Daniels Ch. 14

Daniels- Ch. 14 Blog Entry

I found it interesting to learn that the majority of Asian immigrants ended up settling in the western states. On top of that, some groups also settled within certain regions within California. For example, the Asian Indians coming in the first group settled mainly in the Imperial Valley and the northern Sacramento Valley in California. I find it interesting that a lot of these Asian groups tend to stick with each other in where they settle and help each other assimilate/get their footing once they are in the United States. The Chinese immigrants are known for their Chinatowns which are dispersed throughout the country. The most famous of the Chinatowns are in San Francisco. For the fresh-off-the-boat Chinese immigrants, they are more likely to live within these inner-city Chinatowns. Daniels writes, “There is, however, a greater tendency for recent immigrants to be poorly educated, deficient in English, and to work in the low-paid service trades, such as laundries, restaurants, and the sweatshop enterprises typical of the inner city” (355). The more well to do and educated American born Chinese tend to live outside of Chinatowns and hold more middle class occupations. I found it interesting that the Asian Indians would often create jobs for those relatives and others coming in after them once they were here. Although many Asian Indians are highly educated, they often flock towards opening businesses such as newspaper kiosks and convenience food stores (although this is more common in London and Copenhagen).  As business owners, the Asian Indians have the ability to hire workers and create jobs. Daniels shares, “What these operations have in common is a need for large numbers of low-paid employees, which is often filled by newly arrived relatives who enter as chain migrants” (363). This is a way in which they can help their family members come in.

                One of the most interesting things about this chapter was the difference between the Vietnamese and the rest of the Asian Immigrants.  Unlike their Asian counterparts, the Vietnamese were more pushed out of Vietnam as opposed to being pulled to the United States. Daniels shares, “Rather than self-selecting immigrants reasonably well-qualified for success in America, Vietnamese, or many of them, have been poorly equipped for life in an urban society” (368). The majority left in the aftermath of the Vietnam War. Daniels continues, “Had they not been refugees—and refugees about whom the United States, with good reason, had a guilty conscience—most could not have qualified for admission” (368). This is alarming to me that the United States forced so many people to leave Vietnam! Daniels mentions that by 1990, the number of Vietnamese War refugees and their children in the United States will exceed 1.25 million. That’s so many people that have come to the United States that were pushed out of their homeland due to an unnecessary war. The most alarming thing to me about all of this is how many of the Vietnamese people struggle to get ahead in society. Many are poorly educated and have low incomes. Most of them are below the poverty line and more than a quarter of all Vietnamese families receive some sort of U.S. government aid. Also, many of them choose to live in California because they tend to receive more government aid here. The United States created this problem!