Prejudice against Asians in the United States– this is a keenly focused matter this year. Let’s analyze its historic background and examine reasons why racial conflicts have surged. And then let’s think over how we should respond to the issue in the Japanese society.
WE ARE ASIANS, TOO, LET’S FIGHT IN SOLIDARITY!
The United States was founded through robbery of land of indigenous peoples after British settlers had immigrated. These new comers colonized the country and then won independence. Early settlers traded many blacks as slaves, using them to develop for their sake, and accepted other people of European descents, who were white, as immigrants.
Massive Chinese laborers flew in during 19th century, who were forced to work under the harsh working conditions. Meanwhile, white workers from the lower strata intensified animosity toward Chinese, thus in 1882 the US legislature enacted the Chinese Exclusion Act. Later Japanese and Korean laborers came to the US, and in 1905 was organized the Alliance of Exclusion of Asians.
Sense of superiority of the white
Since late 20th century Latinos, who are from the Central and South American regions, have vastly immigrated. Ex-President Trump built up the border walls, taking advantage of them as a political tool. Simultaneously, discrimination against blacks has been deeply rooted in the US society, which has erupted out as massive movements of BLM, or Black Lives Matter. The campaign has spread around the world beyond the US.
As you see, sense of superiority of white people underlies in racial prejudice in the US. Early settlers were proud of their vested interests; they regarded late comers would breach them. As for Latinos, since they are of Spanish origin and can be assimilated as a European derivation, but Asians are different and not well received.
For long years prejudice against Asians in the US has not caused social confrontation. It is because relatively many Asian immigrants have emerged successfully as doctors, scientists and entrepreneurs. And therefore racist incidents have not been exposed on a daily life level.
Hate crimes, however, against Asian Americans have been on the rise since last year. That could have directly come from the repetitious mentioning of Chinese virus or Wuhan virus which ex-president Trump uttered, who had stirred up economic conflicts before the pandemic.
In the background, however, we should not overlook a fact that, following Latinos, Asians quickly increase in number in the US demographic structure. In addition, economic growth speed in China and the ASEAN countries squeezes the US population.
Prejudice against Asians and Japan
Where is Japan located?
Japan fulfilled modernization earlier through the Meiji Restoration, which integrated the nation to the European domain, being separated from the rest of Asia. Japanese, despising Koreans and Chinese, who managed their modern states later, colonized Asian countries as the imperialist nation. Japanese pretended as if they had been the white in the US. Even today discriminatory consciousness stubbornly lies in the Japanese society.
What we see today in the United States is anti-Asian racism. Japanese are Asians, too. We, Japanese, must eradicate racist sense against the rest of Asian peoples. We must organize campaigns in this country, appealing ‘Discrimination, No! Stop racism against Asians’. We are Asians.
米国は英国人が先住民から略奪して植民地にし、独立した国だ。多くの黒人を奴隷として使って発展し、他の白人である欧州人を移民として受け入れてきた。
1９世紀になると中国人が流入して劣悪な労働に従事したため、白人の下層労働者が反発し、１８８２年には中国人排斥法が制定された。その後、日本人や朝鮮人の流入などもあり、１９０５年にはアジア系排斥同盟が結成された。
２０世紀末からラティーノと呼ばれる中南米からの移民が急増し、トランプ氏は「国境の壁」で政治利用した。また、黒人差別は根強く残り、ブラック・ライブズ・マターは世界的な運動になった。
このように、アメリカの人種差別は、白人の優越感が底流にあり、先に定住した移民の既得権侵害への反発という内面をもっている。また、ラティーノはスペイン系であり欧州圏として同化できるが、アジア系に対しては、同化への違和感があるようだ。
近年、アジア系差別はあまり社会問題化しなかった。医者や科学者、経営者など成功するアジア系移民が比較的多かったこともあり、日常での差別が表面化しなかったからだ。
それが、昨年からアジア系移民に対する差別が急激に増えた。コロナ問題の前に経済対立もあおっていたトランプ氏の「中国ウィルス」「武漢ウィルス」の連呼が直接的原因だ。
だが、この背景にはラティーノに次いでアジア系の人口が急増していることもある。さらに中国やアセアン諸国の経済的成長による圧迫感も重なっている。
日本の立ち位置はどうだろうか。
日本は明治維新を経て、いち早く「脱亜入欧」を果たした。それに遅れた朝鮮・中国を蔑視し、白人であるかのように帝国主義国としてアジア諸国を植民地化した。今も、その差別意識は日本社会に根強く残っている。
しかし、今起きているアジア系差別の対象はアジア人である。まぎれもなく日本人もその中に入っている。日本の中に残っている他のアジア諸国民への差別意識を払しょくして、アジア系の一員として、「これは差別だ！アジア系差別はやめろ」という運動を日本でも大きくしなければならない。
英訳版↓
No. 1206 Discrimination against Asians in US
Prejudice against Asians in the United States– this is a keenly focused matter this year. Let’s analyze its historic background and examine reasons why racial conflicts have surged. And then let’s think over how we should respond to the issue in the Japanese society.
WE ARE ASIANS, TOO, LET’S FIGHT IN SOLIDARITY!
The United States was founded through robbery of land of indigenous peoples after British settlers had immigrated. These new comers colonized the country and then won independence. Early settlers traded many blacks as slaves, using them to develop for their sake, and accepted other people of European descents, who were white, as immigrants.
Massive Chinese laborers flew in during 19th century, who were forced to work under the harsh working conditions. Meanwhile, white workers from the lower strata intensified animosity toward Chinese, thus in 1882 the US legislature enacted the Chinese Exclusion Act. Later Japanese and Korean laborers came to the US, and in 1905 was organized the Alliance of Exclusion of Asians.
Sense of superiority of the white
Since late 20th century Latinos, who are from the Central and South American regions, have vastly immigrated. Ex-President Trump built up the border walls, taking advantage of them as a political tool. Simultaneously, discrimination against blacks has been deeply rooted in the US society, which has erupted out as massive movements of BLM, or Black Lives Matter. The campaign has spread around the world beyond the US.
As you see, sense of superiority of white people underlies in racial prejudice in the US. Early settlers were proud of their vested interests; they regarded late comers would breach them. As for Latinos, since they are of Spanish origin and can be assimilated as a European derivation, but Asians are different and not well received.
For long years prejudice against Asians in the US has not caused social confrontation. It is because relatively many Asian immigrants have emerged successfully as doctors, scientists and entrepreneurs. And therefore racist incidents have not been exposed on a daily life level.
Hate crimes, however, against Asian Americans have been on the rise since last year. That could have directly come from the repetitious mentioning of Chinese virus or Wuhan virus which ex-president Trump uttered, who had stirred up economic conflicts before the pandemic.
In the background, however, we should not overlook a fact that, following Latinos, Asians quickly increase in number in the US demographic structure. In addition, economic growth speed in China and the ASEAN countries squeezes the US population.
Prejudice against Asians and Japan
Where is Japan located?
Japan fulfilled modernization earlier through the Meiji Restoration, which integrated the nation to the European domain, being separated from the rest of Asia. Japanese, despising Koreans and Chinese, who managed their modern states later, colonized Asian countries as the imperialist nation. Japanese pretended as if they had been the white in the US. Even today discriminatory consciousness stubbornly lies in the Japanese society.
What we see today in the United States is anti-Asian racism. Japanese are Asians, too. We, Japanese, must eradicate racist sense against the rest of Asian peoples. We must organize campaigns in this country, appealing ‘Discrimination, No! Stop racism against Asians’. We are Asians.
April 20, 2021