Asian Americans

Asian people have been in the US for hundreds of years and there is even some historical evidence that Chinese explorers reached the far Western coast of the US decades before Columbus; “according to Gavin Menzies, a former submarine commanding officer who has spent 14 years charting the movements of a Chinese expeditionary fleet between 1421 and 1423, the eunuch admiral, Zheng He, was there first.”¹2, 3, 4 It can even be argued that the native American Indians are immigrants from Asia because thousands of years ago they crossed a land bridge from Asia into North America. “Asia is the planet's largest continent, Asia covers about 30 percent of the world's landmass and includes (44) countries and assorted islands and/or dependencies. Significant features of the continent of Asia include the world's tallest mountain, Mt Everest in Nepal (and China), rising to 29,035 ft (8,850m). It also includes the world's lowest point, found in the Dead Sea, ”“Israel/Jordan,”[source]“ at 1,286 ft (392m) below sea level. In addition, the continent includes the world's most populated countries, China and India; the world's longest coastline, the world's deepest lake; Lake Baykal, and some of the most important rivers on the planet.”5

Figure 1

Because of the size of Asia, the people from that continent speak too many languages to list, but among those languages are: Cantonese, English, French, Fukinese, Hindi, Hmong, Japanese, Korean, Tagalog, and Vietnamese. Asian Americans can trace their backgrounds to: Mongolia, China, Japan, Siberia, India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Indonesia, Borneo, Tibet, New Guinea, Laos, Papua New Guinea, Nepal, Polynesia, Philippines, Vietnam, Cambodia, Malaysia, Melanesia, Myanmar (Burma), Brunei, Micronesia, Melanesia, Malaysia, Korea. Asian Americans may be white, brown, or black and may or may not have epicanthic eye folds. Asian Americans are culturally, linguistically, religiously, politically, racially, and ethnically diverse. Because of their supposed educational and economic success, they have been called a “model minority.” However, in many ways this is a misnomer and creates problems for many Asian Americans. The term “model minority” presumes that all Asian Americans are high achievers and all Asian Americans are economically and educationally successful, but, as with any group, this is a stereotype and economic and educational success and failure are as equally divided among Asian Americans as they are among any other racial or ethnic group. Moreover, the idea of a “model minority” also makes the assumption that there is something wrong with all other minorities if they don’t “measure up” to Asian Americans. Therefore, “model minority” is a racist idea and a racist term. And, as with any other non-white minority, Asians have suffered from discrimination in the form of wide-spread, generalized anti-Asian sentiment as well as discriminatory laws that prevented Asians from becoming citizens, prohibited land ownership, inhibited immigration, and generally made the lives of Asian-Americans difficult at best. Nonetheless, Asians have come to the US in small but relatively constant numbers before the founding of the country. They have also prospered in spite of the limitations placed on them.

The early Chinese immigrants were begrudgingly accepted by Americans and were not the immediate targets of animosity or violence. However, taxes aimed at foreigners made earning wages difficult. California passed the foreign mine tax in the 1850s, which directly affected the majority of the Chinese immigrants who were working in the mines. In addition, they were required to pay an alien poll tax of $2.50 per month until 1862, when it was declared unconstitutional.

Additional discriminatory legislation the Chinese faced during the latter half of the 19th century pertained to segregated schools, lodging ordinances, laundry licensing fees, prohibition of intermarriage with whites, and bans from sections of cities. In 1854, a California judge's ruling barred Chinese immigrants from testifying in court after the testimonies of Chinese witnesses resulted in the murder conviction of a white man. The judge reversed the verdict citing the Criminal Act of 1850, which had previously prohibited blacks, mulattos, and Indians from testifying for or against a white man. By 1855 Chinese merchants began organizing to protest these and other discriminatory acts. Eventually this organization became known as the Chinese Consolidated Benevolent Association, or the Chinese Six Companies. The Chinese Six Companies settled arguments within their own community, negotiated between the Chinese people and the federal and state governments, and hired lawyers to challenge unfair practices in court.

The main sources of anti-Chinese sentiment during this time were workers' groups who described the influx of Asian workers to the United States as ‘yellow peril.’ In addition to widespread intolerance for people of color, many labor groups held that cheap immigrant labor would lower wages for American workers. In the 1870s, the Anti-Coolies Association and the Supreme Order of the Caucasians ran boycotts of Chinese businesses and laborers and caused riots in Chinatowns across the West. Many immigrants returned to China, while others fled to San Francisco, home to the largest Chinese community and Chinatown in the United States.7

Demographics

There Are 10.9 Million Asians Currently Living in the US. They come from all over Asia, but the largest countries of origin are shown in the figure below.

