Hatred, Racism, KKK, White Terrorism, Links To Christianity In History And Today In America
Historically, one race seems to have always enslaved and/or discriminated against another race and/or religion. The Bible is full of references to slavery and genocide of other religions. US history is full of slavery and discrimination against Indians, blacks and women, despite a Constitution that was written to treat everyone fairly and equally, (except for women, black slaves and Indians.)
This article serves as a historical overview that shows the gradual, slow evolution of slavery, discrimination and hatred in the US from something very blatant and obvious, to what is present today.
The positive changes seem to happen slowly, gradually, but they have happened, and continue to occur today. There is reason for hope as the gradual abolition of slavery, and the fostering of human rights and justice plus equal rights under the law progresses. Constant struggle against the forces of darkness, oppression, racism and discrimination are needed, as is education about this issue.
The internment of Japanese Americans in the United States was the forced relocation and incarceration during World War II of between 110,000 and 120,000[2] people of Japanese ancestry who lived on the Pacific coast in camps in the interior of the country. Sixty-two percent of the internees were United States citizens.[3][4] The U.S. government ordered the removal of Japanese Americans in 1942, shortly after Imperial Japan‘sattack on Pearl Harbor.[5]
The very odd part of this story is that 14,000 Japanese Americans from these forced prison camps were asked to ‘volunteer’ during WWII to fight the Nazis in Europe. These loyal US troops were formed into a battalion and sent off to the worst of the worst fighting areas in Nazi Germany, where they fought the Nazis (who were extremely racist), in order to prove to the racist US population, that they were not the enemy. This Japanese fighting force suffered the highest casualties of the entire US fighting force during WWII.
ANTI CHINESE LAWS AND ACTIONS
The Chinese massacre of 1871 was a racially motivated riot on October 24, 1871 in Los Angeles, when a mob of over 500 men entered Chinatown to attack, rob, and murder Chinese residents of the city.[1] The riots took place on Calle de los Negros (Street of the Negroes), also referred to as “Nigger Alley”, which later became part of Los Angeles Street. A total of 18 Chinese immigrants were systematically killed by the mob, making the so-called “Chinatown War” the largest incident of mass lynching in American history.
Wikipedia; “The Chinese Exclusion Act was a United States federal law signed by President Chester A. Arthur on May 6, 1882. It was one of the most significant restrictions on free immigration in US history, prohibiting all immigration of Chinese laborers. The act followed revisions made in 1880 to the US-China Burlingame Treaty of 1868, revisions that allowed the US to suspend Chinese immigration. The act was initially intended to last for 10 years, but was renewed in 1892 and made permanent in 1902. The Chinese Exclusion Act was the first law implemented to prevent a specific ethnic group from immigrating to the United States. It was finally repealed by the Magnuson Act on December 17, 1943.
One of the critics of the Chinese Exclusion Act was the anti-slavery/anti-imperialist Republican Senator George Frisbie Hoar ofMassachusetts who described the Act as “nothing less than the legalization of racial discrimination.”[13] The laws were driven largely by racial concerns; immigration of persons of other races was unlimited during this period.[14]
On the other hand, many people strongly supported the Chinese Exclusion Act, including the Knights of Labor, a labor union, who supported it because it believed that industrialists were using Chinese workers as a wedge to keep wages low.[15] Among labor and leftist organizations, the Industrial Workers of the World were the sole exception to this pattern. The IWW openly opposed the Chinese Exclusion Act from its inception in 1905.[16]
Later, the Immigration Act of 1924 restricted immigration even further, excluding all classes of Chinese immigrants and extending restrictions to other Asian immigrant groups.[9] Until these restrictions were relaxed in the middle of the twentieth century, Chinese immigrants were forced to live a life apart, and to build a society in which they could survive on their own (Chinatown).[9]
The Chinese Exclusion Act did not address the problems that whites were facing; in fact, the Chinese were quickly and eagerly replaced by the Japanese, who assumed the role of the Chinese in society. Unlike the Chinese, some Japanese were even able to climb the rungs of society by setting up businesses or becoming truck farmers.[18] However, the Japanese were later targeted in the National Origins Act of 1924, which banned immigration from east Asia entirely.
