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This
then is not the usual agreeable “melting pot” story.
An ethnic group was singled out for persecution though no evidence
existed linking its members to Mussolini’s “war machine”—if
one can even say that with a straight face. No matter how American
mainstream, any ethnic group can at a moment’s notice become
classified as “enemy alien," At the turn of the century
German-Americans were about as mainstream as you could get. Yet
after 1914 anti-German feeling was so intense that even before
the United States entered the War, German books were being removed
from library shelves and public schools were no longer offering
German classes. Violence against German-American became an everyday
occurrence. During the Second world War about 11,000 German-Americans
were interned. No charges were proffered. Neither subversion,
nor treason, nor espionage was ever proved against anyone. The
Germans stayed in detention through the War and, in a number of
cases, even beyond. The detention had one objective only: to intimidate
the German-American population.
The
Japanese-Americans had it particularly rough. FDR’s Executive
Order 9066, signed in February 1942, ordered “enemy aliens”
(people of German, Italian or Japanese ancestry) to evacuate the
West Coast. They posed a security threat, ran the official line.
They might spy on, or sabotage, US military installations. They
might even kill US military personnel. They therefore had to leave
their homes and move inland. However, anti-Japanese feeling in
the country was so strong that the Japanese found they had nowhere
to move to. So they ended up in Army-run relocation camps, which
soon became detention centers. Of the 120,000 persons of Japanese
ancestry who ended up in detention camps 77,000 were US citizens.
At least, the interned Italians and Germans, though they obviously
posed no security threat, were not US citizens.
Officially-sanctioned
persecution of unpopular minorities continues to this day, of
course. For years the Clinton Administration and its media toadies
shamelessly whipped up anti-Serb hysteria. Naturally, Americans
of Serbian origin had a wretched time of it. One newspaper story
described how a 13-year-old Serbian-American girl, having been
repeatedly ignored by her teacher even when she was the only one
to have her hand up asked him “I know the answer. Why don’t
you give me a chance?," His response: “Well, why don’t
you give the Croatians a chance?” Still it could be worse.
While the United States was pulverizing Belgrade earlier this
year, the FBI trotted up to announce the dramatic discovery of
an unsigned, undated “letter” sent to Serbian Orthodox
Churches. “The letter”, according to the FBI, “requested
that all Serbian nationalists living in America take action…by
killing as many American soldiers in the United States as necessary,"
Here was a ludicrous story if ever there was one. Yet the threat
to Serbian-Americans was all too clear. “As the war continues”
explained an FBI spokesman, “we receive a lot of threats
in here…This [the letter] is not just an isolated situation.
We look at threats; we take them all seriously.” If ethnic
groups do not want the Japanese or Italian treatment they had
better prove their innocence by vociferously supporting US policy.
The
US Government bombs the demon du jour—Qaddhaffi one day,
Saddam Hussein the next, Osama bin Laden the day after that, with
Hamas and Hezbollah as permanent targets-in-waiting—and uses
our groveling media to put out lies so as to whip the country
into line. The result, Arab-Americans complain, is that the American
people have come to see them as madmen or terrorists. Asian-Americans
complain that the American people see them all as spies.
It
has been estimated that in 1998, 9.7 percent of the US population
was foreign-born. In 1980 the foreign-born share of the population
had only been 6.2 percent. In 1970 it had only been 4.8 percent.
By 2025 the foreign-born share of the population is projected
to be 14 percent. Clearly, the United States will find it increasingly
difficult to pursue global domination. The more Americans picks
fights with just about every country under the sun, the more this
policy will meet with opposition at home. Is it realistic to expect
Chinese-Americans to endorse a policy to force China to give up
Tibet? Will Russian immigrants cheer on a US Government that sheds
crocodile tears over Chechens or Georgians? Will Indian-Americans
loudly echo US demands that India give up its nuclear weapons?
Will Arab-Americans, having seen the power of the Jewish lobby,
eschew using their clout to force their agenda on the US? Will
Mexican-Americans demand that the United States impose sanctions
on Mexico for insufficient zeal in pursuing drug traffickers?
Of course not.
Indeed,
Mexico may be blazing a trail of sorts. The Mexican government
would like to make it possible for the nearly 5 million Mexicans
living legally in the United States to maintain their Mexican
nationality even after taking the US oath of allegiance. Mexican-Americans
would thus be able to vote in both Mexican and US elections. The
Mexican government would thus have at its command a huge voting
bloc in the United States. Mexico may get to impose its agenda
on Washington.
America’s
elite does have another option. It can do to the minorities what
FDR did to the Germans, Japanese and the Italians.
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