Introduction
Racialization is the practice of instilling the consciousness of racial disparities in a person. The early immigrants were subjected to racialization on the basis of their color, culture and labor. Omi and Howard conjecture that when the Europeans explored the American region in the 1970’s they realized that there were people who did not resemble them (59). This surprised them, and they doubted whether these were real human beings like them. Nevertheless the Europeans contemplated converting them into looking like them in all aspects. However, this could not work for them.
The Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 was manifest of the racialization which was practiced by the United States against the Chinese people (Chan 34). This Act was established due to the notion held by the United States that the Chinese workers on their soil were responsible for the rising rates of unemployment in the US. This Act stipulated that US citizenship should not be given to any Chinese. It banned the Chinese immigration to the US for two decades. The US claimed that the Chinese were of an inferior race hence did not deserve the American jobs while the Americans with a perceived superior race were jobless. The Act culminated in the immigration-acts of 1920, which limited immigration to the US to 150,000 per year (Danico and Franklin 67). In fact, the Asians were barred from immigrating to the US over this period.
The racialization of the early immigrants had a major political impact in the US. The racialization led to the restriction of non-Chinese people who had immigrated to the United States. Loewen posits that the Europeans, Asians and the Mexicans were also restricted from immigrating into the US (23). This changed the policy framework of the US government with regard to immigration of foreigners in to the US. However, the restriction helped the US control the influx of foreigners which beefed up the security of its Native citizenry. Moreover, trade could be easily regulated through the imposed restrictions on immigrants. The restriction of the Chinese immigration negatively affected the political and diplomatic relations between the US and China.
The economy of the US was affected by the racialization because the Chinese workforce was put on hold. This stalled many production processes given that the new Native American workforce was subject to the learning curve. This culminated in plant and machinery overhaul and immense wastage of resources due to interruption of manufacturing and other processes in industries. The social aspect of the victims and the Native Americans was negatively affected because the social networks which were established at the place of work and on the international level. Their social ties were also were all terminated on the basis of racism. There was an attempt to convert a black to be an American person. This was done given that the US constitution allowed racial classification. According to Omi and Howard, the US government did this in order to control the outbreak and spread of racial diseases (34). The Europeans mistreated the Native Americans on account of their race. In fact, they subjected them to hard labor because they did not consider them to be real human beings. This lowered the social status of the Native Americans like the Chinese immigrants.
Conclusion
Racialization negatively affected the Native Americans and the Chines people. This owes to the fact that it lowered their social status and repute. It also affected their economic and financial aspects. For instance, the restriction of immigrants from China to America negatively impacted on the Chinese livelihood in the United States at that time.
Works Cited
Chan, Jefrey P. At 40: Asian American Studies @ San Francisco State : Self-Determination,
Community, StudentService.San Francisco, CA: Asian American Studies Dept., San
Francisco State University, 2009. Print.
Danico, Mary Y, and Franklin Ng. Asian American Issues. Westport, Conn: Greenwood Press,
2004. Print.
Loewen, James W. Lies My Teacher Told Me: Everything Your American History Textbook Got
Wrong.New York: New Press, 2008.Print.
Omi, Michael, and Howard Winant. Racial Formation in the United States from the 1960s to the
1990s. New York u.a: Routledge, 2004. Print.
