You kids probably don't think this is a big deal. That is a good thing, for the truth is, you shouldn't. But, it is a pretty big deal to me. Not Barack Obama big, but big enough, for it is another indication of America's growing acceptance of people of color.
This was not always the case.
You probably know that the first African-Americans arrived here against their will as slaves. Slavery was legal in the United States from 1654 to 1865. When America declared its independence from Great Britain in 1776 by saying that "all men are created equal" and that everyone was entitled to "life, liberty (freedom) and the pursuit of happiness", they didn't include slaves. Slaves weren't freed until after the long, bloody American Civil War.
Once freed, African Americans weren't treated equally. They couldn't hold the same jobs, go the same schools, or use the same businesses as Caucasian Americans. This is called racial discrimination.
Not only that, they were only allowed to live in certain areas of most cities and towns. This is called segregation.
You may not believe this now, but all of this was legal until the Civil Rights Movement of 1955-1968 fought against and succeeded in ending all of these unfair practices.
The relations between African Americans by Caucasian Americans have been slowly but steadily improving ever since.
African Americans were not the only ethnic group subjected to racial discrimination.
When the US was building the Transcontinental Railroad, many Chinese immigrated to the United States to help build it.
Fearful that the Chinese would take jobs from others, the US government created a law called The Chinese Exclusion Act in 1883.
This law prevented most Chinese people from moving to the United States. After the law was enacted, very few Chinese were allowed into the country. In the 30 years between 1910 and 1940, only 56,113 Chinese were allowed to enter the US, an average of 1,870 per year. By comparison, 1,004,756 Europeans were allowed to enter the US in 1907 alone.
The law wasn't repealed (canceled) until 1943. Even today, if one were to look at the United States Code (the book of US law), one would find that Chapter 7 of Title 8 is entitled "Exclusion of Chinese." Of the 15 chapters in Title 8 (Aliens and Nationality), it is the only one that is completely focused on a specific nationality or ethnic group.
After the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor in 1942, the United States government decided that all Japanese living in the US were threats to national security.
All Japanese living in the US were moved into places called "internment camps" which were really prisons in remote, unpopulated areas of the country.
By being forced to move, all of these people lost their jobs, their homes and their businesses.
The funny thing was, America was also at war with Germany, but no Germans were placed in internment camps.
So why were the Japanese moved? For that matter, why exclude only Chinese immigrants and segregate the African American population? Simple answer: they were all visibly different from the Caucasian majority because of the color of their skin.
Today, I marvel at how much has changed.
In a sport where African Americans were once excluded from participation, Tiger Woods is regarded as the greatest player of all time.
Ang Lee, a Chinese man, won an Oscar for Best Director (Brokeback Mountain).
A Japanese man is such a big star in baseball, America's game, that he is known only by his first name, Ichiro.
And an African American man has been elected President of the United States of America.
Best of all, most of you don't think much of any of this. To me, that is the best indicator of how far we've come as a nation.
16 comments:
These people don't care if they came from a different country or continent. They are proud of the way that they are. I think that what mattered the most to them was that people accepted them. The only other thing that I could possibly say about the fact that people accepted the, is that it is a pity that people didn't accept them way back earlier in time. Like before practically all of the United States Of America got into the absolutely horrible idea that we could just take some one away from their rightful home and just merely make them work for us whether they like it or not.
I think that it is a great thing that all of these people are happy with who we are and how we look. We all need to.
I really enjoyed reading this. I completely agree with this post about how where people are from makes no changes. I started thinking about if Americans went to another country and they got treated like how we treated the Japanese and the African American's. I know that I would hate. As I was reading this I thought about how it wasn't their fault that they were from where they were from.
We are reading a book in class that one chapter is called I Like the Way I Look. This makes me think that everybody should like the way that they look and everybody should respect that. I think that this was a great topic to write about.
It truly has changed hasn't it, the world I mean. If I could of gone back in time, I would of been able to see people making fun of what they called colored people. Now, very few people get made fun of because of their skin color, basically nobody. I'm amazed at what people would do back then.
