The History of Yellow Peril

The “yellow peril” stereotype is rooted in late 19th-century Western racism, which believes Japanese immigrants can not be trusted[1]. The Japanese could never assimilate into Western society because their alliance was with Japan and not the West. 

This belief influenced America's immigration quotas for the Japanese into the early 20th century[2]. It also led to the harassment of Japanese Americans living in America and laid the ideological justification for Japanese internment camps in the 1940s[3]. In the United States, the "yellow peril" stereotype expanded to include other nationalities and ethnic groups of East Asian Americans. Becoming a popular East Asian American template character for early Hollywood films, such as 1929 The Mysterious Dr. Fu Manchu, with the villain of Dr. Fu Manchu.

CAAAV activists argued that this stereotype influenced the plot behind, Rising Sun starring Sean Connery and Wesley Snipes[4]. In the film, both investigate the murder of a woman(white woman) in a real estate firm that operates as a front for the Japanese Mafia. In the film, the Mafia has overtaken several American institutions such as the LAPD, the United States Senate, and the Los Angeles Times. The film also premiered during a particularly violent time for Asian Americans in the United States. The community was being scapegoated for the economic hardships of many Americans.

The neoliberal policies of the Reagan, Bush and Clinton administrations left millions of Americans behind[5]. Blue-collar jobs, which had been the staple of generations of Americans, were now overseas. Simultaneously, this came at the rise of the "Four Asian Tigers" economies: Taiwan, Singapore, South Korea, and Hong Kong[6]. In the 1980s, Japan had overtaken the economies of Western Europe to become the second-biggest economy in the world[7]. The only bigger economy was the United States. Many in the West believed the "yellow peril" was upon them.

Historian Erika Lee writes of Asian Americans having conditional citizenship-like other groups of nonwhite American immigrants, Asian Americans are seen as the "other" with roots and alliances elsewhere[8]. In this context, the 1980-early 1990s, the rise of Asian Americans hate crimes can be seen as a reaction to America's deindustrialization and the rise of Asia's economic might.  CAAAV newsletter began to make that connection for readers in numerous issues of their bi-yearly newsletter[9].

[1] Lee, Erika. The Making of Asian America: A History. New York, NY. Simon & Schuster Paperbacks. 2015. Page 122, 123

[2] Ibid. Page 124, 125

[3] Ibid. Page 235

[4] Editorial. “Rising Sun! Rising Hate!” CAAAV The Voice. Page 4.  Fall 1993

[5] Lepore, Jill. These Truths. New York, NY. Penguin Random House LLC. 2019. Page 683, 714

[6] Zakaria, Fareed. The Post-American World. New York, NY. W.W. Norton & Company. 2008. Page 26

[7] Ibid. Page 28

[8] Lee, Erika. The Making of Asian America: A History. New York, NY. Simon & Schuster Paperbacks. 2015. Page 9

[9] Editorial. “M.I.A.=Murdered In America!” CAAAV The Voice. Page 6. Spring 1993