Indians Boycott Analysis

After reading the articles over the Indians and Asians Boycotts, in the mid to late 1800’s, I was astonished at how America handled themselves. In the flyers that were distributed by Silver Bow Trades and Labor Assembly and Butte Miners Union influencing a boycott against Chinese and Japanese, it is very apparent that the Americans no longer welcomed the Asian community. They make it quite obvious that they will go to whatever links to make sure nobody was in support of them and that if they suffered they would have no sympathy. If we look back in the past it is so apparent that this is all based upon jealousy. This type of disgrace not only happened to the Asians but also the Indians. The commissioner of Indian Affairs stated that the cultured dances and long hair of Indians must be stopped. The Americans have already struggled so much with discrimination that it comes to no surprise to me that they would do it against any other race that came in. The reason Americans did not

want the Asians or Indians to contribute to the bettering of this country was because they were racist, power hungry, selfish, and demeaning.

The propaganda used to persuade the public to side with this boycott was to say that anyone who is in support of Organized labor, which during this time that was the most common job, is expected to stand with them. The propaganda used for the ending of Indian culture is very similar. The idea that the Indians are interrupting the working ways and distracting the Americans from what was actually important. Not only did they make it look like they were hurting things the letters were made out to look caring but were really just a way to degrade the tribes. This was a good technic in my opinion because this pulls together a big group of people and just like anything else is, if you see everyone else doing it, you will too. Since this an expectation to boycott, it really posed a threat against anyone who would stand with the Asians or Indians. Another use of persuasion they

use is to say that the Asians and Indians are making America go backwards and they are making the way of living and morals lower. This really shows the discrimination during this time. Putting a label on a certain race and then making everyone stand against them. The way the commissioner speaks of the Indians is demeaning. He talks about them like they are animals in training. That they need to be civilized. That is not what America is or was about; The freedom of expression, religion, petition, assembly, and speech is what America is about and from reading these articles I would have never guessed that was an option. The Americans were intimidated by the Asians because they were efficient and successful. The Indians customs were not adopted by the Americans and that made everyone think that they should just be outlawed. It is a shame that they would use these reasons to tear someone down just because they were not like them. I really feel that when people say history repeats itself, they are definitely telling the truth. I would say that this type of discrimination is one of Americas biggest faults throughout history.