusion act, exclusion act, world war ii, unlike asian immigrants, japanese immigration, immigration restrictions, unlike asian, america koreans, brought home, war ii, gi's brought home, world war, los angeles, 1924 immigration act,
Approximate Word count = 1467
Approximate Pages = 6 (250 words per page double spaced)
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