The American Dream: The Bombing Of Pearl Harbor

Social responsibility is defined as “the obligation of an organization's management towards the welfare and interests of the society in which it operates.” The U.S. government, a country “of the people”, should hold itself to that standard of practice. The government should be selfless, putting the best interest of society as a primary concern, not their own economic gain. Unfortunately, they failed to do so for the Chinese and Japanese immigrants who came to the U.S. in hopes of a better life. It did not take long for both groups to realize the “American Dream” they sought was not as easily attained as they expected. Although their situations differed in some ways, both groups faced multiple forms of racial discrimination by the American
It is believed that city officials had their sights set on the land for commercial development, they wanted to get the Chinese people out of the way, for their own financial gain. The next wave of Asian immigrants, the Japanese, also settled primarily on the West coast. They also suffered a similar fate of segregation and upheaval at the hand of the government. In February of 1942, President Roosevelt issued Executive Order 9066, as a result of the Japanese bombing of Pearl Harbor. At the time there was a heightened level of fear among the American government, and public, regarding Japanese espionage and retaliation. The order forced roughly 117,000 Japanese from their homes, placing them in relocation centers, referred to by some, as concentration camps. After the people were eventually released to return to their homes, the government left them to put their lives back together entirely on their own. The relocation disrupted the Japanese’s social organizations they so greatly depended on, the Chinese organizations, however, remained strong. Although the causes, and motivations were different, in both cases the government forced innocent people from their homes, disrupting their lives and cultural
felt threatened by the Asian immigrants in the workforce. The immigrants were eager for work and would gladly accept any job offered to them. This resentment led to frequent and violent attacks on immigrant workers. They had little, to no protection against such attacks by government or law enforcement. The government’s treatment of Chinese, and later Japanese, immigrants did nothing but encourage the racist sentiment of the American public. There were multiple taxes and fees aimed directly at the Asian population, they were paid less, and were often given jobs that were deemed too dangerous for white workers. Major labor unions, such as Knights of Labor, refused acceptance of Asians, as did professional schools. Perhaps the most impactful discrimination against both the Chinese and Japanese were the laws prohibiting them from naturalization. This essentially prevented them from owning land as well. The Alien Land Laws, for example, proclaimed only American citizens were eligible for land ownership. The Japanese however, found an alternative solution to these restrictions. Unlike the Chinese, the American born children of the Japanese immigrants were eligible to own land. Consequently, it became common practice for the American born Japanese descendents to purchase land in their names, for their parents use. It was not until 1942 that the Chinese were granted eligibility of citizenship, the Japanese were finally granted the same right in