Knights of Labor Quotes

While the Western nations were doubtless guilty of blatant racism and anti-Asian discrimination, the Japanese protest was tainted with a substantial degree of hypocrisy. At the Versailles Peace Treaty negotiations the Japanese argued strenuously for equal treatment of Japanese by the West but did not favor extension of the equality principle to Koreans, Chinese, Thais, Chomoros, and other Asian peoples. Japan itself, led by its Emperor, considered other Asian people racially and culturally inferior. Thus they were the inherent leaders of Asia and all Asian people.

The racial targets of the Japanese and Korean Exclusion League widened and they changed their name to the Asiatic Immigration Exclusion League.

The reason this historical quote is so important is not only that it provides more evidence of the anti-Asian racism that existed in America in the 1920s, but it also shows that The American Legion was one of the leaders in fomenting race hatred of Asians. The anti-Asian racism was much worse on the West Coast than on the East Coast where there was a thriving Chinese Community in New York City that was relatively un-harassed.

This quotation illustrates how extensive and virulent anti-Asian racism had become. Gompers was a left wing liberal, but also a labor leader, and the prospect of millions of oriental immigrants competing for the existing American jobs was frightening. The irony of this quotation was that most of the labor constituency that Gompers represented had been immigrants or were the children of immigrants who earlier had frightened American workers and whose ethnicity had been opposed—Irish, Italians, Jews.

This report was submitted to President Franklin D. Roosevelt, who accepted the recommendation and signed Executive Order 9066. The Japanese on the West Coast were then rounded up and interned by DeWitt in what was one of the lowest and disgraceful points in American history. A national apology was made 34 years later. See {635792}.

Jarrett was testifying against Chinese immigrant laborers. The fact that they had a much lower standard of living meant that they would work for very small wages and would drive down the wages of existing white laborers. President Arthur withdrew Jarett’s nomination when he discovered that Jarett had been very critical of his administration.

His reference was to ethnic Indians and Chinese living in Kenya and other countries of Africa. Asians are a minority group in African countries and the legally sanctioned discrimination against them is part of an ugly type of discrimination which still exists.

Most social and demographic changes many people fear will continue on a trend and assume the extrapolation will become reality. Few ever do, and the fears turn out to be just fears.

As in most weak economic times there were more people than usual opposed to immigration. Of the opponents of immigration some were not racist, but a large number were very much racist. Also the racist organizations all opposed immigration. Historically almost all anti-immigration movements were racist. First it was against the Irish, then the Germans, followed by Chinese, Japanese, Italians, Eastern European Jews, and at the time of this quote it was against the Mexicans and other Hispanics.

This quotation was a comment on the Donald Trump Ban on Muslim Travel to the US from 7 Islamic countries. Trump, when campaigning for the Presidency, was masterful in appealing to the nativist inclined people of both political parties. He had promised to ban all Muslims from entering the country. When he got elected, he issued an executive order banning Muslims from 7 countries from U.S. entry, There had been a substnatial number of Americans killed by Islamic Terrorists in 9-11 and other acts, and this was the rathional for the Muslim ban. However, of the Americans who had been killed or wounded by Muslim visitors, none of them had been killed by any from the 7 countries that were banned. Thousands had been killed by Islamic terrorists from Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Pakistan, Yet there was no ban on those coutnries. The problem did not exist in the countries that were banned. The Trump motive for this irrational Executive order has never been clear but many thought that he felt he had to look like he was keeping his campaign pledge, and since we did much business with the 3 nations from which the terrorists actually came, while the 7 counties he banned had little or no economic impact on the United States, Some critics ascribed the decision to the fact that Trump personally had substantial business ventures in all of the 3 countries that had produced and on many ways supported the terrorists, but he had no business interests in teh 7 countries upon which he placed the ban. Unlike otehr post 19th century Presidents, Trump refused to divest his ownership of his busineeses, and even refused to place them in a blind trust. A few days after the Executive Order was put into effect, a Federal Judge issues an injuunction to cease enforcing the order until the issue of unConstitutional religious discrimination could be heard. He ruled that there was irreparal harm and the Attorney General of Washinton State who filed the suit was likely to prevail.

This quotation is a wonderful use of sarcasm to make an important point in just a few words.