Immigration trends

General Eric Shinseki of the United States Army

Immigration trends of recent decades have dramatically altered the statistical composition and popular understanding of who is an Asian American. This transformation of Asian America, and of America itself, is the result of legislation such as the McCarran-Walter Act of 1952 and the Immigration and Nationality Services Act of 1965. The McCarran-Walter Act repealed the "free white persons" restriction of the Naturalization Act of 1790, but it retained the quota system that effectively banned nearly all immigration from Asia (for example, its annual quota of Chinese was only fifty). Asian immigration increased significantly after the 1965 Immigration Act altered the quota system. The preference for relatives, initially designed to reduce the number of Asian immigrants, eventually acted to accelerate their numbers.

Historically, before 1965, Asian Americans were largely perceived as members of the two most numerous Asian ethnic groups, specifically Chinese and Japanese, as well as Filipinos, who became colonial subjects of the US in 1898 due to the Spanish-American War (also see Philippine-American War).

After the enactment of the 1965 Immigration Act, Asian American demographics changed rapidly. This act replaced exclusionary immigration rules of the Chinese Exclusion Act and its successors, such as the 1924 Immigration Act, which effectively excluded "undesirable" immigrants, including Asians. The 1965 rules set across-the-board immigration quotas for each country, opening the borders to immigration from Asia for the first time in nearly half a century.

Immigration of Asian Americans were also affected by U.S. war involvement from the 1940s to the 1970s. In the wake of World War II, immigration preferences favored family reunification. This may have helped attract highly skilled workers to meet American workforce deficiencies. Another instance related to World War II was the Luce-Celler Act of 1946, which helped immigrants from India and the Philippines. The end of the Korean War and Vietnam War and the so-called "Secret Wars" in Southeast Asia brought a new wave of Asian American immigration, as people from Korea, Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia arrived. Some of the new immigrants were war brides, who were soon joined by their families. Others, like the Southeast Asians, were either highly skilled and educated, or part of subsequent waves of refugees seeking asylum. Some factors contributing to the growth of sub-groups such as South Asians and mainland Chinese were higher family sizes, higher use of family-reunification visas, and higher numbers of technically skilled workers entering on H-1 and H-1b visas.

Japanese Americans and South Asians are emblematic of the dramatic changes since the immigration reforms of the mid-20th century. Japanese Americans are among the most widely recognized of Asian American sub-groups. In 1970, there were nearly 600,000 Japanese Americans, making it the largest sub-group. Today, Japanese Americans are the sixth-largest group, with relatively low rates of births and immigration. In 2000, there were between 800,000 and 1.2 million Japanese Americans (depending on whether multi-ethnic responses are included). The Japanese Americans have the highest rates of native-born, citizenship, and assimilation into American values and customs.

In 1990, there were slightly fewer South Asians in the U.S. than Japanese Americans. By 2000, Indian Americans nearly doubled in population to become the third largest group, with increasing visibility in high-tech communities such as Silicon Valley and Redmond, Washington. High rates of immigration from across Asia will make Asian Americans increasingly representative of the continent itself. Indian Americans have some of the highest rates of academic achievement among American ethnic and religious groups, with most immigrants speaking English. South Asians are increasingly accepted by most Asian organizations as another significant Asian group.

Effects of war

Asian participants in the American Civil War were not given citizenship, voting rights, or access to public schools because they were legally declared "neither black nor white." During World War II, the United States government declared Japanese Americans a risk to national security and undertook the Japanese American Internment, authorized by President Franklin Roosevelt with United States Executive Order 9066. This controversial action forced the relocation of approximately 112,000 to 120,000 Japanese and Japanese Americans, taking them from the west coast of the United States to hastily constructed War Relocation Centers in remote portions of the nation's interior. 62% of those forced to relocate were United States citizens. Starting in 1990, the government paid some reparations to the surviving internees.

Despite the internment, many Japanese American men served in World War II in the American forces. The 442nd Regimental Combat Team/100th Infantry Battalion, composed of Japanese Americans, is the most highly decorated unit in U.S. military history. The 442nd/100th fought valiantly in the European Theater even as many of their families remained in the detention camps stateside. The 100th was one of the first units to liberate the Nazi extermination camp at Dachau.

Early history

In 1763, Filipinos established the small settlement of Saint Malo in the bayous of current-day Louisiana, after fleeing mistreatment aboard Spanish ships. Since there were no Filipino women with them at the time, the Manilamen, as they were known, married Cajun women and Indians.

In Hawaii, Chinese sailors came to Hawaii in 1778, the same year that Captain James Cook stumbled upon the island. Many settled and intermarried with Hawaiian women. Some Island-born Chinese could be well into the 7th generation. A smaller proportion of Chinese, Korean and Japanese labourers were brought in during the 19th century to work on sugar plantations. Later, Filipinos were also brought in as labourers.

A large number of Chinese and Japanese began immigrating to the U.S. in the mid 19th century. Many of these immigrants worked as labourers on the transcontinental railroad. A surge in Asian immigration in the late 19th century caused some to fear the growing number of Asians. This fear was referred to as the "yellow peril." Laws that were adopted in the United States included Asian Exclusion Act, Chinese Exclusion Act, etc.

Teriminologie

The most commonly-used definition of Asian American is the Census Bureau definition of Asian, largely because the Census definitions determine many government classifications, notably for equal opportunity programs and measurements. East Asia, Southeastern Asia, and most of Southern Asia are included in the Census definition of Asia. Ethnic groups with very small populations in the U.S. (e.g., Afghans, Uzbeks, and Siberians) are not counted separately, and currently are not included in the Asian category, while people with origins from the Asian Middle East are included in the white Census group. The use of a separate "Asian" category in the Census is a recent addition, beginning in 1990. Since then, the Census definitions have varied over time. Most notably with the 2000 census separated Asian/Pacific Islander and moved Pacific Islander ethnicities into a separate racial group.

Earlier Census forms from 1980 and before listed particular Asian ancestries as separate groups along with White and Black or Negro. But the 1980 census marked the first general analyses of Asians as a group, combining several individual ancestry groups into "Asian or Pacific Islander." By the 1990 census, Asian or Pacific Islander (API) was included as an explicit category, although respondents had to select one particular ancestry. People of Middle Eastern ancestry are categorized in the white census category rather than Asian.

Finally, the definition of Asian American also has variations that derive from the use of the word American in different contexts. Immigration status, citizenship, acculturation, and language ability are some variables that are used to define American for various purposes and may vary in formal and everyday usage. For example, restricting American to include only U.S. citizens conflicts with discussions of Asian American businesses, which generally refer both to citizens and non-citizens. In other cases, American refers to people either born, raised, or currently living in the United States. The census is a notable--if implicit--example of this definition of American, since the census counts all people regardless of citizenship or immigration status.

Lucy Liu

Wuhuhuhuhuhu.....

Lucy Alexis Liu (* 2. Dezember 1968 in Queens, New York) ist eine US-amerikanische Schauspielerin chinesischer Abstammung. Ihr chinesischer Name ist Liú Yùlíng (劉玉玲).

Bekannt wurde sie vor allem durch die Rolle der Anwältin Ling in der Fernsehserie Ally McBeal. Nach einigen Nebenrollen in Kinofilmen wie Jerry Maguire – Spiel des Lebens, Payback, Shanghai Noon oder Chicago etablierte sie sich auf der großen Leinwand durch die Filme 3 Engel für Charlie und Kill Bill: Volume 1 sowie deren Fortsetzungen.