Asian Immigration and the American Dream: Discrimination and Identity

Introduction: Shared Experiences of Asian Immigrants

In the decades before the Second World War, throngs of Asian immigrants came to American shores from China, Japan, India, Korea, and the Philippines. In many cases, these immigrants only planned on remaining in the United States for a short while — to earn money and then return home to their families — and so many left their families behind. In other cases, whole families followed, full of hope and the promise of the American Dream. These diverse Asian immigrant groups varied greatly in terms of their cultures of origin, their outlooks, and their visions of the future.

However, all Asian immigrants, especially those who reached the shores of the United States before World War II, shared several experiences in common. All groups suffered from intense discrimination delivered not only by white workers fearful of losing their jobs, but also by the American government itself. Additionally, nearly all of the Asian immigrant groups that Ronald Takaki discusses in his book Strangers from a Different Shore engaged in some form of successful business or entrepreneurial activity, often in overt pursuit of the American Dream. While some groups clung to tradition and a unique identity, others sought assimilation and embraced Western culture. All of these groups, however, remained connected to and interested in events affecting their homelands — a concern that was in some cases politically significant. Based on Takaki's book, the paradigms that universally apply to Asian immigrants to the United States include systematic discrimination, economic motivation, and cultural preservation.

Systematic and Institutionalized Discrimination

Systematic and institutionalized discrimination was experienced by all of the Asian immigrant groups that Takaki addresses. For example, the Asiatic Exclusion League and the Alien Land Act of 1913 applied to more than one group of Asian immigrants, including Japanese, Chinese, and Korean immigrants. Indian immigrants were initially treated differently, but they too soon became victims of institutionalized discrimination. A Supreme Court decision held that Asian Indians were to be classified as non-white, making them subject to overt discrimination in the workplace and elsewhere. In all cases, racism and discrimination threatened the lives and well-being of these immigrants, whose hopes and dreams were often shattered upon reaching American shores.

Economic Motivation and the American Dream

The hopes and dreams of all Asian immigrants were rooted in economic motivation. All immigrants came in search of financial opportunity — either through temporary labor, as many of the early Chinese workers did, or through a permanent livelihood. For example, the Sikhs who emigrated from India to the United States did so in large part because the Indian agricultural economy was faltering under British colonial rule. Needing new work, they came to America in hope of fulfilling the American Dream. Similarly, Korean immigrants thrived through entrepreneurial activities in America. However idealistic their outlooks, each of these Asian immigrant populations experienced overt discrimination from white workers who feared that Asian laborers would take their jobs.

Conclusion: Universal Paradigms of Asian Immigration

Preserving cultural identity, aspiring toward economic prosperity, and resisting systematic discrimination became the key paradigms for all the immigrant groups that Ronald Takaki discusses in Strangers from a Different Shore. The main theme running throughout the book is that while all Asian immigrant groups arrived with hopes and dreams for prosperity, and while all retained pride in their ethnic heritages, every group — the Chinese, the Japanese, the Koreans, the Filipinos, and the East Indians — unfortunately had to contend with racism that was actively supported by the American government.