Lately in class and at home I have been reading number one of a short series called 'Middle School Confidential' by Annie Fox, and it has got me thinking. The book is about being confident in who you are. There is one part in the book where one girl is asking her friends, "If nobody teased you, would you accept yourself the way you are?" and they all replied, "No.". I'm wondering what some people would say who got made fun of about being colored or were from a different country then. Now, many people have accepted themselves to be the way they are after a law was made about people having the same rights, but some might have not. I hope that all racism will stop and everyone will realize, "Oh yeah, it doesn't matter what color I am or what color they are."
WOW! that is a really good point. we have come a long way from where we were and where we are now. I think that it's great that a chinese-american was manger of a baseball team. I think that people making a statement like that man made that just because he is chinese-american doesn't mean he can't do anything a white person could do.Do you know if a black kid told there mom that they wanted to be president the mom would probably think I don't think that could happen, but now that Obama is in black mom's can say to their children "you can be anything you want to be" and it just mite happen. Think back then when black people drinking out of the same water fountain as a white person was you could get arrested or even killed. But now we have a black president. wow what a change.
-Karina
It says that the black people had to go to different schools and drink from different water fountains. In a book called Middle School Confidential it says that people should be able to wear what they want without being different from other people. That is like the black people. They should be able to be black without having to drink from different water fountains and go to different schools. It would make them feel like they don't fit in. In the book it says if people make you feel bad about the way you look then if you start looking at yourself and believe you do look ugly or fat then you will and you will want to be like the other people and then you aren't yourself anymore. So you have to stop caring about what other people think and just be yourself, so if you are black and you feel that you are wrong and your color is bad try to stop thinking about what other people think because you are human just like them and you can have every right that whites can have.
Thats cool Mr.T, I like how you compared it to the African Americans. I really think it was unfair how the used to treat people because of their color! Everyones different even if they are the same color, like some people have different hair color, eye color, and stuff and they didn't make a big deal out of that. Well anyway I like that post because you had some history in it and it wasn't like you just said I think this is cool and ya. you actually had some thing to back it up! It's like people in school some times you just judge someone by the way they look, even if you don't know them. you just shoot them right down the drain.
I just read you blog and noticed that you were talking about immigration. I totally agree about all the stuff you have said! I'm talking in my point of view it may be different then yours.
I think that slavery is horrible thing and I think that its great that other people from other places or different colors who maybe grew up to be someone who got something special or changed the world, like Obama in this years elections 2008 he became the first African American president of the United States, which is great!
and when you talked about Tiger Woods I did a talking calendar on him and he had become a great golfer and he's African American and he personally is the best golfer of all time well that's just me.
Also when the chinese wanted to come over to America and only let in 56,113 asians thats plain weird to me unlike the Europeans they let in 1,004,756 men ,woman ,and children I'm wondering why they let in more Europeans in then Asians.
I was just looking at your blog and was thinking about the post. It has allot to do with the way people are treated.(well that is the point)
We are reading this book in class called Middle School Confadential by Annie Fox. I had already read the book because she came and talked with my brownie troop. But I am comparing it because the book has allot to do with the way people are liked, separated, and treated. I don't think it is fare and I think it is mean if you ask me.It also has allot to do with how people treat themselves. This book has characters, graphic novels, quizzes, and much, much, more.
Mr. Tong-
I agree deeply about this. It truly was not fair that back then Americans treated Chinese, Europeans, and African-American people badly. Just because of their skin color or were they were from does not mean you drink out of different water fountains or make them your slaves. Americans also come in pretty much any skin color, shape, size, and with different ideas of all sorts. It was not fair back then. I mean, on the outside, they may look different from other Americans. But the inside, they are just one of us.
