Miscegenation

1.     I thought it was interesting in Takaki when it spoke of the Cable Act of 1922 which “provided that any American woman who married ‘an alien ineligible to citizenship shall cease to be a citizen of the United States’” (Takaki 15). My first reaction was shock that something like this was and could be put into effect. I knew that to an extent of the racism that was a part of this country in those times, but I was unaware that it was so intense that the government would actually take away a person’s citizenship for marrying an ineligible alien. I also was curious as to whether or not this provision applied to American men as well, and thought it was interesting that the book specified this Act being applied to American women. The film “Days of Waiting” ties in with this topic. The women in the film, Estelle Ishigo, married a Japanese man and she was sent to the internment camps along with him. I found it amazing and not all that surprising on how welcomed she was in the Japanese community. I’ve seen this difference in hospitality in my own experiences with other cultures, such as when I went to Costa Rica for Jan Term last year. I was immediately and unconditional accepted by my host family and all those I came into contact with. I have found that many cultures are much more welcoming and accepting than Americans are as a whole, and I find this very sad. When a country starts to de-citizenize their own people because of their hatred towards another culture, you know there is a problem that needs to be addressed.