I've written a lengthy article and one shorter article myself about discrimination against the Chinese and Japanese in the West, so I am perfectly aware of it (as well as the history of discrimination against Mexicans in particlular) I'm also aware that the vast majority of Asian-American families (and Latinos) have arrived in the U.S. post-1965, in much more enlightened times, with legal protections that even white "ethnic" immigrants could have only dreamed of 100 years ago. The anti-miscegenation laws of the past have been replaced with very high intermarriage rates, Chinatowns largely with integrated suburbs (especially after first generation), etc. The integration of the post-1965 wave of "non-white" (quote marks because it's not at all clear to what extent Latino immigrants and their descendants are or will be defined by others as non-white, and as Jim Chen has noted those of Asian descent are often de facto defined as white for AA purposes) immigrants is going far more smoothly than could have been imagined at the time, even if pockets of discrimination still exist. It serves neither the law nor the future well to pretend that "people of color" are an undifferentiated mass whose legal status should be defined by the still relatively precarious status of African Americans. If someone wants to make the arguments that particular groups of Latinos or Asians, e.g., the Hmong, are especially isolated and impoverished, and therefore should be included in AA programs, at least presumptively, I think there's a reasonable case to be made (note that the district court found that Michigan LS in practice limited its program to Mexican Americans and mainland Puerto Ricans). But to include all Latinos of any background in such a category I think reflects ideological suppositions rather than sociological reality.
P.S. The two articles are Lochner, Parity, and the Chinese Laundry Cases, 41 Wm. & Mary L. Rev. 211 (1999)
and Two Asian Laundry Cases, 24 J. Sup. Ct. Hist. 95 (1999).
In a message dated 6/28/2003 11:22:29 AM Eastern Standard Time, [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes:
I might add that both Latinos--mostly Mexican-Americans-- and Asians were
discriminated against by law in western states, especially California, for
many years. There are numerous histories documenting discrimination against
both groups ( e.g., McEvoy's *The fisherman's Problem* documents legal,
political, and social discrimination against Japanese fishers in Calif.)
Indeed, of course, we have a sorry national history going back at least to
the *Chinese Exclusion Cases*, the 1924 (?) Act denying citizenship to
Japanese immigrants, etc.
