Figure 1.--We note modern charges that America waged a racist war. This is part of the modern Hollywood/Left-wing effort to denigrate America and the very positive role America has played in building a more just and prosperous modern world. The latest Hollywood star to join the bash America band wagon is Tom Hanks (March 2010). Among many facts that Hanks and the other woke America bashers fail to mention is that the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor primarily because of American diplomatic and economic support for China and the Chinese people. And America supported China even though its vital interests were threatened by German military victories in Europe. It is obviously an incoherent argument to suggest that America waged a racist war when it was American support for the Chinese people being killed in the millions that brought America into the War. Here we see American servicemen working with the Chinese in Chungking (Chongqing). While Hollywood and PC historians gone on endlessly about the segregated American military, rarely do they mention that the Pacific War was a direct outcome of America's efforts to aid the Chinese people.

The racist aspects of the Pacific War were complicated by the fact that the Japanese were an Axis country and the Chinese Nationalists were an Allied country. Before the Pacific war, great sympathy developed for the Chinese, largely due to missionary work there. Thus attitudes toward the Japanese shifted sharply when they invaded China. And the Japanese attacked the United States because the Americans were supporting China. Given that few Americans could distinguish Chinese from Japanese individuals and there was both a Chinese and Japanese communities in the United States, the war could thus bot be an anti-Asian war on the part of the Americans. The War was an anti-Western war on the part of the Japanese. The Japanese although invading and attempting to colonizing China attempted to portray themselves as an anti-colonial force. The United States went toe-to toe with the Japanese, but except for air operations did not for the most part fight along with the Chinese.Until after World War II, the Chinese and Japanese were the only two Asian nationalities of any importance in America. While there were two Asian nationalities involved, the murderous aspects of the war are well known. Some 15-20 million Asian civilians were killed. This might suggest a racist war. Almost all of the killing was done by Japan and the principal target was Asian civilians as a result of Japan's invasion of China. The Japanese also killed Chinese in the other territories invaded, especially Singapore. It is notable that the violence directed at Japan was for the purpose of ending there aggression in Asia, especially China and to stop killing Asians, mostly civilians, in enormous numbers. This is not the western concept of a racist war which would be white westerners killing Asians. But it Asian terms, the Japanese were killing Chinese who they saw as racially inferior. Asians are a capable of racism as Westerners and as part of the Axis, a far more murderous bent.

Chinese

America was settled by Europeans. The Chinese were the first Asians, attracted at first by the 1848 California Gold Rush. The Chinese became an important part of the California workforce, helping to build the railroads. Many arrived before the United States began restriction immigration. Chinese immigration became a major issue, especially in California. The state government of California began passing anti-Chinese laws, many of which were negated by Federal action (1850s-70s), Congress finally passed the Chinese Exclusion Act (1882). This was the beginning of Congressional restriction on immigration. The modern tendency to vilify America stresses these steps, but never mentioned in modern Woke America, the Chinese came to America because they were treated better here than in their own country. At the same time the growing America missionary activity began creating sympathy for the Chinese peasantry. The Japanese first invaded Manchuria (1931) and then China itself (1937). America responded with diplomatic protests which gradually escalated to trade sanctions. Finally the oil embargo forced Japan's hand (July 1941). They had to either end their aggression in China or go to war. They chose war (December 1941). American war propaganda commonly included images of valiant Chinese allies. As far as we can tell, racism was not a part of the Chinese war effort. The main war did not require any justification. It was from he beginning a national effort to resist Japanese aggression and colonial control. Only one country suffered more in the War--the Soviet Union with some 25 million killed. Chinese casualties totaled 10-15 million killed. Some of the most horendous atrociousness of the war were committed by the Japanese in the War, including the Nanking Massacre (1937) and the killing spree following the Doolittle Raid (1942).

Japanese

In contrast to China, the Japanese very much conducted a racist War. The American war effort is more nuanced. Japanese war propaganda, like American war propaganda used racist images when depicting the Americans and other Westerners. They were pictured as evil, grasping exploiters. The Japanese war propaganda in China, as opposed to Japanese actions, was different. The pictured Japanese soldiers coming to the aid of Chinese people terrorized by corrupt Chinese war lords. As far as we know, they ignored Mao's communists in their propaganda. Of course racism involves more than propaganda. And in China involved killing on a massive scale--some 10-15 million Chinese people, mostly civilians. The anti-Japanese prejudice of the time was often intense and sharply reflected in American war propaganda that is today very disturbing. There are lots of blatantly racist images of slanted, weaker eyes Japanese with over-sized glasses. Of course this was exacerbated by Pearl Harbor. Japanese Anti-German propaganda was not racist, of course, because so many Americans looked like Germans. The Unites States interned Japanese Americans on the West coast. Anti-Japanese racism was reflected in the disgraceful internment of Pacific-coast Japanese-Americans simply on grounds of their ethnicity. The internees included American citizens and not only Japanese nationals resident in America, as was the case for Italians and Germans. Japanese American children were severely affected by the war. Those living in Pacific coast states were move into concentration camps. Although not separated from their patents, Japanese Americans in Pacific coast states were interned in concentration or relocation camps as they were called. Italian and German families were also interned, but only aliens or those whose parents have been involved or suspected of involvement in subversive activities. The Japanese were treated differently in part because of Pearl Harbor, but racial factors were a significant factor. President Roosevelt in February 1942 signed the order 'evacuating' Japanese, most of whom were Japanese citizens, from the West Coast. Like the Germans, American authorities developed euphemisms for what was done to the Japanese. The order only affected the West Coast, not the Japanese on Hawaii. About 127,000 Japanese Americans were interned. It was one of the most grievous violations of the civil rights of American citizens in United States history. While the internment of Japanese Americans was a terrible injustice, depriving them of their property in many instances and their freedom for several years, the camps were quite different than the the NAZI and Japanese concentration camps. The internees were given adequate food and the children attended local schools. Japanese Americans formed Boy Scout troops such as at the Gila River Relocation Center, Arizona (1943). An important part of the charge that America wages a racist war was the brutality of the war. This was in large measure, however, the brutality the Marines and soldiers at the hands of the Japanese. Notice how humanely the Americans treated the Japanese civilians on Saipan and Okinawa--in sharp contrast to how the Japanese treated Western civilians and their own civilians. Another issue is strategic bombing. Most of the relatively small number of Japanese civilians who perished in he War, died as a result of the bombing. We say relatively small in comparison to the Chinese and other Asian civilians killed. Here we note it was the Japanese who began bombing civilians (1931) and continuing bombing civilians for more than a decade. it only ended as the Americans began to achieve air superiority. In addition, the Americans also bombed civilians in Germany. Strategic bombing was not a tactic only used in a racist context.

Created: 12:55 AM 7/20/2022
Last updated: 12:55 AM 7/20/2022