Figure 2

Countries of Origin

About 4% of the US population is Asian with 18% living in the Northeast US, 10% living in the Midwest, 20% in the South, and 53% in the West. Nearly half of all Asians live in a central city within a major metropolitan area.

Figure 3

States with Largest Asian Populations

Figure 4

Metropolitan Areas with Largest Asian Populations

Asians are younger compared to white Americans: 29% of all Asians are under 18 (compared to 23.5% for non-Hispanic whites), 64.0% are between 18-64 (compared to 62.4% for non-Hispanic whites), and 7.0% are over 65 (compared to 14% for non-Hispanic whites). Asians have larger than average families: 23.0% have five or more members (as compared to 11.8% for non-Hispanic whites); also Asians are less likely to marry—34% have never married (compared to 24.5% of non-Hispanic whites)—but only half as likely to be divorced as non-Hispanic whites. Asians do receive more education: only 8% did not go past 9^th grade as compared to 4.2% for non-Hispanic whites, while 15% went to high school but did not graduate as compared to 7.3% for non-Hispanic whites. And although only 45% are high school graduates as compared to 60.3% for non-Hispanic whites, 85% have at least a high school diploma as compared to 88.4% for non-Hispanic whites. When it comes to higher education however, the numbers shift dramatically—42% of all Asian Americans have a bachelors degree as compare to 28.1% for non-Hispanic whites. Asians are employed (and unemployed) at about the same rate as non-Hispanic whites but are more likely to work in managerial and professional occupations. However, Asians are more likely to be poor than non-Hispanic whites: 13% of all Asians live in poverty as compared to 8% of non-Hispanic whites, 11% of all poor in the US are Asian, 18% of all Asian children are poor as compared to 11% of all non-Hispanic whites. But, Asian Americans are slightly more likely to have high incomes: 59% of Asian Americans earn $50,000-$75,000 annually compared to 58% for non-Hispanic whites while 25% earn $25,000-$50,000 as compared to 28% for non-Hispanic whites.

Figure 5

Asian American Business Ownership

A Chronology

Asians have been in the Americas permanently since the 1600s, and although they have never been a large segment of the American population they have still been an important addition to the American character. This chronology lists some of the most important events in the lives of Asians in America.

1600s—Chinese and Filipinos reach Mexico on ships of the Manila galleon.

1830s—Chinese "sugar masters" begin working in Hawaii, while Chinese sailors and peddlers arrive in New York.

1839-1844—US and China sign first treaty: the Treaty of Wangxia

1848—Gold discovered in California, Chinese begin to arrive.

1850—California imposes Foreign Miner's Tax and enforces it mainly against Chinese miners, who often had to pay more than once.

1852—First group of 195 Chinese contract laborers land in Hawaii. Over 20,000 Chinese enter California primarily due to the gold rush. Chinese first appear in court in California. Missionary William Speer opens Presbyterian mission for Chinese in San Francisco.

1854—Chinese in Hawaii establish a funeral society, their first community association in the islands. People v Hall rules that Chinese can't give testimony in court. US and Japan sign first treaty: The Treaty of Kanagawa

1857—San Francisco opens a school for Chinese children (changed to an evening school two years later). Missionary Augustus Loomis arrives to serve the Chinese in San Francisco.

1858—California passes a law to bar entry of Chinese and "Mongolians."

1860—Japan sends a diplomatic mission to US.

1862—Six Chinese district associations in San Francisco form loose federation. California imposes a "police tax" of $250 a month on every Chinese, this was called the anti-coolie tax.

1865—Central Pacific Railroad Company recruits Chinese workers for the transcontinental railroad.8

1867—Two thousand Chinese railroad workers strike for a week.

1868—US and China sign Burlingame-Seward Treaty recognizing rights of their citizens to emigrate. Eugene Van Reed illegally ships 149 Japanese laborers to Hawaii.

Sam Damon9 opens Sunday school for Chinese in Hawaii.

1869—Completion of first transcontinental railroad.10 JH Schnell takes several dozen Japanese to California to establish the Wakamatsu Tea and Silk Colony.11 Chinese Christian evangelist SP Aheong starts preaching in Hawaii.

