Filipinos Immigration Life In America

Name

Institutional Affiliation









 

Filipino’s Immigration Life in America Introduction             Chapter three focuses on how Filipinos fell into colonialism as America felt the need to expand its territories. The United States ruled over the Filipinos under the justification that they were backward races and therefore had no idea on how to rule themselves (Ngai, 2004). However, the colonization of Filipinos revealed contradictions between the immigration policy and the insular policy of benevolent assimilation. The contradictions then resulted in decolonization, exclusion and repatriation (Ngai, 2004). The chapter reveals how social Darwinism has influenced American behavior at the time of the Filipino migration. The influence of Social Darwinism is revealed throughout the chapter, including when the Americans disregarded the success of benevolent assimilation even after the Filipinos made an effort to adopt the culture of Americans and learn English. The essay aims at portraying how social Darwinism had influenced Americans on their need for superiority. Spanish-American War 1893 Colonization             The Spanish-American war was sparked by the need for dominance and superiority. America’s victory during the war enabled it to gain control over foreign territories such as Guam, Puerto Rico and Philippine Island through the signing of the Treaty of Paris (Ngai, 2004). The gesture made by the Americans in their efforts to take control of the Philippine Islands was that they wanted to promote freedom and peace to the people of the Philippines. However, the letter written by Otis to the people of Philippines Island in 1898 was only meant to convince them that Americans were their friends and that they had freed them from the Spaniards. Ngai (2004) states that the Americans claimed to have a noble cause to colonize the Philippines, claiming that they were ‘incapable of self-rule.’ Nevertheless, the need for America to gain control over the Pacific was because of self-interest. Ngai explains that after the signing of the treaty, the United States was only capable of taking control over Manilla. Reason being, Filipino nationalists had overthrown the Spanish and established an independent republic (Ngai, 2004). The Filipino nationals were unwilling to forfeit their country to the Americans, partly because they felt like their country had been sold to the Americans like a sack of potatoes (Linn, 2008). The Filipino defended their rights and freedom under the slogan “No hay derecho a vender un pueblo como se vende un saco de patatas” (Linn, 2008). The United States had expected a smooth transition after signing the peace treaty; however, the resistance by the Filipino nationals resulted in the implementation of benevolent assimilation. As a result, America sent 125,000 troops to defeat the nationals and bring the country under A...