The Role of Racism in the Asia-Pacific War

Posted: December 22nd, 2022

Question 7:

The Role of Racism in the Asia-Pacific War

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IntroductionHistorically, the Asia-Pacific War is described as a race war. This notion is justified when one looks at the great cruelty characterizing this event, which eventually fostered a racially motivated hatred between the American and Japanese communities. It is further supported by the numerous documents compiled during the war addressing the lack of recognition and the harsh discriminatory behavior shown by both Americans and Japanese towards the “occupational babies”. These were the children of Allied personnel in Japan following the occupation, and were of mixed race. For this reason they were ameliorated and neglected  by authorities, such as the Occupation Authorities (SCAP), who were charged with their care.[1] As such, the role of racism evidently had great bearing on the development of the Asia-Pacific War, in particular the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, and the escalation of a fraught post-war American-Asian interaction.

The Role of Racism

Firstly, racism was evidently a motivation for the war. Historically, Japanese Americans were subjected to wartime abuse long before the Asia-Pacific War. Since Americans perceived all Asian people to be alike, [2] the 19^th century treatment of the Chinese provided a foretaste of the experience other Asian immigrants would be subjected to. They were considered a threat to the life quality and racial integrity reinforced by the American dream. In light of this perception, the Japanese position within the Californian agricultural market is exemplary. Despite the discrimination, they were able to make significant progress in growing specific fruits and vegetables. Their accomplishment in the farming sector was attributed to their skill in farming intensive crops, willingness to cooperate and work together while facing similar economic struggles, as well as help in the form of unpaid labor from their family members.3 With the income, they were able to gain extensive control of the market. The white Californian farmers therefore developed a racist attitude based on the success their Japanese counterparts had attained in agricultural ventures. It is commonly argued that such a perception was justified, since they were protecting their rights as Americans. However, from an objective angle, it was racist.

Secondly, anti-Asian discrimination and its facilitation of legislation restraining Asians, particularly the Japanese from gaining employment, set in motion the forces of war. On their arrival in America, the Japanese faced racial discrimination on many fronts. Despite their niche skill of establishing small business enterprises, the Nisei, who were second generation Japanese, were not able to access better employment and were subsequently coerced into the same types of work their parents, the Issei, had had to do[3]. It is imperative to note that this new form of discrimination was an extension of the existing anti-Asian attitudes by Americans. Therefore, in further strengthening this prejudice, constrictive legislation was enacted.[4] They included the Oriental Exclusion Act (1927) and the Gentlemen’s Agreement (1907-08), whose mandate was restricting the number of Asian immigrants allowed to enter America. The Alien Land Laws further restricted land ownership rights for non-American citizens.[5] Additionally, the first generation Japanese could not become naturalized, despite their extended stay in the United States (US). These legislations were detrimental as they severed any meaningful association between the Japanese and Americans and further fueled the Pacific war.

Distinct Features of American and Japanese Racisms

The American and Japanese racisms have different features uniquely setting them apart. The American discrimination against the Japanese immigrants occurred in phases, with each phase contributing to the onset of the war.[6] The first stage was the demonstration of pervasive continental aggressiveness and hostility toward the immigrants. Terms such as ‘slant eye’ and ‘dirty Jap’ were used to describe the Issei. The only people exempt were those on the Hawaiian Islands who had established both ethnic and social class solidarity.[7] Also, these groups were unionized and performed collective actions in terms of reinforcing labor conditions. On the other hand, the mainlanders were a racial minority, thus facing extreme adversity perpetuated by the white population. They were further disconnected from mainstream economic activities.[8] However, in tightening the Issei communal unity, the Japanese were able to carve out a place in farming and small scale enterprises.

The second feature of American racism is that it was politically motivated. The state and federal authorities were directly involved in the implementation of legislation that targeted the Japanese community in a bid to cripple their efforts to achieve upward mobility.[9] The Gold Rush provides irrefutable evidence supporting this claim. There was massive electioneering and promotion of nativist hostility by the white community against non-citizens, which included both the Chinese and Japanese being termed unassimilable heathens. The Know Nothing party members of the white community attacked the Asian community aggressively, further strengthened by the reenactment of laws intended to harass and chase the Asians from their residences in California.[10] Hindering the naturalization of Asian immigrants was yet another political motivation. The law, 1790 Naturalization Act, even denied the Issei the right to own property, testify in court or present lawsuits, or vote.[11] They were stripped of any entitlements and protections, which was antagonistic, immoral, and racist.