In 1891 the Government of China refused to accept the U.S. Senator Mr. Henry W. Blair as U.S. Minister to China due to his abusive remarks regarding China during negotiation of the Chinese Exclusion Act.[19]
Despite the fact that the exclusion act was repealed in 1943, the law in California prohibiting Chinese people from marrying whites was not repealed until 1948.[20][21] Other states had such laws until 1967,[22] when the United States Supreme Court unanimously ruled in Loving v. Virginiathat anti-miscegenation laws are unconstitutional.
Even today, although all its constituent sections have long been repealed, Chapter 7 of Title 8 of the United States Code is headed “Exclusion of Chinese.”[23] It is the only chapter of the 15 chapters in Title 8 (Aliens and Nationality) that is completely focused on a specific nationality or ethnic group.
AMERICAN INDIAN GENOCIDE, FORCED RELOCATION, STEALING OF LANDS
To the victor go the spoils and the ability to rewrite the history books. American schools teach that Columbus ‘discovered’ America… but did he really? America was inhabited by millions of indigenous peoples, who lived in a society that was well developed and politically organized, in much the same way that the states are organized today.
If Columbus did not discover America, what other myths and misconceptions do American schools teach students? What is it that we are celebrating on July 4th?
Many people like to complain about illegal ‘immigrants’, and there are constant efforts to reinforce the ‘borders’, while throwing ‘illegals’ out. But seen from a historical perspective, everyone who is not an American Indian is in fact an ‘illegal’ and deserves to be thrown out of the country.
GETTING RID OF RACISM INVOLVES GETTING RID OF FALSE BELIEFS AND ARTIFICIAL BORDERS
Borders are an artificial construct in part based on racist belief systems, such as teaching that Columbus discovered America, or that the US got ‘independence’ somehow from some other nation due to white settlers illegally taking by force something that was not given freely and voluntarily.
The roots of racism are also very violent and separate plus divide people in artificial ways. Slavery was separation of blacks and whites. Racism is all about separating people into different belief systems and segregating people by color of skin.
Documentary detailing the history of the Ku Klux Klan. A racist far right extremist movement founded in 1866 which reached unprecedented popularity during the early part of the Jim Crow era in U.S.A. The Organization went on to gain international popularity and still exists today. Includes footage relating to the Ku Klux Klan involvement in the ‘Freedom Riders’ Civil Rights Protests and the Alabama Church Bombings.
The universal desire by the majority of people on the planet is to live a life that is peaceful and harmonious with other religions, races and cultures. It is a minority that act, believe and teach hatred, discrimination and prejudice. All major religions have as part of their teachings a common focus on peace, love and forgiveness.
INTEGRATING THE MILITARY AND ELIMINATING RACISM THROUGH INTERFAITH RELATIONS
The military is a mirror of society. The American military force used to be segregated, but is no longer. The integration of all colors, all nationalities into one homogenous unit helps to counter racism. The military can also work on providing a friendly welcoming environment for many faiths, many beliefs and many religions. Instead of artificially trying to dominate all of the military with one fundamentalist belief system that is often very racist, the military would be better served to break up this fundamentalist structure and provide a much more diverse set of values, open to individual interpretation and welcoming all faiths and beliefs.
TEACHING THE UNIVERSAL GOLDEN RULE AND INTEGRATING BOTH RACES AND RELIGIONS
American culture serves as an imperfect example of how a melting pot culture can coexist in peace and harmony. A Chinese restaurant can co exist next to an Italian deli, which is located next to a Japanese Sushi bar. If businesses created by peoples of different nationalities and religions can coexist next to each other, then ordinary citizens should be able to do the same thing, correct?
Bottom line, racism and hatred is learned long term, so it can be ‘unlearned’ as well. Integrated schools, colleges, the military, non profits, community groups and businesses as well as government help to foster this sense of ‘We are all Americans’, as did the hard fought (Rosa Park) type legal battles which ended up passing laws that guaranteed equal treatment and justice under US law.
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