Η Ruth Lee, οικοδέσποινα σε ένα κινέζικο εστιατόριο, κρατά μια κινεζική σημαία, ώστε να μην την μπερδεύουν με την Ιαπωνική τις ημέρες της άδειας της στο Μαϊάμι, στον απόηχο της επίθεσης στο Περλ Χάρμπορ (15 Δεκεμβρίου 1941).
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That’s just heartbreaking.
then it flipped during the Korean war
My husband often was mistaken for middle eastern in the small city where we lived. After 9/11 he made sure he spoke a lot of Spanish and wore his name tag to show customers he wasn’t because several customers in his shop had said some horrible things. Born and raised here just like his parents but emotions were high after that day. It’s sad, but he didn’t get angry. He’s an American too and he understood the anger. I’m thankful he kept a cool head and was able to diffuse some potentially bad situations. The irony was, my husband honorably served his country. Assumptions are dangerous. We prayed over his safety daily.
So very sad someone should feel the need to do that 🙁 Still, even sadder, I bet half, at the very best, of the american population wouldn’t know to tell the difference either way …
Many Chinese Americans did it enthusiastically(Yeah, I know, sounds stupid). But, It was their chance for better integration into American society (which was dominated by white Americans).
“Chinese Americans, fueled by anger at Japanese aggression in their home country, their American patriotism, and their desire to be seen as American patriots, were, consciously or not, complicit in the persecution of their Japanese neighbors.”
Don Rickles made a joke about that exact same subject back in the day, wouldn’t be allowed now.
Yeah, we took it pretty seriously. After the war my father and his family wouldn’t buy anything made in Japan.
Backstory and more photos:
https://rarehistoricalphotos.com/chinese-americans-during-ww2-1941/