1870—California passes a law against the importation of Chinese, Japanese, and "Mongolian" women for prostitution.12Chinese railroad workers in Texas sue company for failing to pay wages.

1872—California's Civil Procedure Code drops law barring Chinese court testimony.

1875—Page Law bars entry of Chinese, Japanese, and "Mongolian" prostitutes, felons, and contract laborers.

1877—Anti-Chinese violence in Chico, California. Japanese Christians set up the Gospel Society in San Francisco, the first immigrant association formed by the Japanese.

1878—In re Ah Yup rules Chinese not eligible for naturalized citizenship. (For more information about this issue, please see the following websites: The Racial Classification Cases; Google Timeline for In re Ah Yup; Unsuitable Suitors by Deenesh Sohoni.)

1879—California's second constitution prevents municipalities and corporations from employing Chinese. California state legislature passes law requiring all incorporated towns and cities to expel Chinese to outside of city limits, but US circuit court declares the law unconstitutional.

1880—US and China sign treaty giving the US the right to limit but "not absolutely prohibit" Chinese immigration. Section 69 of California's Civil Code prohibits issuing of licenses for marriages between whites and "Mongolians, Negroes, mulattoes and persons of mixed blood."

1881—Hawaiian King Kalakaua visits Japan during his world tour. Sit Moon becomes pastor of the first Chinese Christian church in Hawaii.

1882—Chinese Exclusion Law suspends immigration of laborers for ten years. Chinese community leaders form Chinese Consolidated Benevolent Association (CCBA or Chinese Six Companies) in San Francisco. US and Korea sign first treaty. Chinese Exclusion Law amended to require a certificate as the only permissible evidence for reentry.

1883—Chinese in New York establish CCBA.

1884—Joseph and Mary Tape sue San Francisco school board to enroll their daughter Mamie in a public school. Chinese Six Companies sets up Chinese language school in San Francisco. United Chinese Society established in Honolulu. CCBA established in Vancouver.

1885—San Francisco builds new segregated "Oriental School." Anti-Chinese violence at Rock Springs, Wyoming Territory. First group of Japanese contract laborers arrives in Hawaii under the Irwin Convention.

1886—Residents of Tacoma, Seattle, and many places in the American West forcibly expel the Chinese. End of Chinese immigration to Hawaii. Chinese laundrymen win case in Yick Wo v Hopkins, which declares that a law with unequal impact on different groups is discriminatory.

1888—Scott Act renders 20,000 Chinese reentry certificates null and void.

1889—First Nishi Hongwanji priest from Japan arrives in Hawaii. Chae Chan Ping v US upholds constitutionality of Chinese exclusion laws; for Chinese Americans, this law had the same effect as Plessy v. Ferguson in that made discrimination based on race the law of the land.

1892—Geary Law renews exclusion of Chinese laborers for another ten years and requires all Chinese to register. Fong Yue Ting v US upholds constitutionality of Geary Law.

1893—Japanese in San Francisco form first trade association, the Japanese Shoemakers' League. Attempts are made to expel Chinese from towns in Southern California.

1894—Sun Yat-sen founds the Xingzhonghui in Honolulu. US circuit court in Massachusetts declares in In re Saito that Japanese are ineligible for naturalization. Japanese immigration to Hawaii under Irwin Convention ends and emigration companies take over.

1895—Lem Moon Sing v US rules that district courts can no longer review Chinese habeas corpus petitions for landing in the US.

1896—Shinsei Kaneko, a Japanese Californian, is naturalized. Bubonic plague scare in Honolulu - Chinatown burned.

1897—Nishi Hongwanji includes Hawaii as a mission field.

1898—Wong Kim Ark v US decides that Chinese born in the US can't be stripped of their citizenship. Japanese in San Francisco set up Young Men's Buddhist Association. US annexes Hawaii and the Philippines.

1899—Chinese reformers Kang Youwei and Liang Qichao tour North America to recruit members for the Baohuanghui. First Nishi Hongwanji priests arrive in California and set up North American Buddhist Mission.

1900—Japanese Hawaiian plantation workers begin going to the mainland after the Organic Act ended contract labor. Bubonic plague scare in San Francisco - Chinatown cordoned and quarantined.

1902—Chinese exclusion extended for another ten years. Immigration officials and the police raid Boston's Chinatown and, without search warrants, arrest almost 250 Chinese who allegedly had no registration certificates on their persons.

