On Monday Professor Rosenberg discussed certain controversial issues regarding how the immigrants were viewed by the natives in America, and one of these issues was the crime and drug brought over by them. I would like to say that while it may be true that the immigrants brought crime and drug with them to America upon their arrivals, the natives were also responsible for the spread of these iniquities. One example would be the Chinese immigrants’ arrival in the late 19th century. At the time the native-born Americans were blaming the Chinese for the increase in corruptions in the society, including the adoption of gambling and opium practices. However, the native-born Americans also indulged themselves in these corrupting activities. According to Rachel G. Shuen’s honor thesis “The Abomination of Mankind”: Anti-Chinese Sentiment and the Borders of Belonging in San Francisco’s Chinatown, Chinatown, the congregation of Chinese immigrants, was “painted as a place of vice: opium smoking and prostitutions; immorality; gambling and joss houses; and mystery”. Many native-born Americans, as it turned out, were “patrons of [these] operations of vice”. In short, it would be wrong to place the entire blame on the Chinese immigrants, as the native-born Americans were also “supporters” of these immoralities as well.
I think that the native-born Americans should not “judge a book by its cover”, and instead conduct a more profound analysis by looking at the surrounding social factors and conditions which played a role in the immigrants’ infamy. In this specific case, the native-born Americans, while criticizing the Chinese immigrants for the corruptions they had brought about, were also simultaneously endorsing these corruptions. Since these corruptions were brought over by the Chinese to their land, the native-born Americans would naturally frown upon the Chinese immigrants’ negative influence, and refuse to castigate the other native-born Americans for their indulgence in these corruptions. Thus, the prevailing “hypocrisy” played a larger role than the immoralities and corruptions in branding the immigrants as a negative influence in the American society.
Sources consulted: Shuen, Rachel G. “The Abomination of Mankind”: Anti-Chinese Sentiment and the Borders of Belonging in San Francisco’s Chinatown. Honors Thesis, Wellesley College, 2012. Web. 8 Mar. 2017
Are you saying that immigrants to the USA now or in the past are in fact disproportionately responsible for criminal behavior? The New York Times article we read indicates that “illegal” immigrants commit much less crime than do other segments of society.
Hey Ban,
I found your post to be very intriguing. You touched upon something about human nature that we don’t realize; we always blame our problems on someone else. No matter how much our problems are seemingly our fault we always find someone or something to scapegoat. This reminded me about a man named Steve Bartman. He became the ultimate scapegoat for the Cubs fan base despite having nothing to do with the loss. I would recommend watching the ESPN 30 for 30 called “Catching Hell” which explored how the Cubs fan base scapegoated and destroyed this man for the Cubs crushing loss in 2003. It also explored why people tend to find a scapegoat. It was a great documentary and I highly recommend it if you want to learn about the nature of scapegoating.
I think this is a very intriguing perspective. While I have usually just trusted my history teachers of the past, I think that the trip to Museum of Chinese Americans really opened to my eyes to the fact that the Americans did many things wrong too. The idea of the “basket men” really shook me up and lends me to believe that what you’re saying also may be true. While I’m sure that some drugs were carried over from Asia and sold here illegally, it is definitely possible if not probable that America facilitated a lot of this. Reading this post reminded me a lot of learning the truth about Christopher Columbus. I used to think that Columbus was an outstanding citizen and that’s why we always celebrated, but upon learning that he wasn’t such a great guy I was shocked. The Americans of the past are always glorified and make it out to seem that the other cultures were always in the wrong, but the truth is that there’s corruption everywhere you look. There is corruption within every group as sad as it is and it is important not to put the blame fully on any one group or individual.