Keep the tears in Molly! I love this movie…I haven’t seen it since it first came out in 2008, but I am a fan of Clint Eastwood anyways!

It’s been so long since I have seen the movie, so I forgot about everything that happened.  In the beginning I was thinking about why the name of the movie was ‘Gran Torino.’ I knew Gran Torino was the type of car that Walt owned, but what was so important about the car that the whole movie was named after it?

Towards the end I realized that the car represented the relationship between Thao and Walt, and how Walt’s feelings about Asians and Asian Americans had evolved. Before Walt knew his neighbors, he already thought so horribly of them because they reminded him of horrible memories in the Korean War. After he began to know who Thao and Sue really were, he realized that they weren’t the type of people he was thinking of. One of his worst memories of the war was killing the innocent young boy, and he is reminded of this every day when he looks at Thao.  His vision of Asians and Asian Americans started to turn positive when he became close to he became close to his neighbors, and cared enough about them to protect them.

When they were reading his will at the very end, and he gave the Gran Torino to Thao, it showed his love for him, it showed that he truly did care for him, and that he finally accepted Asians.

I found these chapters to be a combination of interesting, educational, and disturbing.  Some of it was a review for me, for example the parts about the Japanese Internment Camps, however some of it was new to me and made me think.  Unfortunately, a lot of what was in these chapters wasn’t pleasant to read.  In chapter 10, it was crazy to read about all the different Asian groups and how they reacted to WWII.  Most of them went out of their way to make sure that America knew that they were loyal and most importantly, that they weren’t Japanese.  It was amazing how it took WWII to get America to see how unfair they were being to the Asian Community.  ”‘To be fighting for freedom and democracy in the Far East, at the cost of seven million lives in five years of hard, long, bitter warfare, and to be denied equal opportunity in the greatest of democracies, seems the height of irony.’ The contradiction was too evident to be ignored and too embarrassing for the United States to be allowed to continue.” (pg. 375-376)  The lives and conditions of the Asian communities now had a chance for things to improve.

Breaking Silences was a difficult, but educational chapter to read.  The new stereotype that emerged during this time was interesting.  The new wave of immigrants that came to America during this period were much different from the immigrants years before.  They were much more educated and wanted a better life for themselves.  However, now the stereotype became, “Asian Success” (pg. 478).  A perfect example of the problem with this is, “Failing to realize that there are poor Asian families, college administrators have sometimes excluded Asian-American students from Educational Opportunity Programs (EOP), which are intended for all students from low-income families.” (478)

The story of Vincent Chin was horrible.  ”In their protests, Asian Americans recount a long, unhappy history: ‘The killing of Vincent Chin happened in 1982, not 1882–the year of the Chinese Exclusion Act!” (pg. 483)  Vincent was brutally murdered by two white guys that went to the same college that he did.  They felt threatened by him because he was Chinese and because of the stereotype that all Asians were too smart and were taking jobs away from the white Americans.  That sounds way too familiar to what was happening when Asians first began immigrating to America.  They worked hard and prospered, so naturally they were a threat and must be taken care of.

(I’m honestly not feeling well, I have been having health problems as of late. So for now I will post my analysis of the titles)

Chapter 10

Watershed- the area of land where all of the water that is under it or drains off of it goes into the same place.

“The Watershed of World War II” could be another name for the relocation centers (a.k.a. internment camps).

• Gila River War Relocation Center, Arizona
• Granada War Relocation Center, Colorado (AKA “Amache”)
• Heart Mountain War Relocation Center, Wyoming
• Jerome War Relocation Center, Arkansas
• Manzanar War Relocation Center, California
• Minidoka War Relocation Center, Idaho
• Poston War Relocation Center, Arizona
• Rohwer War Relocation Center, Arkansas
• Topaz War Relocation Center, Utah
• Tule Lake War Relocation Center, California

Chapter 11

“Strangers” at the Gates Again

History does tend to come full circle; but will the end connect with the beginning or start another circle entirely?

After World War II, there were still difficult times ahead for Asian/Americans. The war making the racism in America more apparent, and Asian Americans who were born in the states were seen as “Strangers” once again.

Chapter 12

Breaking Silences

A closed mouth does not get fed.

