Discrimination towards Asians Essay

The expansion of the States was a realization within the political and financial elite that in that respect is a need for America to create markets in hostile countries for the Ameri ass goods. By the turn of the 1890s on that point was a haul of pleonastic in goods that we need to penetrate oversea markets to address beneath consumption and frugal crisis. The United States was under the premise that the countries with the largest navies and military force would ultimately inherit the earth (Zinn, 1942).Before the election of President William McKinley he tell that the American people needs overseas market for the surplus products since the American soil and occurrenceories ar producing to a greater extent than what the American people needed. This surplus should be of the advantage of the country since it will bring commercial supremacy. This supremacy guide to the expansionist view in politics and notwithstanding in the ocean forces. President Roosevelt created prop aganda for expansion in the 1890s to reachher with other political elites who sh be his expansionist stand manoeuver. Roosevelt was perhaps the crackingest expansionist of his time.He was up to penetrate Hawaii, Philippines and China. In 1898, 10% of American goods were sold in the orthogonal markets which amounted to billions of dollars. By the year 1895, the foreign investment of American Capitalists has reached billions of dollars especially in the steel industry. This save fanned the need for the American capitalists to create overseas markets and this made engaging in war an option. As in the cutting of Philippines, the conflict between the Spanish conquerors and the Philippine rebels paved way for the pr even uptative of America in the guise of generosity.In 1899, the American governing body under the presidency of William McKinley sent troops to the Philippines to aide the Filipinos in scrap their war against the Spaniards. Mckinley states four reasons on why he dec ided to colonise the Philippines. The first was he cant give the Philippines back to the Spaniards. reciprocal ohm is that he cant give the Philippines to the French. Third is that he thinks that the Philippines is mentally ill to govern for themselves and the forth is that he has no choice but to blow up the Filipinos and civilize them (Zinn, 1942).By the term civilized and unfit he was under the notion that Filipinos be savages, uneducated, and unscrupulous. This only fork ups that even the president of a elected country thinks lowly of a race that has endured three hundred years of burdensomeness and was courageous enough to ouster a government as rigid as Spain. The country was under the Spanish rule for more than 300 hundred years and the Filipinos were craving for freedom. The Filipinos under the leadership of Emilio Aguinaldo were gaining much fountain at that time and some historians say that the Filipino people could rent won the war without the American interve ntion.Since the Americans came on cue, just as the war was supposed to end, America took all the credit and branded themselves as heroes and liberator of the country. This scenario is uniform to what the United States did to Cuba. When the Cuban rebels sought help from the United States, they sent American troops instead of financial resources (Zinn, 1942). When the Spanish colonizers where defeated, the US did not clear the efforts of the rebels and took over Cuba. Before the US freed Cuba, they made sure that Platt amendment will be added to the constitution giving the US rights to intervene with the Cuban government.Some US bases where also retained and the Cuban market was remained opened to American exports. In the case of the Philippines, US intervention came in together with education, c diffusehing, healthc are and other basic necessities that were deprived by the Spaniards. Since the Spaniards aimed to suppress education among Filipinos and keep them leech manage to thei r regime, the Education for everyone scheme of the United States was a hit for most of the Filipinos. however the struggle continued for those who seek real independence (Grey, 2003).The expansionist point of view of Americans towards the Philippines was regarded as acts of robbery and oppression by a macabre soldier designated in the Philippines. It was a bloody war as intelligence information articles and journals of soldiers revealed that they shot Filipinos like rabbits including the women and children who were helpless (Zinn, 1942). Discrimination in the political carcass was also evident since only the Americans hold office and Filipinos where kept at the lower offices of the political structure. Similar to the faith of those non-whites, the Filipino people where discriminated even in todays society.Due to economic reasons a great percentage of Filipinos are now working abroad as interior(prenominal) workers. Blue pass with flying colors jobs such as interior(prenomina l) helpers, construction workers, waiters and etc are the most common employment for Filipinos residing in the United States (Manalansan, 2003). Because of this, stereotypes where based upon the self-reliance that Filipinos are uneducated and are capable of doing only menial jobs. In incident, in a British dictionary the meaning of the word Filipina is domestic helper. This may be attributed to the fact that 90% of Filipinos working abroad are