1903—First group of Korean workers arrives in Hawaii. 1500 Japanese and Mexican sugar beet workers strike in Oxnard, California. Koreans in Hawaii form Korean Evangelical Society. Filipino students (pensionados) arrive in the US for higher education.

1904—Chinese exclusion made indefinite and applicable to US insular possessions. Japanese plantation workers engage in first organized strike in Hawaii. Punjabi Sikhs begin to enter British Columbia.

1905—Chinese in the US and Hawaii support boycott of American products in China. Koreans establish Korean Episcopal Church in Hawaii and Korean Methodist Church in California. San Francisco School Board attempts to segregate Japanese schoolchildren.

1905—Korean emigration ends. Koreans in San Francisco form Mutual Assistance Society. Asiatic Exclusion League formed in San Francisco. Section 60 of California's Civil Code amended to forbid marriage between whites and "Mongolians."

1906—Anti-Asian riot in Vancouver. Japanese nurserymen form California Flower Growers' Association. Koreans establish Korean Presbyterian Church in Los Angeles. Japanese scientists studying the aftermath of the San Francisco earthquake are stoned.

1907—Japan and the US reach "Gentlemen's Agreement" whereby Japan stops issuing passports to laborers desiring to emigrate to the US. President Theodore Roosevelt signs Executive Order 589 prohibiting Japanese with passports for Hawaii, Mexico, or Canada to re-emigrate to the US. Koreans form United Korean Society in Hawaii

First group of Filipino laborers arrives in Hawaii. Asian Indians are driven out of Bellingham, Washington.

1908—Japanese form Japanese Association of America. Canada curbs Asian Indian immigrants by denying entry to immigrants who haven't come by "continuous journey" from their homelands (there is no direct shipping between Indian and Canadian ports). Asian Indians are driven out of Live Oak, California.

1909—Koreans form Korean Nationalist Association. 7000 Japanese plantation workers strike major plantations on Oahu for four months.

1910—Administrative measures used to restrict influx of Asian Indians into California.

1911—Pablo Manlapit forms Filipino Higher Wages Association in Hawaii. Japanese form Japanese Association of Oregon in Portland.

1912—Sikhs build gurdwara in Stockton and establish Khalsa Diwan. Japanese in California hold statewide conference on Nisei education

1913—California passes alien land law prohibiting "aliens ineligible to citizenship" from buying land or leasing it for longer than three years. Sikhs in Washington and Oregon establish Hindustani Association. Asian Indians in California found the revolutionary Ghadar Party and start publishing a newspaper. Pablo Manlapit forms Filipino Unemployed Association in Hawaii. Japanese form Northwest Japanese Association of America in Seattle. Korean farm workers are driven out of Hemet, California.

1914—Aspiring Asian Indian immigrants who had chartered a ship to come to Canada by continuous journey are denied landing in Vancouver.

1915—Japanese form Central Japanese Association of Southern California and the Japanese Chamber of Commerce.

1917—Arizona passes an Alien Land Law. 1917 Immigration Law defines a geographic "barred zone" (including India) from which no immigrants can come. Syngman Rhee founds the Korean Christian Church in Hawaii.

1918—Servicemen of Asian ancestry who had served in World War I receive right of naturalization. Asian Indians form the Hindustani Welfare Reform Association in the Imperial and Coachella valleys in southern California.

1919—Japanese form Federation of Japanese Labor in Hawaii.

1920—10,000 Japanese and Filipino plantation workers go on strike. Japan stops issuing passports to picture brides due to anti-Japanese sentiments. Initiative in California ballot plugs up loopholes in the 1913 alien land law.

1921—Japanese farm workers driven out of Turlock, California. Filipinos establish a branch of the Caballeros Dimas Alang in San Francisco and a branch of the Legionarios del Trabajo in Honolulu. Washington and Louisiana pass alien land laws.

1922—Takao Ozawa v US declares Japanese not eligible for naturalized citizenship. New Mexico passes an alien land law. Cable Act declares that any American female citizen who marries "an alien ineligible to citizenship" would lose her citizenship.

1923—US v Bhagat Singh Thind declares Asian Indians not eligible for naturalized citizenship. Idaho, Montana, and Oregon pass alien land laws. Terrace v Thompson upholds constitutionality of Washington's alien land law. Porterfield v Webb upholds constitutionality of California's alien land law. Webb v O'Brien rules that sharecropping is illegal because it is a ruse that allows Japanese to possess and use land. Frick v Webb forbids aliens "ineligible to citizenship" from owning stocks in corporations formed for farming.