One must speak in order to be heard. Though, there are times when actions speak louder than words. If I speak, will you listen? Or will you just see my race as words flow from my mouth.

To match up, to “fit in”, you’ll have to work harder than them. You’ll have to push your self further, reach higher, break the cycle! However, the closer to you get to the goal, the more people there will be behind you trying to pull you down. The myth of “model minority”, a foolish belief spawned from gossipers who just wanted someone to pick on.

Chapter 13

One-Tenth of the Nation

A fraction, a small one.

Are they really a part of it now? Or just a fraction, a piece that does not belong but is there. Riots in the streets, minorities fighting each other. But they helped shape the country, they helped in the wars! Why can’t they belong?! Why don’t you understand? Please try to understand.

History is usually told by the victors, not the victims. Why don’t you listen to their story for once? Who knows, maybe you’ll learn something about your own story you didn’t know before.

CHAPTER 10-13

From these chapters, I learned not only Japanese Americans but also most Asian Americans had hard time when they moved and they lived in America. Before reading this book, I thought I knew well about Japanese American because I had studied about Japanese American last quarter. However, what I knew about Japanese American was an only one wave, and I didn’t know they had a second wave. As well as fashions are changing every day, people who immigrate to America were also changing every generation.

-First wave

Most of Asian Americans who moved to America before World War ii sough jobs to get money, because of poor in Asian countries. So, they couldn’t speak English well and also couldn’t get good educations in America. They only had hard works to get money and to send them for their family in Asian countries. These times were hard for their physically and mentally. Then, being successful or not made their later life. People who were successful making money could take college educations and get steady wealthy lives. Their children could also go to colleges not to have hard time when their parents experienced. On the other hand, people who didn’t success became having opposite lives. They got low incomes and unfortunately some of them just had to become gangs.

-Second wave

Between first wave and second wave, there was the crucial difference the reason why they moved to America. Most of people who came here after the war already had technical knowledge in their countries. To study more and gain experience were their aims. The reason was different, but the discriminations caused by their different backgrounds were still there. And also, they also faced the problem which made by different cultures between Asian countries and American. In this book, there was one culture different which I could agree deeply.

“Now that I think about it I sometimes would like to move back to India. Why? Because there is too much individualism here in America. I am getting old and I am afraid my children will grow up and will not be near me. In India, children take care of their parents. This doesn’t happen in this country. So there is a price to be paid for coming here. The family isn’t as close here.”(Takaki, p.448)

Although depending on the family thoughts, in Japan, most of people also think about that it is natural children take care their parents after they get old. Some people live with their parents even they married and have their children. They are thinking that to take care their parents is good to their parents. Also their parents also think it is normally they help when their parents are old. However, I heard most of people don’t count on their children’s helps in America. Their thought is that their children also have their lives, so they go to nursing homes not to trouble their children. I also might not accept this culture different, if I’m in the same situation.

Reading this book, I was surprised that Martin Luther King, Jr was in this book, because this assignment due to his day. I felt it had meaning that I read and thought about the discriminations today, and I was glad thinking about the racism today. Nobody knows when racisms are gone in this world. However, I think one of the good resolutions is to know about their own roots. To do so, they can find the connection like Takaki. We can’t expect where we have connections around us, I think all people are connecting all over the world. We can’t live by ourselves, and we are not just in one country. Thinking about like that don’t made the reason where we are from.

Trying to follow what our Professor Chico has been passionately conveying to me and my fellow students the past two quarters, I really tried to make connections from the readings. The connections I noticed were in regards to common themes seen throughout the assigned readings of Ronald Takaki’s book “Strangers From a Different Shore” and even links I noticed from the book in regards to my own life.

