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From The Peopling of New York City

Racism

Racism Chink, guinea, dago and nigger are, today, enough to stop polite conversation in it’s tracks, so it is hard to imagine that at the turn of the last century these words were commonly found, and that educated men, men of science as well as politicians, supported their demeaning connotations. Today Jews and Italians are classified as white without a second thought, yet one does not have to look far into the past to find the days when they were viewed as inferior races and discriminated against the just the same, if not more, than many of today’s immigrants (Foner143). Seeing the radical change in social perceptions and racial discrimination that have taken place one has to wonder how today’s immigrants will be seen fifty years from now.

At the moment the citizens of the city are grouped within a four race framework: White, Asian, Hispanic, and Black (Foner 155). The Asians however, who used to be seen as the yellow peril, have now become a model minority, ranking just below the white and resultantly meeting with increasing acceptance from the white middle class (Foner 161). This progress is encouraging when one takes into account the masses of Hispanic and West Indian incoming immigrants plagued by racial discrimination, but it is by no means an assurance that things will improve for them. The resulting tensions caused by these undercurrents of racism often lead the Immigrants to strike out at their own, seemingly if only to have someone beneath them in the social hierarchy.

Recent immigrants, most of which are people of color, are entering the country after a large internal migration, of African Americans, post World War I and Puerto Ricans, post World War II (Foner 142). The lines that define ‘whiteness’ have therefore been somewhat loosened and where as European immigrants, the Jews for example, had been stereotypically seen unassailable because of racial features they are now automatically considered white (Foner145). The prevailing fear that “inferior races would alter the essential character of the U.S.” is, if assuredly not absent, unspoken and former genetic arguments and Aryan philosophies that served as excuses for the restriction of immigration and demeaning of new immigrants are now unacceptable (Foner 146). Just because discrimination is no longer “open and by large legal” and because signs with “restricted clientele” are not visible, is by no means an indication that Racism has ceased to exist (Foner 148). Racial, ethnic and religious slurs may be inexcusable when spoken by public officials, candidates or members of private institutions, but many argue that they are just as prevalent, kept unspoken only by the fear that of accusations of racism (Foner 165). Unlike in the past Europeans form a minority of those entering the country these days and although the ‘whiteness’ requirements seem to have loosened, known African Ancestry overrides the lightness of one’s skin tone, classifying one as black and illustrating the one drop rule (Foner 149). In spite of their skin color, which varies from dark to light Hispanics are nonetheless classified as non-white, something that various welfare and affirmative action programs seem to reinforce. Asians have now become the “in- between-people”, close to white but not quite seen as such yet(Foner149).

Many new darker skinned immigrants try to focus on their nationality in order to avoid being labeled African American and having to suffer the perceived negative connotations that accompany that. Jamaicans, or West Indians as they sometimes identify themselves, have, due to high crime rates, political turmoil, and economic recession caused by societies with sparse resources, established an extended history of migration (Foner, New Immigrants 202). Many of them enter the country, finding jobs in health care, construction and transportation, but they are often met with racial prejudices that they are completely unfamiliar and with and unprepared for Accustomed to the culture and social structure of their native country they are unaccustomed to the challenge the negative connotations that being black presents in America (Foner 205). In defining race Jamaicans do not consider solely the physical features of a person, ancestry, education, occupation, social class and wealth are also taken into account, and the one drop rule never applies, giving way to the consideration of skin shades (Foner, New Immigrants 207). There are several reasons for the discrepancies between the views of the American and Jamaican cultures. For one, although the West Indies has a history of colonial rule and plantation slavery, skin color is not a barrier to social acceptance and upward mobility due to the fact that blacks are the overwhelming majority. Because of this the Jamaicans seem to have established new ways to determine class and social standing amongst themselves such as: money, education, manners and well placed associates all of which contribute to the percieved ‘whiteness’ of a person (Foner 154). Even West Indian politicians follow a “out of many, one people” philosophy, which encourages peaceful coexistence (Foner 206). When faced with racial discrimination in The Unites States, that prevents them from obtaining adequate jobs or that steers them to black neighborhoods, they conclude it is due not to their West Indian heritage, but to their association with African Americans, as a result of their skin color (Foner152). Thus Jamaicans try to distance themselves from African Americans, feeling superior to them and believing that in this way they might avoid discrimination, while at the same time finding themselves united with them by that very discrimination (Foner, New Immigrants 19).

