ASIA AM 10W Lecture Notes - Lecture 11: Model Minority, Magnuson Act, Racialization
10 May 2018
School
Department
Course
Professor
All credits give to Professor Fong, K.N.. Direct quotations are directly from the professor’s
slides. Others is either paraphrased or summarized.
Overview
●The lifting of Exclusion is related to US ideologies on world stage
○WWII, Cold War
○Core ideology of US: capitalism, imperialism, militarism (in the context of
Southeast Asia)
●Asian American (AA) communities change due to the impact of 1965 Immigration Act
World War II
●During WWII, China is ally with US against Japan
○Ideological contradiction: exclude people from the ally country while work
together to fight against Nazis and fascism
●Repeal of Exclusion
○Magnuson Act (1943)
■Formally lifted Chinese Exclusion Act (1982-1943)
■Set 105 immigration quota for Chinese per year—more symbolic move,
exclusion is still in effect because the quota is small
■Allowed Chinese immigrants to naturalize through naturalization
citizenship while they were not allowed to naturalize because they didn’t
belong to the racial category of free white and African descent
○Lue-Celler Act (1946)—the end of WWII and the beginning of Cold War
■Allowed South Asians and Filipinos to immigrate and naturalize
■Set 100 immigration quota from each country per year—more symbolic,
exclusion is still in effect
○McCarran-Walter Act (1952)—the context of Korean War
■Allowed Koreans and Japanese to immigrate and naturalize
■Set 100 immigration quota from each country per year
■Want to support Japan to suppress the spread of communism; attract
Korean people who flee due to the Korean War
○Since quotas are still small, Exclusion is still in effect
■Not all quotas are used due to filing paperwork and issuing VISA
■In 1965, exclusion was officially and truly lifted
1965 Immigration Act
●Context: increasing criticism about US exclusive immigration policy
find more resources at oneclass.com
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●Reform geared toward eliminating discriminatory aspects (ideologically), but not
necessarily increase the volume of immigration (the notion of a gatekeeper country)
●Set the maximum number of immigrants at 290,000 per year
○“170,000 from Eastern hemisphere, 120,000 from Western hemisphere”—a little
more equal and less discriminatory than the quota set based on
country/ethnicity
○7 preferences (Hing, 82) [direct quotation from the slides and the professor’s
direct reference to the reading]
■“Adult, unmarried children of US citizens”
■“Spouses and unmarried children of legal permanent aliens”
●Legal permanent aliens: green card holders who don’t have
citizenship
■“Professionals with exceptional abilities in the sciences and arts”
●Talented people in particular fields
■“Married children of US citizens”
■“Siblings of adult US citizens”
■“Skilled or unskilled workers to meet labor shortages in the US”
●Unskilled workers are welcomed to fill the labor shortages
(contrast with the 1990 Amendments)
■“Refugees, particularly those fleeing from Communist countries or the
Middle East”
●AA used 3 kinds of preferences to immigrate to US
○“Family reunification used most, 80%-90%”
■Humanitarian for family members to live together
■Note: immediate family members, including spouses, unmarried minor
children, and parents of citizens, are allowed to enter without the
restriction of quotas
○“Occupation preferences, used by professionals”
■Educated, skilled, middle or upper class, e.g. nurses, scientists,
professors, lawyers, doctors etc.
■Bring the wealth of knowledge to US
○“Refugees from Southeast Asia
■Someone fleeing home country in fear of persecution”
■Due to US involvement in Vietnam and Cambodia
●US gov’t didn’t expect so many AA to come to US
Impacts on the AAPI Community
(1) Gender ratio
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
●Early AA communities are mainly men, especially Filipinos and Chinese who were
recruited to work
●Employment preference
○Filipino nurses come to meet nursing shortage (privilege)
○Reflects US’s imperial and colonial influence on Philippine: US education system,
English etc.
●Marriages to US servicemen
○“War bribes: non-citizen women who married US servicemen and came to the
US”
■US has strong military presence in Asia
■War bribes work in the industry that serves US military
■The impact of militarism on local economy: create business to support US
military
○War Brides Act (1945)
■Alien spouses and minor children of US servicemen are allowed to enter
and immigrate without the restriction of quotas—humanitarian act
■Only included white women but not Asian war brides until 1952
●80% of Japanese immigrants were war brides in 1950s
●Socially linguistically isolated upon arrival
(2) Employment and socioeconomic status
●Professional class is increasing and rising in US
●“Contributes to model minority discourse and growing class divide”
○AA as a whole are seen as successful because of new professional class
immigrants
○This discourse is not necessarily true because new immigrants (professionals)
come to US with money and education that they already have, but they don’t
necessarily overcome discrimination and racism and become successful in US
(3) Residential
●Geographic:
○Many people were on West Coast because they were recruited to work there
and because there were established communities before 1965
○AA settled in places other than West Coast after 1965, including the
resettlement of Japanese after Japanese incarceration
■Employees live in where their employers are, and refugees live
somewhere safe for them etc.
●Ethnic enclaves: group of people from the same ethnic groups live in a specific area e.g.
Little Tokyo and Chinatown
○AA can live somewhere else freely after the lifting of exclusion
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
Document Summary
Direct quotations are directly from the professor"s slides. The lifting of exclusion is related to us ideologies on world stage. Core ideology of us: capitalism, imperialism, militarism (in the context of. Asian american (aa) communities change due to the impact of 1965 immigration act. During wwii, china is ally with us against japan. Ideological contradiction: exclude people from the ally country while work together to fight against nazis and fascism. Set 105 immigration quota for chinese per year more symbolic move, exclusion is still in effect because the quota is small. Allowed chinese immigrants to naturalize through naturalization citizenship while they were not allowed to naturalize because they didn"t belong to the racial category of free white and african descent. Lue-celler act (1946) the end of wwii and the beginning of cold war. Allowed south asians and filipinos to immigrate and naturalize. Set 100 immigration quota from each country per year more symbolic, exclusion is still in effect.