The most common reoccurring theme I noticed in this book was the constant oppression people place upon their fellow man. As Asian Americans came to this country to fill the White mans need for laborers in the fields of agriculture, the building of railroads, factories, and other labor industry jobs, it was impossible not to notice the owners and those in a position of power always seemed to utilize there position to keep these “strangers from a different shore” from being able to advance themselves economically in society. Also they constantly used the tactic of separating the different nationality groups from uniting. From this I theorize that yes, appearance and ignorance and hate of any race that is not white caused the hostile feelings whites have exemplified in our countries history toward the Asian community, I also feel a bigger factor is greed. Businessmen utilize the cheap labor of new immigrants, however whenever these new ethnicities start to improve their economic situation in this country they see them as a threat and become even more hostile towards the Asian American population. One example of this that surprised me was in the realm of education. As Takaki shows on page 479, “…Asian American “success has been accompanied by the rise of a new wave of anti-Asian sentiment. On college campuses, racial slurs have surfaced in conversation on the quad: ‘Look out for the Asian Invasion.’” Other comments depicted on the page are even more offensive such as, ” M.I.T. means Made in Taiwan.” All of this is derived from the fact that Asian American are working hard to obtain an education and are seen as excelling and thus are believed to have taken enrollment spots from white college bound young adults. I had previously knew of the hate created by competition in the work force, but it is even more disheartening for me to hear that it is occurring in schools.

Also I noticed that many of the Asian American communities that have a longer history of immigration to the United States such as the Chinese, Japanese, Asian-Indian, Filipino and Korean immigrants had similar experiences after the second big wave of Asian immigration following the 1965 Immigration Act. This second wave of immigrants were made up of many highly educated professionals who due to their race, lack of language skills, and the ignorance of a still young and ignorant American society had been forced to downgrade there positions as professionals in their homelands, to jobs such as, shopkeepers, janitors, and other non-professional jobs in America. Furthermore even the sons, daughters, and grandchildren of these Asian American immigrants found that even though they were American citizens and highly educated in Universities in the United States, had a “glass ceiling (476)” placed above them where they were unable to advance to managerial and decision making postitions due to their ethnicity. However with that being said it is good to know that in the past few decades Asian Americans are beginning to speak out against such awful discrimination and are beginning to find their voice.

I have also made some connections with some of my own life experiences and the experiences of my relatives. Though I am white, I come from a lower middle class background and some of my relatives, such as my Grandfather could be considered having been raised as downright poor. One example of a connection I have with the readings is the sacrifice and hard work of the first generation in the hopes to better the futures of their children. I myself grew up without a silver spoon in my mouth, but my parents worked hard in the hopes to give me an education and a life that they were not able to achieve for themselves have managed to put both my sister and I through college and made every possible effort to improve our odds of success in life. Their sacrifices have not gone unnoticed in my eyes and I am even more aware of the sacrifices they made due to reading of Takaki’s book.

Another connection I noticed involved my Grandmother. Many Asian immigrant women, especially the Chinese American immigrants who worked in the garment industry were responsible for contributing to the families income along with raising children and performing household duties. My own grandmother was in the same boat, and oddly enough her job was as a worker in a sewing factory. She too had to come home after work, cook, clean, and take care of three daughters. Her decision to work was out of necessity and shows that people from all races and ethnicities whether European American, Asian American, or African American have had to put in long hours and dealt with an exhausting workload in order to provide for those they love.

Overall this weeks reading has been both eye opening as well as improved my knowledge of the struggles that Asian Americans have faced and still face in the United States today.

Chapter 10: The Watershed of WWII

World War II: A very large turning point in the battle against racial exclusion.  In the short-term however, did one race lose while another gained?  Most certainly.  The Japanese lost while the Filipinos gained; interment camps vs. “brotherhood” forged in war.  Because of this, in the short-term, can the events of World War II really be considered an improvement?  Not really.
The fact that many Filipino soldiers were refused service while they were dressed in US Army uniform shows that many Americans did not feel near as much of an impact from the attack on Bataan, and thus could not have easily sympathized with the Filipino-American soldiers.  This is why they still faced discrimination even while in uniform.  I theorize that it is because there was little connection between White Americans and Filipino Americans that the age-old issue of racial rejection was still prevalent in the face of what the Filipino-American soldiers had done for the U.S.
Segregation in the types of service performed by Filipino soldiers. Takaki mentions how they “operated behind enemy lines, engaging in sabotage.”  Could this have been exploitation on the part of some officers of their eagerness and willingness to serve, getting them to do perhaps more dangerous work?  Did their facial similarity to the Japanese simply offer up certain advantages in performing covert operations?  Is there really any facial similarity?
Korean enthusiasm was of course bittersweet:  even with their newfound excitement at the U.S.’s declaration of war against Japan, there were still the instances where they would be confused as Japanese.  I can imagine that it probably made some of them very upset.  Especially after the 1940 Alien Registration Act.

