A Different Mirror: Part 4, Chapter 15: Out of the War Summary & Analysis

For many Americans who experienced racist oppression, the Second World War constituted a time for reinvention. Women of color delighted in taking jobs that had previously been denied to them. Both men and women took advantage of the G.I. Bill to access college education. Meanwhile, having fought in a segregated army, African Americans endeavored to battle fiercely against segregation. After two Japanese Americans who had been interned petitioned against the Alien Land Law, the Supreme Court established that restricting land ownership to white people was racist and “unconstitutional.”

Yet the stigma and shame of the internment camps had a lingering effect on Japanese Americans long after they were freed. It was not until the powerful anti-racist movements of the 1970s that a new generation of Japanese Americans compelled their parents to discuss their experiences in the camps. These testimonials built momentum, and in 1988, Congress passed a bill containing an official apology for the internment policy and $20,000 compensation for survivors of the camps. Issuing the apology, President Reagan acknowledged that the existence of the camps was especially painful considering how many Japanese Americans had loyally served their country during the war.

Meanwhile, Mexican Americans were dismayed by the fact that the prejudice and discrimination that had lessened during the war returned after the war finished. Cesar Chavez, a Mexican-American war veteran and leader of United Farm Workers, committed himself to fighting for agricultural workers. Those who returned from war were no longer able to tolerate being treated as “second-class citizens,” while women were not ready to relinquish the newfound power and opportunities they had gained simply because the war was over. Legislation banning school segregation began to be passed. Thurgood Marshall of the NAACP argued that it was absurd for black soldiers like himself to have fought for freedom only to be denied it back home.

Marshall predicted that after the war, the government would be compelled to institute equality, and he was right. The ruling against segregation in Brown v. Board of Education was followed by the Montgomery Bus Boycott, triggered by Rosa Parks and led by Martin Luther King, Jr. King drew on his Christian faith in his battle against anti-black racism. The bus boycott was followed by sit-ins at segregated establishments, out of which the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) was formed. Young people passionately committed themselves to the struggle for freedom and equality, participating in the freedom rides despite facing violence. In 1963, A. Philip Randolph and King gave historic speeches at the March on Washington, drawing on the ideals upon which the US was founded.

Rabbi Joachim Prinz, a Holocaust survivor, also spoke at the March on Washington. He warned about the danger of “silence” and implored Americans not to be “a nation of onlookers,” turning away from injustice. Prinz was one of many Jews involved in the Civil Rights Movement. Jews had long been participants in the struggle against anti-black racism, sensing the connection between the pogroms and the brutality to which African Americans were subjected. During the Civil Rights Movement, they served as on-the-ground activists, political leaders, and lawyers. Jews realized that a country with less anti-black racism was also less likely to be anti-Semitic.

At the same time, the “alliance” between black and Jewish Americans was damaged when the Civil Rights Movement moved beyond the South and into the North. Suddenly, Jews believed that they stood to lose from the advancement of black people. Meanwhile, internal divisions emerged within the Civil Rights Movement, as some pushed for an integrationist policy, while a more militant wing insisted that black people were an internally colonized population who must struggle for independence and self-determination. Nonetheless, the successes of the Civil Rights Movement were monumental, and transformed the US into a more equal place.

At the same time, the Civil Rights Movement did not transform the economic inequality that undergirded racist injustice. The poverty in which African-American communities were stricken created a sense of rising tension. Malcolm X commented that for the millions of black people living in poverty, the “American dream” was more like “an American nightmare.” The Civil Rights Movement had failed to address the class issues that formed an inevitable part of racism. Black women in particular faced “a world of barriers,” which kept them in an inescapable cycle of poverty. Meanwhile, the deindustrialization that took place in the 1970s damaged black populations particularly intensely. Black workers were left “economically superfluous.”

Economic problems led to racial violence, such as the beating of black motorist Rodney King by members of the LAPD, and the rioting, looting, and brutality that ensued. The LA riots brought attention to the desperate, heavily impoverished reality that existed in American cities. Among those caught up in the riots were Korean-American storeowners, whose businesses burned to the ground. Although the main antagonism was known to be between black and Korean residents of LA, most of those arrested for looting were Mexican. The riots “had no border.”

During the 1990s, the media reported on the remarkable educational successes of Asian Americans. People commented that whatever Asian Americans’ secret to success was, others should try and imitate it. President Reagan praised Asian Americans’ educational and economic success while condemning black people’s supposed dependency on welfare, blaming them for their own difficulties. A battle over affirmative action ensued. What these ideological conflicts disguised, Takaki explains, was the fact that the Cold War had created enormous debts, leading to the underfunding of American inner cities. Money spent on nuclear weapons was being taken away from welfare programs.

When the Cold War ended, a new era of economic expansion and prosperity began. Scientists who had been employed by the military could now put their knowledge toward improving society. Meanwhile, the development of “smart” consumer goods revolutionized everyday American life. However, before long, this moment of optimism and flourishing was blighted by the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001.