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It might be interesting to compare the treatment of Italian-Americans and German-Americans to Japanese-Americans in WW1 and WW2. Relatively few Italian and Germ

It might be interesting to compare the treatment of Italian-Americans and German-Americans to Japanese-Americans in WW1 and WW2. Relatively few Italian and German-Americans were interned in comparison. Meanwhile, the hostility towards Japanese-Americans spilled over to Chinese-Americans despite China being invaded and allied with the US, leading to Chinese-Americans having to explicitly distinguish their racial identity while out in public as here: https://rarehistoricalphotos.com/chinese-americans-during-ww2-1941/ https://rarehistoricalphotos.com/chinese-americans-during-ww... The fact of the matter is, being a visible ethnic minority come with challenges in addition to being just an ethnic minority. If you are visually similar to the ethnic target of the day, whether or not you actually have links with them, you automatically get hit as collateral damage whether you like it or not. German and Italian Americans could blend in and stay out of the spotlight during the world wars. Japanese, Chinese, and other Asian Americans could not and still cannot, and their visual appearance forces them to share the same spotlight. No matter how varied the Asian experience may be, the Pan-Asian identity will continue to exist because identity is not just a product what you think of yourself, but what others think of you and how they interact with you.

xbar 5y ago
Agree: multiple visually similar ethnic minorities probably experience "spillover" racial hatred when any of them is does. Internment is a good example. Disagree: German and Italian Americans experienced (and experience) ongoing racial prejudice. Cultural differences are very easy to spot and target for discrimination even when racial body features are not.
m0llusk 5y ago
That situation is more complex than you imply. My German immigrant ancestors, for example, survived anti-German sentiment during and after the war by denying their heritage and giving up things like the communal making of barrels of sauerkraut, making Lumberger cheese, and of course most of all: speaking German. So they survived okay, but only with their culture completely assimilated.
- magicsmoke 5y ago
  The difference for visible ethnic minorities though is that even with your culture completely assimilated, you cannot hide your racial appearance and people will still treat you based on it. Plenty of Asian-Americans are 2+ generations in America little to no connection with their language and culture, completely assimilated as you say. They're still targeted just because of their appearance, assimilation does nothing to help protect them. For German and Italian Americans, at least assimilation has the intended effect. I suspect there's probably some anger behind assimilating and tossing away cultural roots and identity only to find out it was absolutely pointless that's helping to drive the upsurge in recent Asian-American movements.
  - fidesomnes 5y ago
    This has to be low IQ bait.
- bluefirebrand 5y ago
  My German ancestor had a different experience. Perhaps he had to do this for a while after first arriving in Canada, but by the time I was born he was a part of a rich and thriving German community in the town I grew up in. I have many good memories of going to events at the German club growing up, singing German christmas carols in December, all of that stuff. I guess it depends on the region.

xbar 5y ago

Agree: multiple visually similar ethnic minorities probably experience "spillover" racial hatred when any of them is does. Internment is a good example. Disagree: German and Italian Americans experienced (and experience) ongoing racial prejudice. Cultural differences are very easy to spot and target for discrimination even when racial body features are not.

m0llusk 5y ago

That situation is more complex than you imply. My German immigrant ancestors, for example, survived anti-German sentiment during and after the war by denying their heritage and giving up things like the communal making of barrels of sauerkraut, making Lumberger cheese, and of course most of all: speaking German. So they survived okay, but only with their culture completely assimilated.

magicsmoke 5y ago
The difference for visible ethnic minorities though is that even with your culture completely assimilated, you cannot hide your racial appearance and people will still treat you based on it. Plenty of Asian-Americans are 2+ generations in America little to no connection with their language and culture, completely assimilated as you say. They're still targeted just because of their appearance, assimilation does nothing to help protect them. For German and Italian Americans, at least assimilation has the intended effect. I suspect there's probably some anger behind assimilating and tossing away cultural roots and identity only to find out it was absolutely pointless that's helping to drive the upsurge in recent Asian-American movements.
- fidesomnes 5y ago
  This has to be low IQ bait.
bluefirebrand 5y ago
My German ancestor had a different experience. Perhaps he had to do this for a while after first arriving in Canada, but by the time I was born he was a part of a rich and thriving German community in the town I grew up in. I have many good memories of going to events at the German club growing up, singing German christmas carols in December, all of that stuff. I guess it depends on the region.