Chapter 11: “Strangers” At The Gates Again

World War II resulted in more diversity in American society and a lessening in the attitude of white superiority. After the war, more Japanese registered to vote and they became the largest ethnic voting block in Hawaii. Workers gained the right to collective bargaining.On the mainland, discriminating laws were struck. In 1952, the McCarran-Watter Act was passed. This did away with the racial restrictions of the 1790 law and made the Japanese equal to all other immigrants.The Chinese communists took control of mainland China in 1949 and the Kuomintang of Chiang Kai-shek fled to Taiwan. This caused a splintering of the Chinese in the Untied States. The Chinese Six Companies supported the Kuomintang. There were confrontations between the two groups. Thousands of Chinese were investigated for subversive activities.The 1948 Displaced Persons Act and the 1953 Refugee Relief Act allowed for greater immigration.

Filipinos are the largest group of Asian immigrants. They did not concentrate in any one area. Most of the second wave came from urban areas and many were women and professional or technical workers. Many immigrated because of the corruption and repression of the Marcos regime. In spite of their professional status or education, they worked for low wages. Many did not practice their professions because of licensing requirements. There was a great deal of underemployment, and many became self-employed because of this and discrimination.Many Koreans immigrated to the United States after 1965. Most settled in big cities and established Koreatown and many operated their own small business. Approximately seventy percent have college degrees when they immigrate and they bring their families with them.Even though Korea had experienced rapid industrialization, many people immigrated for better job opportunities.

Chapter 12: Breaking Silences

Interethnic cooperation was spurred by the realization of similarity of the circumstances, pidgin english, and an eventual common interest in increased wages.
Comparing the incomes of ethnic groups demands the consideration of many factors, including what the statistic actually indicates, geographical distribution, and other inconsistencies across the two groups that would impact the statistic.
Takaki seems to contradict himself, stating that many Asian-Americans are concentrated in areas which have higher wages, and then goes on to say that they tend to be located in the “secondary sector.”
I wish Takaki provided more context with a lot of this information.  While very interesting, it’s hard to realize it without knowing whether or not mentioned issue is a very current problem or a not so current problem.
Takaki doesn’t appear to take a specific side in the “over-representation of Asian Americans in schools” debate, preferring to simply highlight the issue.
All ethnic representations problems ultimately boil down to how cultural groups should be organized in the global society.  Conflicting ideas on what “America” SHOULD be result in questions regarding the place of different ethnicities, such as Asian-American immigrants.  Ultimately, one party will have to assimilate, but which party should that be?  The nation, or the immigrant?  If both should, to what extent should each?  It is the attempt to find the proper “balance” of assimilation from little more than subjective guidelines that stands as a critical issue with managing immigration.

Chapter 13: One-Tenth Of The Nation

The 1990s demonstrates what I’ve pointed out in earlier journals that the root source of racial discrimination has not actually been addressed.  It is especially prevalent when people join together under a common issue, such as the Rodney King incident.
“‘This riot happened because of the gap between rich and poor.’”  The U.S. is currently experiencing a similar situation, in which middle to lower class citizens have been participating in the “Occupy” protests, focusing specifically on the gap between the rich and the poor.  Could it be a hotbed for racial tension?  As the issue of “jobs” continues to be on the minds of many, what some would call “racial tensions” have elevated against “undocumented immigrants,” of which a majority are Mexican.  Could we see a repeat of the racial tension experienced between White and Asian Americans in the early to mid 1900s in the 21st century, only between predominately White Americans and Mexican / Latin American immigrants?
Affirmative Action:  empirically, it contributes to attaining the goal of diverse community involvement.  However, it does raise some ethical questions, such as denying candidates admission to a university on the account of “overrepresentation.”  A prominent question: should representation in universities and colleges of ethnic groups mirror that in the community?  This is often cited as the justification for affirmative action, as seen at UC Berkley in the 1990s.
It seems that in the rush and panic to find the “silver bullet” to the issue of race and racial representation, the end result of “boxing in” certain ethnicities to a set of standards hastily deemed appropriate has its own serious consequence:  the “ceiling” and the “floor” of the box are based on generalizations and do not accommodate the needs and desires of many members of said racial group.