Incoming Hispanic immigrants face similar hassles. New Yorkers are predominantly unaware of differences among Spanish speaking immigrants and are because of that unable to differentiate between their nationalities. Many find themselves mistakenly identified as Puerto Ricans. Brazilians, for example, who are phenotypically white and come from the well-educated middle class of Brazilian society, find it offensive to be grouped with the city’s Latino population (Foner, New Immigrants 19). Dominicans on the other hand find it very difficult to be confused with African Americans, as the society they come from categorizes only the disdained Haitians as black and where the one drop rule seems to function in reverse, where one drop of white blood means not black (Foner 159). Due to these factors dark skinned Hispanics seem to oftentimes face just as much racial discrimination as African Americans.

The least discriminated against group seems to be the Asians. Former West Coast Anti Asian sentiments that lead to the banning of intermarriage laws, and the evacuation of Japanese Americans to interment camps have faded and the Asians have transitioned from ‘yellow peril’ to ‘model minority’ (Foner 161). These changed perceptions are both a result of the success of the Children of Asian immigrants as well as of the change in the way their home countries are viewed. Japan, Singapore, Taiwan, South Korea, Hong Kong and China are gradually being seen as modern, advanced nations (Foner 163). The Chinese are also shown to have a higher education and specialization in professional fields than the national average (Kwong 57). The Chinese immigrants in America nonetheless however remain highly polarized between the Uptown and Downtown Chinese. The Downtown Chinese have lower household incomes, are largely below the poverty level, and often fail to finish High school, where as the Uptown Chinese, who are really the ones referred to as the model minority, are educated, financially stable and professionally trained (Kwong 59). Because after the 1949 socialist revolution many of the arriving refugees were part of the elite: young scholars, government officials, top financial managers, diplomats and generals, they were, in spite of difficulties, able to find jobs (Kwong 59-60). Although it did not shield them from discrimination their superb education ensured that they would find work. These superb educations were the result of the highly competitive educational systems of their come country, where not only success, but also family honor, relied on academic performance. While Confucianism is mistakenly thought to be the reason for this academic excellence, it is the opening of job opportunities that spurned the Chinese to do so well, illustrated by the fact that their majors center around fields in which they are most likely to get jobs. For those immigrants who chose to remain in the seeming security of Chinatowns success is less frequent. Heavy competition, unfair labor practices and a complete lack of upward mobility result in poor disillusioned immigrants with no way out. Although Chinatowns provide ethnically familiar environments it is this very seeming benefit that turns into a trap preventing the immigrants from attempting to assimilate and thus from prospering in the American labor market (Kwong 60-73). While the underground free enterprise of Chinatowns is profitable for businesses, allowing them to overlook commercial rules and fair labor practices, they are devastating for the immigrant workers who are stuck in them with continuously decreasing wages, and plummeting standards of living (Kwong 80).

While discrimination against immigrants, although unfair, is somewhat understandable, it seems strangest that African Americans, who are after all born in the United States, still suffer as much, if not more, racial prejudice as incoming immigrants. Between the 1870’s and 1880’s the spirit of racial reform brought on by the Civil War and Reconstruction lead to a loose liberal attitude of African Americans. Acts to outlaw intermarriage met with repeals, insurance companies were banned from overcharging their African American customers and blacks were given access to transportations, theaters, restaurants, cemeteries, common education and the right to serve as jurymen. Although stereotypical conceptions still pervaded it wasn’t until the large numbers of Southern African Americans migrated to Northern Cities in the 1900’s that racial tension flared up once more. American values that were all absent from African American stereotypes encouraged the idea that African Americans were inferior to whites. Pervading notions about the incoming African Americans being lazy and sensuous swayed even the older black inhabitants of the cities who became resentful and blamed them for the increase in racial tensions. Union restrictions and racial barriers made employment other than very low wage one impossible to find and African American’s were often employed as strikebreakers, which raised the level of antipathy against them. On the other hand African American were resentful of immigrants who coming from other countries had more job opportunities than them (Osofsky 35-46).

It is hard to predict how views of current immigrants will change in the future, considering that there is discrimination even within minorities, such as Latinos and Brazilians, or African Americans and West Indians, Dominicans and Haitians. While intermarriages and the acquisition of wealth and social status might contribute to ‘whiteness’, society does not seem to be nearing blindness when it comes to skin color and while most people would prefer to cite cultural differences as opposed to physical characteristics as the main dividing factors between races it would appear to be quite the opposite.

Works Cited

Foner, Nancy. From Ellis Island to JFK. New York: Yale UP, 2000.

Foner, Nancy. New Immigrants in New York. New York: Columbia UP, 2001.

Kwong, Peter. The New China Town. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1996.

Osofsky, Gilbert. Harlem: The Making of a Ghetto. Chicago: Harper and Rowe, 1971.