Japanese Internees Warn of History Repeating Itself

              The Aljazeera article I am posting this week is about a recent day of remembrance organized by Japanese Americans. The day was held to pay respect to Japanese who were incarcerated in camps during World War Two. The article draws the connection between the mania that followed the bombing of Pearl Harbor in 1941 and a similar hysteria directed toward Muslims following the September 11 terrorist attacks. The article highlights the constant struggle that minorities and really we all as Americans and Global citizens face for civil liberties and our own basic human dignity. I think Mark Twain said it best when he was referencing patriotism, Twain asserts, "patriotism is supporting your country all the time, and your government when it deserves it". Sometimes the people who end up running the country and make our national policy do so while their thoughts are clouded by fear and the unfortunately end up acting reactionary, causing more problems than would have ever been possible before. You can access the article here: Aljazeera

Illegal Immigration Is Nothing New

      The website I have lined up here sheds some light on the idea that most immigrants that came in the nineteenth century would have a very hard time meeting the requirements to immigrate today. Immigration is still a very hot topic and makes the headlines every other day it seems. This website suggests that immigration is a fluid concept in the United Staes and has and still is open for debate. It is my belief that all people, from everywhere should be able to come to America and get their citizenship. This is not a country where you are judged by who your father was but you are judged by your actions. Your life is not predetermined here. Immigration Policy Center

"Creating Something Entirely New"

       The article I found was pulled from the Tenement Museum's website which we checked out briefly in class. It grabbed my attention as it is about Germans and their contribution to the beer culture and industry in early America. Brewing beer was an iconic trade that they brought with  them when the moved to the United States. The article mentions a few different types of beer and in particular lagers and pilsners which the Germans are famous for making. When they brought these styles of beers to the United States no one was drinking them;they revolutionized beer drinking and brewing in America. Budweiser, Coors, and  Miller are all examples of lagers and are some of the most prolific beers on grocery store shelves all of which were brewed originally by German Americans. I moved to Santa Clara about three years ago from Portland Oregon, which some would consider the craft beer capitol of the world and I must admit that I am a lover of craft beer so that is really what drew my attention to this piece.  I  also found it very interesting how Nick Capodice and Kira Garcia, writing for the Tenement Museum, reminded me of the chapter from this week. They state, "However, they’d (the two people who owned the bar in the tenements) both lived in New York City since their early teens, so they weren’t trying to recreate ‘home’. I think they were trying to create something entirely new. Sure, they were all speaking German, but the clientele was a hodgepodge of folks from all over the place. They’d be talking about home, sure, but they’d be talking about American politics, rent, love, and all the things we talk about when we talk at bars." This perfectly sums up the way in which the German Americans must have felt; glad to be in America but stoically hanging on to the culture that made them so. You can access the article here: Tenement Museum

"No Irish Need Apply"

 

                Having a heritage of both German and Scotch-Irish decent I found this weeks readings and lectures very interesting.  The struggles that my ancestors must have faced I have a hard time even imagining. Life for them was a day to day fight for survival. I was aware or some of the hardships faced by the early Irish immigrants to the United States but what really surprised me was that they were even discriminated against by there our Irish predecessors. Hence that is where we get the term Scotch Irish. As the old pioneer Scotch-Irish didn't want to be lumped together with this new round of destitute, rough, Irish they created the term to segregate themselves form each other. It is unfortunate that people can be so shortsighted about what and where they came from, so much so that they would cast off their countrymen. The Irish that came over after the potato famine were not welcomed and the old Irish and the new cast of Americans immigrants made that very clear.


  http://www.newsleader.com/story/news/history/2014/08/15/tolerance-intolerance-mark-area-immigrant-story/14149553/

        Hello, I am excited to start this class and this semester. I have always had an interest in American history and have since a young age been investigating my family lineage and heritage.  It seems like this class will give me that opportunity again and hopefully in a more in-depth and extensive way. I agree completely that the United States was and still is being built and enriched by the immigrants that come and have come throughout the ages. My main area of interest in history is the study of military history and the history of warfare. With warfare being one of the main motivators for immigration, be it a push as in the cases of refugees or pull as is the case with some of the modern IDF solders that have left the US and enlisted to help fight with Israel, I will certainly have the chance to study through the lens of "ethnic history" and this class. Below is a link to an article about people from the US going to fight with the IDF.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/posteverything/wp/2014/07/25/this-is-why-americans-go-fight-in-the-israeli-army/