            American racism against the Japanese was also culturally and economically inspired. The anti-oriental movement was initially conceived as a “necessary evil” addressing the threat posed by the Chinese laborers during the California Gold Rush.[12] However, with the first Japanese generation experiencing rapid fiscal success in their investments in farming, as well as the procurement of capital for land and property acquisition, the movement was rebirthed in response to the threat to the American cultural identity. According to Mayor James Duval Phelan, the Asians lacked the ‘stuff’ which makes an individual an American. Their social lives differed from the American way of life, so it was necessary to implement measures aimed at establishing a respectful distance between the American and Japanese people.[13] The collaboration of various American groups, such as the radicalized American Left, the Democratic Party, and the pro-Bryan Populists, supported the notion of limiting opportunities for minority groups termed as ‘backward races’ in order to ensure the US remained a white man’s nation and not a yellow and black country.

Contribution of Racism in Hiroshima and Nagasaki Bombings

Historians support the assertion that racism contributed to the Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombings.[14] The US used atomic weaponry to destroy these locations. The event was the first of its kind and was responsible for the death of 129,000 Japanese nationals.[15] Numerous historians have studied this controversial event intending to gain more understanding of the rationale applied by the US in using the A-bomb. As such there is conclusive evidence of racism as a facilitating factor in the onset of the event.

The US government remained racially discriminative of Japanese people, given the long-standing threat their culture and economic success had on the American social, cultural, and economic, identity.[16] With this in mind, this relationship, severed by prejudice, warranted extreme actions from both sides in their warfare interactions. Firstly, the government used media as a strategic mechanism for controlling the American perception of the Japanese. Mass media platforms released images from the 1942 Bataan Death March, in which thousands of Filipino and American troops were executed, starved, and beaten without any compassion, by the Japanese. Therefore, with availing graphic evidence of these atrocities committed by the Japanese, the government demonstrated to Americans that their enemy deserved annihilation as they were barbaric and cruel. In addition to this, racism was extensively prevalent in common society, with racial slurs being used publicly to describe oriental immigrants.[17] Some of the standard terms included “yellow bastards” and “rats”. With this in mind, it is clear that Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombings were driven by racial hatred as opposed to being a strategic decision made by the military.

Conclusion

While there may have been many factors at play during the Asia-Pacific War, it is also abundantly clear that racism was a guiding factor. Had there been no fear of social, cultural, political, and economic threat to treasured American ideals, the need for war may have been mitigated or, at the very least, its continuation not so prolonged. Bibliography

Dower, John. War Without Mercy: Race and Power in the Pacific War. New York: Pantheon, 1986.

Loh, Shi-Lin. “Beyond Peace: Pluralizing Japan’s Nuclear History.” The Asia-Pacific Journal 10, no. 11 (March 2012). https://apjjf.org/2012/10/11/Shi-Lin-Loh/3716/article.html.

Paterson, Thomas G., and Dennis Merrill. “Report of the Frank Committee on the Social and Political Implications of a Demonstration of the Atomic Bomb (For a non-Combat demonstration).” In Major Problems in American Foreign Relations: Documents and Essays. Washington, DC: D.C. Heath and Company, 1978.

Shun’ya, Yoshimi, and Shi-Lin Loh. “Radioactive Rain and the American Umbrella.” The Journal of Asian Studies 71, no. 2 (2012): 319-331. doi:10.1017/s0021911812000046.

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[1]. John Dower, War Without Mercy: Race and Power in the Pacific War (New York: Pantheon, 1986), 34.

[2]. Yoshimi Shun’ya and Shi-Lin Loh, “Radioactive Rain and the American Umbrella,” The Journal of Asian Studies 71, no. 2 (2012): 320, doi:10.1017/s0021911812000046.

3. Dower, War Without Mercy, 45.

[3]. Dower, 56.

[4]. Dower, 57.

[5]. Loh, Shi-Lin, “Beyond Peace: Pluralizing Japan’s Nuclear History,” The Asia-Pacific Journal 10, no. 11 (March 2012): 45, https://apjjf.org/2012/10/11/Shi-Lin-Loh/3716/article.html..

[6]. Loh, Beyond Peace, 50.

[7]. Loh, Beyond Peace, 51.

[8]. Dower, 59.

[9]. Dower, 64.

 

[10]. Dower, 65.

 

[11]. Shun’ya and Loh, Radioactive Rain and the American Umbrella, 78.

[12]. Shun’ya and Loh, 80.

[13]. Shun’ya and Loh, 81.

[14]. Thomas G. Paterson and Dennis Merrill, “Report of the Frank Committee on the Social and Political Implications of a Demonstration of the Atomic Bomb (For a non-Combat demonstration),” in Major Problems in American Foreign Relations: Documents and Essays (Washington, DC: D.C. Heath and Company, 1978), 1.

[15]. Paterson and Merrill, Report of the Frank Committee, 2.

[16]. Paterson and Merrill, 2.

[17]. Loh, 47.