Based on the readings and film, citizenship for the United States made it difficult for anyone who was not of European descent to apply. The criteria for citizenship favored white people over others such as making it mandatory for Asians to fill out a loyalty questionnaire where Europeans did not have to do that. This bias and preferences may continue on to modern times especially under the current administration which creates irrelevant obstacles for hardworking immigrants to overcome. The issues of which country migrants come from and naturalization affected not only people of color, but also Europeans which was surprising because the systems were designed to accommodate them. Citizenship should not have to be an issue that disproportionately affects underprivileged people while making it easier for upper classes. The people who are part of the country are the ones who pay taxes, contribute to the economy, have children in schools, etc. To belong in the United States, one wants to feel safe and secure without worrying about how they look and what matters the most is their character.
Category: Module 7
Thuc Thao Tran DB#7
After reading and watching the video, I found that the person with the most rights and the person allowed to become a citizen of the United States easiest was definitely white. The first thing that noticed was that in “Ozawa and Thind” I saw racism from the very beginning of my reading. Ozawa is Japanese, I see that Ozawa has “fought” a lot for Asian America’s fairness. ” “In Ozawa v. In The United States, the Court wrote that the term “white persons” included “only persons of what is popularly known as the Caucasian race…”. More than that, when it comes to the video we’ve seen, I think I got it more through the narrative. They are Asian, more specifically Japanese, they have to live in Camp and they are very limited in speaking Japanese.
And I’ve seen pictures of the Japanese getting hurt from soldiers. And when being interviewed, I feel that all the people have certain answers, it’s like everyone has memorized the answer before. And everyone got the same answer when they were asked, the answer are “No …, Yes … if …”
“No, I’m not loyal to the Emperor. Yes, I will serve in the US Army, If we attack then we get released”
I know there will be a lot more information that I haven’t mentioned here about the disadvantages of Asian-Americans in wanting to be recognized as Citizen. But what I want to say more than that is the circumstances and at anytime the “white people” are always a group of people with more advantages and interests than any other group of color.