American Imperialism In Hawaii

Who is the culprit?

During the second half of the nineteenth century and the first half of the twentieth century, one million Asian people came to California and Hawaii in consecutive order. They came to America with the expectation of a much better life in parts of religious freedom, higher wages or better environment than their home countries.These push and pull factors of immigration were made during this period in Asia by Western colonial effects. Namely, European Imperialism and Colonialism made the chaotic situation in Asia, which aroused Asian people’s desire to seek new life and hope in America. However, the impact of Imperialism and Colonialism also made problematic issues brought by the idea of Orientalism.Thus, I will talk about

As Western powers wanted to expand their strength and find economic benefits such as cheap labor, they tried to come into contacts with Asia countries. Soon after, many parts of Asia began to open their nations and got influences from Western countries. Following that, Imperialism and Colonialism also flowed into Asia. These circumstances incurred different sets of chaos and severe poverty among the five groups of Asian immigrants, so it caused a lot of push/pull factors of immigration to Hawaii and California. As such, Asian Immigration is the indirect or direct effect of Imperialism and Colonialism, so this phenomenon is one aspect of a larger historical process, called the “Expansion of Europe” (Chan, 1982, p. 42). Following this aftermath effect, the idea of Orientalism, which embodies distinction between West and East and gives delusion to Western people that they have authority over Asian people, was rooted in American people’s mind. In other words, the way Western people treated their colonial people like a slave was thought as very normal and natural and this wrong concept was literally brought to Hawaii and California. Thus, American employees justified exploitation of Asian labor because they already filled their minds with biases that Asian people are inferior, dirty and permanent foreigners who can never become American. This idea was always followed whenever and

In the process of colonizing Asia countries, the idea, Orientalism, was developed and handed down to the American people. Naturally, social injustice and racism were formed against Asian labourers and they had to face desperate reality without any equal protection of the law. Biased perception against Asian people spread out all over the nation quickly and didn’t seem to get better for a long time. The idea of Orientalism continually influenced badly to whatever Asian workers did to realize justice and something right. Therefore, I think, as everyone people know the incident of Nazism, more people need to know and study this historical incident at this time, which was a clear violation of human rights and one of the biggest shame in America’s history. Even though Asian immigrants’ story in America was one hundred years ago, I believe there are still remaining impacts of Imperialism in somebody’s lives in America and the