females.However, we fail to see is that a large percentage of these Filipino workers learn a college degree and are in fact educated. Sociology dictates that since Filipinos have been subjected to three colonizers (Spanish, Americans and Japanese) they are by nature patient, enduring and industrious. Thus, doing menial jobs are sacrifices they are willing to make just to alleviate their families current economic status (Manalansan, 2003). Today, the Philippines is the cosmoss major exporter of manpower especially in health care.Filipino n urses and care givers pride themselves as pioneers in their craft and the country even hails them as the present day heroes. However, when they set foot on the foreign soil, that pride turns to discrimination. Though they are well capable and well clever in nursing, skin color often hinders them from being treated the uniform way as that of the white nurses. A quote from the TV institute Desperate Housewives uttered by Teri Hatcher says Okay, before we go any further, can I check those diplomas because I just wanna make sure that theyre not from some med school in the Philippines.This only supports the fact that Filipinos are still caught under the stereotype that they are incapable and are discriminated upon (Salanga, 2007). In comparison to the African-Americans, Filipinos experience greater amount of discrimination due to the fact that they are smaller, second is the portrayal of the Philippines as a country of terrorists, trio is that they are uneducated and forth is that mo st of them dont chatter good English. But unknown to most Americans is that there is a well-situated business of holler out centers in the Philippines which started in 2000.When we dial customer service of process and ask for help for a certain product, we might be desire advice from Filipinos that we discriminate against. The thing is we dont even notice that they are Filipinos by the way they speak. They are proficient in English and are able to address of plights properly, hence, the notion that Filipinos are dumb serves as an irony. In call centers, we ask for help from Filipinos and not the other way around. At present the Call center industry in the Philippines captures 20% of the world market share in call centers and the Philippine government aims to get 50% of share by the year 2008 (Ortigas Online, 2007).Filipinos today face what sociologists call double jeopardy. Because Filipinos are discriminated, they have difficulty of finding good jobs. It is estimated that a ma jority of Filipinos in the United States today are still memory blue collar jobs though some of them have white collar jobs. Some have even made it big time in the United States just like the lead singer of the Pussy spew Dolls who is a Filipino-American (Ezugwu, 2007). Though some have made it up in the economic ladder, Filipinos still comprise the majority in service sectors jobs in the United States. Their poverty reinforces their minority status.Thus, the so-called ladder of discrimination as what sociologists call is also reinforced. Filipinos have the difficulty of upgrading their status by economic means because of these stereotypes. Thus, white Americans always associate Filipinos with poverty, terrorism, violence and ignorance. This then hinders them from alleviating their status and making their chances at getting high paying jobs a lot slimmer as compared to the whites. However, when I check the web and type Philippines in the wait box it is amazing how it differs from what the media is projecting.As a country the Philippines has wondrous places and handsome culture. They are deeply rooted to their religion and values which make them in general warm and happy individuals (Tope, L. & Nonan-Mercado, 2007). Their history with the Spaniards taught Filipinos how to be industrious and enduring as they were colonized by Spain for 300 years. These characteristics of Filipinos show in their court to their work here in the United States. I think the fact that they are willing to occupy menial jobs that most Americans would shun is a manifestation that they are hardworking people.Perhaps it is this realization that led to further acceptance to the Filipino culture and the Filipino people. In the United States there are Filipino communities in every state (The Filipino, 2007) and a lot of Americans prefer to have Filipino wives saying that Filipinos make a loving wife and mother. The country also has a strong president as of pres time and aims to ren ew the image of the Philippines as a country change with communists. President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo wasfeatured in the Times Magazine for the second time and was hailed as one of the most powerful women in Asia (Spaeth, 2001).Since she is very stern in her fight against terrorism the Philippines and the Filipinos are beginning to portray a wonderful picture in our minds. In addition to that, society has become more lenient as to the case of racism. Many citizens are now sensitive that skin color or race does not limit a persons ability to do his job properly. Filipinos, much like the other minority groups should be given the chance to grow and show their abilities. The growing popularity of snit racism and equality has made some impact on the way Filipinos are treated, however it is not yet evident in most cases.Referencehttp//www.commondreams.org/scriptfiles/views03/1117-11.htm