Mexican-American Discrimination During Ww2 Essay

“Discrimination continued during World War II despite the patriotism of all groups of Americans”

Despite the war-time of American patriotism an alarming increase of racial stereotype continued. Xenophobia prompted discrimination against Japanese, Mexicans, and African-American during World War II. Regardless of American standards of equality, many classes of Americans, such as African-, Japanese-, and Mexican-Americans experienced severe discrimination due to conservative views on race and growing xenophobia in the middle of the Second Great War.
Like all other Americans, African-Americans wished to serve their country during World War II. A migration of black Americans traveled from the South to the North and West. The development of
the mechanical cotton picker also encouraged emigration. A. Philip Randolph organized a “Negro March on Washington,” To create more jobs in defense and the military for blacks, and, in response, President Franklin D. Roosevelt banned discrimination in defense industries in Executive Order 8802 on June 25, 1941. Also, Roosevelt established the Fair Employment Practices Commission, known as the FEPC, which administered this discrimination ban. Even in the army, African-Americans were segregated. Blood banks were even categorized based on race. About 90 percent of blacks in World War II were placed in menial labor units. Even with this unfair treatment, most equality efforts encouraged “Double V,” a victory overseas against the cruel dictators and a victory at home against racism. The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, known as the NAACP, and the Congress of Racial Equality, CORE, experienced increased involvement.
National union was solid after the Pearl Harbor attack. In compare to WWI, when the patriotism of millions of immigrants was questioned, WWII actually speeded the integration of many ethnic groups into American society. An exception was the dilemma of some 110,000 Japanese-Americans, concentrated on the Pacific Coast. The Washington top command, fearing that they may act as thugs for Japan in case of attack, gathering them together by force in concentration camps, though about two-thirds of them were American-born citizens. This ruthless precaution was both unnecessary and unfair, as the loyalty and combat record of Japanese-Americans proved to be worthy. But a wave of post-Pearl Harbor madness, backed by the long historical swell of anti-Japanese prejudice on the West Coast, for the time being deprived many Americans of their good sense and their sense of justice. The internment camps deprived these uprooted Americans of dignity and basic rights; the captives also lost hundreds of millions of dollars in property and earnings. The wartime Supreme Court in 1944 supported the constitutionality of the Japanese relocation in Korematsu v. U.S. But more than four decades later, in 1988, the U.S. government formally apologized for its actions and approved the payment of compensations of $20,000 to each camp survivor.
Discrimination against Mexican-Americans ran high during WWII despite their loyalty.
Mexican-Americans patriotically volunteered for battle and were usually put in white units, since they had fair skin. However, many soldiers reported that once people in whites units found out they were Mexican-American, they were discriminated against by being treated more harshly by higher ranked officers and they were called racial slurs. Post-war, soldiers received the same discrimination as Mexican-American citizens, and were not even as respected as white citizens, much less white soldiers. Mexican-Americans received little pay compared to whites, and at times were left out from private businesses, such as restaurants. The American GI Forum was created to make sure Mexican-American soldiers were given the rights they deserved, although it was hard to put in effect. Discrimination also occurred to the patriotic Mexican-Americans killed during the war. One example is Private Felix Longoria, a soldier killed in action in the Philippines. Private Longoria's family was told he not allowed to be buried at a certain graveyard because "whites would not like it.” U.S. Senator Lyndon B. Johnson and Hector P. Garcia, the Mexican-American World War II veteran who founded the American G.I. Forum, interfered on Longoria's
behalf.
After the war, many Mexican-, Japanese-, and African-Americans wanted an end to discrimination after they had just helped fight a war for their country. Mexican-Americans took advantage of the G.I. bill which veterans with opportunities. The Civil Rights Movement came about to end segregation in the United States for African-Americans. And in 1988, the Japanese-American Claims Act was passed to compensate Japanese-Americans for their economic losses during World War II during their involuntary evacuation.