The War For Our “Little Brown Brothers”
The War For Our “Little Brown Brothers”
William Howard Taft, the first American Governor General of the Philippines and later the 27th President of the United Sates, coined the term “Our Little Brown Brother,” referring to the people of the Philippines. Taft "assured President McKinley that 'our little brown brothers' would need 'fifty or one hundred years' of close supervision ‘to develop anything resembling Anglo-Saxon political principles and skills.’”1 This comes from another text Stuart Creighton Miller wrote on the war in the Philippines, but it gives us a understanding that we as Americans see the Filipino people as inferior and they would need time to develop to first world standards. Miller in his essay American Racism and Lawlessness in the Philippines shows that the U.S. military involvement in the Philippines was similar to the massacres and racial hatred of the Indians during the Indian wars on the Great Plains.
When looking at the troops the U.S. used in the Filipino invasion Miller identifies the volunteers as mostly from the western and southern states (Miller 236). From our studies we know that the southern states are still practicing segregation and Jim Crowe laws. They refer to the Filipino as “niggers” and Miller quotes “that they were ‘just itching to get at the niggers’ (Miller 237).” As for the western state volunteers and especially the regular high command “have spent most their careers chasing Apaches, Comanche, Kiowa, and the Sioux (Miller 240).” So it is no wonder the harsh treatment of the Filipino people. Paul Kramer goes on to further illustrate the harsh treatment in The Water Cure. Several men would hold down the arms and legs of someone they wished to interrogate and pour water down their mouth and nose simulating drowning. “They swell up like toads (Kramer).” This was useful tactic to get information but is considered inhumane and still is in today’s media headlines.
The indifference towards the Filipinos came also from the
William Howard Taft, the first American Governor General of the Philippines and later the 27th President of the United Sates, coined the term “Our Little Brown Brother,” referring to the people of the Philippines. Taft "assured President McKinley that 'our little brown brothers' would need 'fifty or one hundred years' of close supervision ‘to develop anything resembling Anglo-Saxon political principles and skills.’”1 This comes from another text Stuart Creighton Miller wrote on the war in the Philippines, but it gives us a understanding that we as Americans see the Filipino people as inferior and they would need time to develop to first world standards. Miller in his essay American Racism and Lawlessness in the Philippines shows that the U.S. military involvement in the Philippines was similar to the massacres and racial hatred of the Indians during the Indian wars on the Great Plains.
When looking at the troops the U.S. used in the Filipino invasion Miller identifies the volunteers as mostly from the western and southern states (Miller 236). From our studies we know that the southern states are still practicing segregation and Jim Crowe laws. They refer to the Filipino as “niggers” and Miller quotes “that they were ‘just itching to get at the niggers’ (Miller 237).” As for the western state volunteers and especially the regular high command “have spent most their careers chasing Apaches, Comanche, Kiowa, and the Sioux (Miller 240).” So it is no wonder the harsh treatment of the Filipino people. Paul Kramer goes on to further illustrate the harsh treatment in The Water Cure. Several men would hold down the arms and legs of someone they wished to interrogate and pour water down their mouth and nose simulating drowning. “They swell up like toads (Kramer).” This was useful tactic to get information but is considered inhumane and still is in today’s media headlines.
The indifference towards the Filipinos came also from the