Ask any person off the street what nationality he is and you'll get a myriad of responses: Irish, Italian, English, Chinese, Vietnamese, French, but "American" will probably not be one of them. Most likely, you'll find that the average American describes himself by his ties to his country of origin. Only 0.6% of the American population is Native American, so your ethnicity is typically directly linked to your lineage - from where your great grandparents immigrated and your nationality is your place of birth.

Every ethnic group that immigrated to America in search of a better life also became the target of discrimination. We've had waves of immigration from various parts of the world because of famines, political unrest, or religious wars. European immigrants blended quickly into the American scene both physically and culturally. Other immigrants from Asia, Latin America, and Africa were not able to blend into the American culture as easily. When America hit bumps in the economy that affected the welfare of the nation, minorities often became the scapegoat. During the 1980's Japan was largely blamed for a world-wide recession which made Japanese Americans vulnerable to the anger of those who were unwilling or unable to distinguish between the actions of foreign nations and economy and those of the Japanese American community. In March 2001, according to a nationwide study conducted by Yankelovich Partners for the Committee of 100, one in four Americans has 'strong negative attitudes' toward Chinese Americans, would feel uncomfortable voting for an Asian American for president of the United States, and would disapprove of a family member marrying someone of Asian ancestry.

One of the most unjust actions in America's short history was the internment of the Americans of Japanese ancestry during WWII. After the imperialist Japanese air force attacked Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, 120,000 Americans of Japanese ancestry were ordered to pack only what they could carry and leave their homes to live behind barbed wire, guarded with armed military personnel, in internment camps for over three years. Many lost valuable property, businesses, and personal possessions. Why? The U.S. government stated that they feared that these Americans of Japanese ancestry, who lived in California, Oregon, and Washington, might be enemy spies. And, if this were truly the reason for incarcerating American families who lived on the mainland, why didn't they intern the Americans of Japanese ancestry who lived in Hawaii? Wouldn't Hawaii be the ideal location for Japanese enemy spies? With 158,000 Americans of Japanese ancestry living in Hawaii, only about 2400 were imprisoned. Where's the logic? And, there was no evidence of espionage amongst the 120,000 Americans of Japanese ancestry any time during WWII or afterward.

The proud, loyal Americans of Japanese ancestry felt an odd sense of communal shame for the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. The mainland Japanese Americans were indignantly forced into "internment" camps. From behind barbed wire fences, thousands of the "Nisei" (second generation Japanese Americans) volunteered for military service with the U.S. Army as a display of loyalty and patriotism. The all-Japanese American 100th/442nd Regimental Combat Team was responsible for heroic rescues. The most famous included the rescue of 211 Texans of the "Lost Battalion" who were completely surrounded by the Germans. The cost of the three-day struggle was high for the Nisei combat team--184 soldiers dead and over 600 wounded. The highly acclaimed film "Beyond Barbed Wire" highlights the skill, technical ingenuity, and "go for broke" patriotism of these young men. For the Pacific theater of operations, six thousand men volunteered for the Military Intelligence Service (MIS), and it was claimed by General Douglas MacArthur's staff that the Nisei linguists shortened the war by two years, thus saving many lives on both sides.

After the war, the Nisei soldiers remained silent about their heroic accomplishments. They, however, were to experience severe racism and hate crimes. Even today hate crimes plague the Asian American communities. "Believe it or not, there are some states that I avoid visiting because I'm Asian American," says Marcia Hashimoto, president of the Watsonville-Santa Cruz Japanese American Citizens League (JACL).

In the past there have been letters to the editor that blame Japanese Americans for the bombing of Pearl Harbor and the Bataan Death March during World War II. Of the civilian casualties of the bombing of Pearl Harbor, many were Japanese Americans. "There are people who do not and will not recognize Americans of Asian heritage as Americans. They do not understand that we, as Americans, are appalled, too, with such events, and we are not and never have been responsible for the actions taken by the Japanese government during WWII. Our loyalty has always been to our country, America," writes Hashimoto.

"There is a perception that we are still not American, that we're the perpetual foreigner," said Ted Wang, policy director for the Chinese for Affirmative Action in San Francisco. "That plays into the distrust of Asian Americans in the context of government and private corporations." [San Francisco Chronicle, Matthew Yi and Ryan Kim]

The history books have skipped over this blemish on the face of America's recent past. Films like "Beyond Barbed Wire" bring awareness to the fact that the most decorated unit in America's military history were Americans of Japanese ancestry.

The United States was founded on the premise that all men are created equal. As the sole superpower and role model to the world, we are a nation comprised of immigrants from virtually every nation on earth. It was the brave immigrants, our forefathers who risked their lives to come to the "land of opportunity," who have created the foundation of America. By becoming American citizens, these immigrants have proven their loyalty to the United States, and they should enjoy the freedoms and privileges as such. So let's be proud to be Americans, regardless of our ethnicity.