This is just like getting teased or bullied in life now. You pick on someone, then they get angry. Then you keep doing it over and over because you know it hurts their feelings. And if you just let that person or people bug you and bully you, then they will hurt your feelings even more. Also, don't believe what others say to you. When you choose to let them just tease you all the time, you are the one who is giving them all the power to bug you. They would probably make you think that you are a bad person and that you would want to change yourself. But if you open your heart and speak up for yourself, things can change.
There are problems in the world with excluding the different people and different colors and then there is problems with kids at school excluding other kids. But it all comes back to the same thing. Excluding. Some people still think that they don't trust other nationalities but it is the same thing with kids, they don't trust or they don't want kids to get in with them and their little posse, and they don't want it to change.
But it is all the same sort of thing. A group of people don't like these people because they are different or new. It isn't always that way but sometimes it is. But sometimes the group that isn't nice is not being nice because they have problems so they take it out on other people. Not only is there excluding in the world but there is also teasing.
Teasing is common in schools or in classes or sometimes anywhere with a group of people. But it still does happen to adults, too. Sometimes it is racial discrimination or sometimes it would be about a problem they had. A lot of times at school somebody you trusted would tell somebody else who would tell somebody else and so on and so forth but then it would get back to you and that is when you get really hurt.
There are problems in the world with excluding the different people and different colors and then there is problems with kids at school excluding other kids. But it all comes back to the same thing. Excluding. Some people still think that they don't trust other nationalities but it is the same thing with kids, they don't trust or they don't want kids to get in with them and their little posse, and they don't want it to change.
But it is all the same sort of thing. A group of people don't like these people because they are different or new. It isn't always that way but sometimes it is. But sometimes the group that isn't nice is not being nice because they have problems so they take it out on other people. Not only is there excluding in the world but there is also teasing.
Teasing is common in schools or in classes or sometimes anywhere with a group of people. But it still does happen to adults, too. Sometimes it is racial discrimination or sometimes it would be about a problem they had. A lot of times at school somebody you trusted would tell somebody else who would tell somebody else and so on and so forth but then it would get back to you and that is when you get really hurt.
There are problems in the world with excluding the different people and different colors and then there is problems with kids at school excluding other kids. But it all comes back to the same thing. Excluding. Some people still think that they don't trust other nationalities but it is the same thing with kids, they don't trust or they don't want kids to get in with them and their little posse, and they don't want it to change.
But it is all the same sort of thing. A group of people don't like these people because they are different or new. It isn't always that way but sometimes it is. But sometimes the group that isn't nice is not being nice because they have problems so they take it out on other people. Not only is there excluding in the world but there is also teasing.
Teasing is common in schools or in classes or sometimes anywhere with a group of people. But it still does happen to adults, too. Sometimes it is racial discrimination or sometimes it would be about a problem they had. A lot of times at school somebody you trusted would tell somebody else who would tell somebody else and so on and so forth but then it would get back to you and that is when you get really hurt.
I think it's dumb of people to do that to people just because they are different. They should have tried to get to know them, and then they would have seen how normal those people were. They were probably just scaredy cats, and weren't brave enough to let them live their life in a normal way. They should have acted smarter, then maybe the world today would be different.
MT,
We were reading a book about Middel school. And I think I found out a conection with the book and your post. So in the book it was talking about a problem with some kids that they weren't pretty or cool enough and others hurting their feelings. And in this post, the connection is that no one has the right skin color, like Tiger Woods or Barack Obama. So Japanese should not hurt the African-American and make them suffer because that's kind of hurting their feelings in a harder way. Not every one has to be pretty or cool to live some place.
That was a great post Mr. T. I think that your blog is very creative and I have no idea why you are a P.E teacher you should be a politician. I completely agree with you about segregation. it is a really big deal that a Japanese American has been made the manager of a major league baseball team. I know a lot of people would disagree with me but I think that blacks are very popular because look at all the black rappers aren't they really rich. Also what about Will Smith he's had a lot of successful movies. Us kids constantly see successful black people in sports, t.v, and music but also my mum says if she ever takes me to the southern states of America I'll see the poor black people.
Mr.T, I did not know that sgrigation lasted 314 years!
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