Cause Of The Great Depression In The United States

Prominent in the 1930s until the beginning of World War II, the Great Depression was responsible for a mass unemployment. At the same time, the United States also encountered a much larger influx of people migrating from Asia; the biggest group being Chinese, Japanese, and Filipino. The second wave of this migration was in part due to the liberation of the Philippines from Spanish colonization and the start of a period when the Philippines became a part of U.S. territory. This then allowed Filipinos to be unrestricted from immigrating to the United States, unlike other Asians who were restricted by the Immigration Act of 1917 , giving the status as U.S. Nationals.
Just like many Asian Americans, Filipinos immigrated to the United States in
Because of the Great Depression one of the main effects on Americans nationwide was that the labor market was dwindling down. Because of this, many Americans were afraid of other outsiders or foreigners taking away their jobs. Asa consequence the Filipinos were often subject to the most horrible treatment since they began to arrive in significant numbers to America at this time.
This led to many white Americans throughout the West Coast began to violently drive out Asian American laborers. In spite of this, one can argue that oppression against Filipinos had been happening prior to the Great Depression. It can also be argued that the Great Depression impacted other races as well, however the specific racism that many Filipino Americans faced from Americans throughout the West Coast, especially in California raises the following question: To what extent did the Great Depression make an impact on American society’s attitudes towards Filipino Americans in California? Because of Anti-Oriental rhetoric, the large influx of other migrants (such as Mexicans, Chinese, Japanese immigrants, and Okies from the Dust Bowl), and the overall racial hostility of Americans in the West Coast, it can be argued that the Great Depression had a huge, and significant impact American's society's attitudes towards Filipinos in
The Anti-Filipino riot mostly consisted of young, white men who in late January 1930 robbed, beaten, and drove out the Filipinos of their homes in Watsonville, California. In addition to that, the mobs not only “chased Filipinos down the street”, but it also led to the death of 22-year-old Fermin Tobera. Out of the hundreds that rioted only eight were indicted and yet the identity of Cabrera'sTobrera’s murderer was never solved. Nonetheless, the identity of Tobrera’s killer is ultimately insignificant. The significance of this murder and ultimately of the whole spectacle of the anti-Filipino riot in Watsonville is that it showed how American society had an indifferent and racist attitude towards Filipinos, as seen when the community and law enforcement in Watsonville did not even attempt to identify the murderer and essentially allowed this case to fall into obscurity. This is also further seen when anti-Asian sentiments were encouraged among West Coast Americans by anti-Asian rhetoric from politicians. Many politicians believed it was a “political necessity of maintaining a strong anti-Oriental position in California politics” .Many Americans throughout the West Coast, under the influence of Anti-Oriental rhetoric from politicians in California such as Congressman Richard J. Welch, who represented the San Jose-Watsonville area, and Senator hiram W. Johnson of California