While all racial groups differ greatly through cultural disparities, they also relate to one another through the common theme of racial discrimination and struggle. This trend is strongly present in comparing and contrasting the positions of Native Americans and Asian/Pacific Americans.
The similarities between these groups mostly consist of their shared experience with the American government and the "whites." Obviously, the most apparent similarity between these two groups is the racial discrimination they received in becoming a part of America. Both have been referred to as "savage," "barbarians," "primitive" and obviously, inferior. "The status of racial inferiority assigned to the Chinese had been prefigured in the black and Indian past" (Takaki 204). They were also both adept in the agriculture and helped Americans with this field occasionally (the Chinese more so). Native Americans and Asian/Pacific Americans also relate in that both groups are collapsed groups in which incredible differences are overlooked for the purposes of categorization and sometimes racism (which has been done in this essay for the purpose of simplification for comparison--many differences between the Japanese and Koreans have been ignored completely for example).
This Census Bureau map depicts the locations of Na...
English: collage of public domain images
Early Indian Languages of the USAFurthermore, Asian/Pacific Americans and Native Americans also placed trust in the lies about America and were consequently greatly disappointed later in learning of their fallacy. Chinese immigrants first came for "Gold Mountain," where America was rich and generous. However, they ended up being forced to work for minimum wages and prevented from striking by racist tactics where plantation or factory owners played race pride and jealousy off one another. Asian Americans also trusted in America's equality and fairness until they experienced the extremity of America's racism and almost xenophobia, even within the government (Foreign Miners Tax for example). Many Native Americans trusted in the treaties of protection set up by the government, until they were...