Amerasian

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In its original meaning, an Amerasian is a person born in Asia, to a U.S. military father and an Asian mother. Colloquially, the term has sometimes been considered synonymous with Asian American, to describe any person of mixed Asian and American parentage, regardless of the circumstances.

Several countries have significant populations of Amerasians, including the islands that dot the Pacific Ocean (such as Guam and Hawaii). These countries include Japan (Okinawa), Thailand (Phuket and Pattaya Beach), South Korea, the former South Vietnam and most notably, the Philippines (Angeles, Olongapo, and La Union). In the Philippines and Thailand, Amerasians are often overrepresented in entertainment industries because their features are associated with beauty.[1][2]

Contents

[edit] Definitions

The term was coined by writer Pearl S. Buck and was formalized by the Immigration and Naturalization Service. Many people were born to Asian women and U.S. servicemen during World War II, the Korean War, and the Vietnam War. The official definition of Amerasian came about as a result of Public Law 97-359, enacted by the 97th Congress of the United States on October 22, 1982.

According to the U.S. Department of Justice and the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS), an Amerasian is: "[A]n alien who was born in Korea, Vietnam, Laos, Kampuchea, or Thailand after December 31, 1950, and before October 22, 1982, and was fathered by a U.S. citizen."[3] The Amerasian Foundation (AF) and Amerasian Family Finder (AFF) define an Amerasian as: "Any person who was fathered by a citizen of the United States (an American servicemen, American expatriate, or U.S. Government Employee (Regular or Contract)) and whose mother is, or was, an Asian National Asian."[4]

The term is commonly applied to half Japanese children fathered by a U.S. serviceman in Japan on the island of Okinawa, as well as half-Korean children fathered by veterans of the Korean War, most notably seen on the 1960s soap opera Love is a Many Splendored Thing. The term is also applied to children of Filipinos and American rulers during the U.S. colonial period of the Philippines (but is still used until today) and children of Thais and U.S. soldiers during World War II and the Vietnam War (the reference to Thailand stems from the U.S. military stationing their military bases during the Vietnam War). Since there are large Overseas Chinese minorities in Japan, Korea, and Southeast Asia, an Amerasian could be a child born to American and ethnic Chinese parents in any country. Children born to mainland U.S. and native Pacific Islander parents in U.S.-controlled Pacific Islands are also sometimes considered Amerasian.

Although the term Amerasian denotes mixed ancestry, it should not be interpreted as a fixed racial term relating to a specific mixture of races (such as Mestizo, mulatto, Eurasian or blasian). The racial strain of the American parent of one Amerasian may be different from that of another Amerasian; it may be white, black, Hispanic, Native American, or even Asian. In the latter case, it is conceivable that the Amerasian could be fathered by a person who shares the same racial background but not the same nationality.

During the Korean and Vietnam Wars, many of the unions between American fathers and Asian mothers happened through client-prostitute relationships. Mixed blood children, whatever the reality of the occupations of their parents, have inherited this social stigma. In poor countries where impoverished women have little choice but to consider prostitution as a means of survival, the resulting sense of disempowerment among men and women alike can bring seething resentment. Additional resentment may be fueled by the common knowledge that many servicemen fathers made promises to support the children, and simply left for the U.S., never to be seen again. White Amerasians in the Philippines and Thailand, however, are universally accepted and widely represented in their respective countries as the new pinnacle of beauty. Allan Pineda Lindo of the Contemporary R&B group The Black Eyed Peas is half African American and has reported a very positive and supportive childhood in the Philippines.

[edit] In popular culture

  • In the M*A*S*H episode "Yessir, That's Our Baby," the staff of the 4077th find an abandoned Amerasian baby and attempted help her after Father Mulcahy warns that she will be mistreated at the orphanage. Although the staff initially decline his advice about leaving her with a reclusive monastic order, their own efforts to solicit aid from various organizations were bluntly rebuffed with frustrating regularity. This included a confrontation with a South Korean representative who pointed out the mortifying fact to the U.S. officers that their own government ignores the issue as well. Eventually, the staff leave the baby with the monks.
  • The Chuck Norris film Braddock: Missing In Action III (1988) depicted Amerasian children trapped in Vietnam; in the film, Norris is the father to an Amerasian child believing that his Vietnamese wife died during the Fall of Saigon.
  • In the television show King of the Hill, it is revealed in an episode that the protagonist Hank has an Amerasian half-brother named Junichiro, the result of an affair between Hank's father and a nurse during his stay in post-World War II Japan.

[edit] Amerasian Organizations

Human Rights Advocates International (HRAI)Cprintz (talk) 01:55, 26 November 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Notable Amerasians

[edit] Footnotes

  1. ^ http://www.geocities.com/pageantmania2000a/1997Brook.html
  2. ^ http://www.geocities.com/pageantmania2000a/1988Porntip.html
  3. ^ from instructions for INS Form 360, Petition for Amerasian, Widow(er), or Special Immigrant
  4. ^ http://amerasianfoundation.org/?page_id=15

[edit] See also

[edit] External links

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Asian Americans
East AsianChinese · Japanese · Korean · Mongolian · TaiwaneseImage:Flag of the United States.svg
South AsianBangladeshi · Indian · Indo-Caribbean · Nepalese · Pakistani · Sri Lankan · Tibetan (otherwise considered Central Asian)
Southeast AsianBurmese · Cambodian · Filipino · Hmong · Indonesian · Laotian · Mien · Thai · Vietnamese
OtherAsian Latino · Eurasian · Amerasian · Turkish
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