Strangers from a Different Shore

World War ll raised new questions about the nature of American democracy and how the US could “extend its democratic ideals to immigrants of color”—especially since those immigrants were now expected to support the US war effort (357). Japan’s invasion of the Philippines, and the US collaboration with the Filipino army, changed many white Americans’ perception of Filipinos, whom they now regarded as allies. Filipino immigrants wanted to be allowed to serve in the US army; once President Roosevelt changed the draft law to include them, over 16,000 Filipino men enlisted, eager to defend their homeland against Japanese aggression. Now members of the army, these Filipino men served alongside other soldiers and could finally become US citizens. With Filipinos now more favored as allies and Japanese immigrants regarded as enemies, Filipinos were encouraged to take over land holdings that had been seized from Japanese Americans as part of the policy of Japanese American imprisonment. While some Filipinos were buoyed by new economic opportunities and a more permanent sense of the US as home, many still experienced discrimination from white Americans who saw them as “guests in America” (363).

After the Japanese attacks on Pearl Harbor, Korean Americans “welcomed the war,” which they hoped would destroy the Japanese military and lead to Korean independence (364).