1924—Immigration Act (also titled the Johnson-Reid Act) denies entry to virtually all Asians. 1600 Filipino plantation workers strike for eight months in Hawaii.

1925—Warring tongs in North America's Chinatowns declare truce Hilario Moncado founds Filipino Federation of America.

1928—Filipino farm workers are driven out of Yakima Valley, Washington. Filipinos in Los Angeles form Filipino American Christian Fellowship.

1930—Anti-Filipino riot in Watsonville, California.

1931—Amendment to Cable Act declares that no American-born woman who loses her citizenship (by marrying an alien ineligible to citizenship) can be denied the right of naturalization at a later date.

1934—Tydings - McDuffie Act spells out procedure for eventual Philippine independence and reduces Filipino immigration to 50 persons a year. Filipino lettuce pickers in the Salinas Valley, California, go on strike.

1936—American Federation of Labor grants charter to a Filipino - Mexican union of fieldworkers.

1937—Last ethnic strike in Hawaii.

1938—150 Chinese women garment workers strike for three months against the National Dollar Stores (owned by a Chinese).

1940—AFL charters the Filipino Federated Agricultural Laborers Association.

1941—After declaring war on Japan, 2000 Japanese community leaders along Pacific Coast states and Hawaii are rounded up and interned in Department of Justice camps.

1942—President Franklin D Roosevelt signs Executive Order 9066 authorizing the secretary of war to delegate a military commander to designate military areas "from which any and all persons may be excluded" - primarily enforced against Japanese. Congress passes Public Law 503 to impose penal sanctions on anyone disobeying orders to carry out Executive Order 9066. Protests at Poston and Manzanar relocation centers.

1943—Protest at Topaz Relocation Center Registration crisis leads to Tule Lake Relocation Center's designation as a segregation center. Hawaiian Nisei in the 100th Battalion sent to Africa. Congress repeals all Chinese exclusion laws, grants right of naturalization and a small immigration quota to Chinese.

1944—Tule Lake placed under martial law. Draft reinstated for Nisei. Draft resistance at Heart Mountain Relocation Center. 442nd Regimental Combat Team gains fame. Exclusion orders revoked.

1946—Luce-Celler bill grants right of naturalization and small immigration quotas to Asian Indians and Filipinos. Wing F. Ong 13 becomes first Asian American to be elected to state office in the Arizona House of Representatives.

1947—Amendment to 1945 War Brides Act allows Chinese American veterans to bring brides into the US.

1949—5000 highly educated Chinese in the US granted refugee status after China institutes a Communist government.

1952—One clause of the McCarran - Walter Act grants the right of naturalization and a small immigration quota to Japanese.

1956—California repeals its alien land laws. Dalip Singh Saund from the Imperial Valley, California, is elected to Congress.

1962—Daniel K Inouye becomes US senator and Spark Matsunaga becomes US congressman from Hawaii.

1964—Patsy Takemoto Mink becomes first Asian American woman to serve in Congress as representative from Hawaii.

1965—Immigration Law abolishes "national origins" as basis for allocating immigration quotas to various countries - Asian countries now on equal footing.

1968—Students on strike at San Francisco State University to demand establishment of ethnic studies programs.

1969—Students at the University of California, Berkeley, go on strike for establishment of ethnic studies programs.

1974—March Fong Eu elected California's secretary of state. Lau v Nichols rules that school districts with children who speak little English must provide them with bilingual education.

1975—More than 130,000 refugees enter the US from Vietnam, Kampuchea, and Laos as Communist governments are established there.

1976—President Gerald Ford rescinds Executive Order 9066.

1978—National convention of the Japanese American Citizens League adopts resolution calling for redress and reparations for the internment of Japanese Americans. Massive exodus of "boat people" from Vietnam.

1979—Resumption of diplomatic relations between the People's Republic of China and the United States of America reunites members of long-separated Chinese American families.

1980—The Socialist Republic of Vietnam and the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees set up an Orderly Departure Program to enable Vietnamese to emigrate legally.

1981—Commission on Wartime Relocation and Internment of Civilians (set up by Congress) holds hearings across the country and concludes the internment was a "grave injustice" and that Executive Order 9066 resulted from "race prejudice, war hysteria and a failure of political leadership."

1982—Vincent Chin, a Chinese American draftsman, is clubbed to death with a baseball bat by two Euro-American men.

1983—Fred Korematsu, Min Yasui, and Gordon Hirabayashi file petitions to overturn their World War II convictions for violating the curfew and evacuation orders.

1986—Immigration Reform and Control Act imposes civil and criminal penalties on employers who knowingly hire undocumented aliens.

1987—The US House of Representatives votes 243 to 141 to make an official apology to Japanese Americans and to pay each surviving internee $20,000 in reparations.

1988—The US Senate votes 69% to 27 to support redress for Japanese Americans. American Homecoming Act allows children in Vietnam born of American fathers to emigrate to the US.

1989—President George Bush signs into law an entitlement program to pay each surviving Japanese American internee $20,000. US reaches agreement with Vietnam to allow political prisoners to emigrate to the US.

Asian Americans Today

Discrimination and prejudice do not cease to exist merely because there are laws that protect the rights of people in the US regardless of race or ethnicity. Minority groups often hold racist or at the very least prejudicial stereotypes about each other which can lead to violence. Even in the political arena, people are much more likely to vote for a candidate who is of the same race or ethnicity as themselves even when that candidate may not be the best choice for the office. We are less likely to vote for people who are different from ourselves and minorities often do not support other minorities.14 Moreover, thinking back to Thomas’s Theorem—that which is perceived to be real is real in its consequences—it would take a concerted, deliberate effort by every person every day to not notice the race or ethnicity of others. Thus, Asian Nation. Org states:

As many social scientists have noted, there are two primary stereotypes that continue to affect Asian Americans. One is that all Asian Americans are the same. That is, many people are either unable or unwilling to distinguish between different Asian ethnicities -- Korean American from a Japanese American, Filipino American from an Indonesian American, etc. This becomes a problem when people generalize certain beliefs or stereotypes about one or a few Asian Americans to the entire Asian American population. The result is that important differences between Asian ethnic groups are minimized or ignored altogether, sometimes leading to disastrous results.

The second stereotype is that all Asian Americans are foreigners. Although more than half of all Asians in the U.S. were born outside the U.S., many non-Asians simply assume that every Asian they see, meet, or hear about is a foreigner. Many can't recognize that many Asian American families have been U.S. citizens for several generations. As a result, because all Asian Americans are perceived as foreigners, it becomes easier to think of us as not fully American and then to deny us the same rights that other Americans take for granted. Yes, that means prejudice and discrimination in its many forms.

In his article “Hate” by Patrick WaltersThe Associated Press January 21, 2010.

The blocks surrounding South Philadelphia High School are a melting pot of pizzerias fronted by Italian flags, African hair-braiding salons and a growing number of Chinese, Vietnamese and Indonesian restaurants.

Inside is a cauldron of cultural discontent that erupted in violence last month - off-campus and lunchroom attacks on about 50 Asian students, injuring 30, primarily at the hands of blacks. The Asian students, who boycotted classes for more than a week afterward, say they've endured relentless bullying by black students while school officials turned a blind eye to their complaints.

‘We have suffered a lot to get to America and we didn't come here to fight,’ Wei Chen, president of the Chinese American Student Association, told the school board in one of several hearings on the violence. ‘We just want a safe environment to learn and make more friends. That's my dream.’

Philadelphia school officials suspended 10 students, increased police patrols and installed dozens of new security cameras to watch the halls, where 70 percent of the students are black and 18 percent Asian. The Vietnamese embassy complained to the U.S. State Department about the attacks and numerous groups are investigating, including the Pennsylvania Human Relations Commission.

The New York-based Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund joined the fray this week with a civil rights complaint to the U.S. Justice Department. 15

And in “Society” by James Glanz The New York Times July 16, 2000, the author argues that:

Asian and Asian-American scientists are staying away from jobs at national weapons laboratories, particularly Los Alamos, saying that researchers of Asian descent are systematically harassed and denied advancement because of their race.

The issue has long simmered at the laboratories, but it came to a boil last year with the arrest of Dr. Wen Ho Lee, who is accused of mishandling nuclear secrets at Los Alamos. Though officials vehemently deny it, many Asian-Americans said Dr. Lee, a naturalized citizen born in Taiwan, was singled out because of his ethnicity.

In any event, Asians and Asian-Americans said, security procedures implemented after Dr. Lee's arrest fall hardest on them. Since the arrest, some scholarly groups have even called for a boycott of the laboratories, urging Asian and Asian-American scientists not to apply for jobs with them.16

Clearly, anti-Asian attitudes are still alive and well in the United States as are so many of the prejudices that we harbor.