History Help.tell me what you think!?

Question

During World War I, many German-Americans were treated poorly here in the United States. Many were prosecuted, some had violent acts committed against them, and one man was even lynched just for being a German-American. After the 9/11 attacks, the same things started happening to Americans who came from Middle Eastern countries. What are your feelings on this treatment? Is it natural to associate people with others based solely on the way they look? Is this fair? Have you found yourself either consciously or sub-consciously treating Middle Easterners differently? Should Middle Easterners be monitored more closely than other Americans?

Answer 1

In our area there were many Japanese farmers during WWII. During that time they were also treated badly, and many were put into camps to keep an eye on them. We are in California, very close to the Pacific obviously, and they were concerned that these people may be spies.
The locals didn't do this, many of them saved the land for when the owners returned. Still, most of them were put into camps.

As for how I look at people after the 911 attacks, I actually don't see many middle easterners and cannot really say. My feeling is that yes, it is very natural for people to do this. Not saying it is right or wrong, just natural.

It's not exactly fair, but at least where I live, middle easterners are sort of a mystery. We don't know much about them, other than they are quiet and again, sort of mysterious. If people knew more about them they wouldn't be so afraid.

Although you have a right in this country to be treated fairly, that doesn't exactly apply to how others view you. The law has to treat you fairly, but unfortunatly if you belong to a certain group, religion, race, etc. you get put into the same catagory as the worst person there. Like motorcycle gangs, you hear about one bad person or gang and all of a sudden, they all are bad, at least in the publics mind. They will all be treated the same, whether it is fair or not.

Again, I'm not saying right or wrong, just saying how people act.
I think that the government does need to do something, whether it is watch these people more closely, or to raise public awareness, not enough is done. These people are a mystery (at least here) and when people are scared and don't know anything, they think that means they are dangerous and naturally they want to protect themselves, this leads to stupid attacks against innocent people.

So in my opinion the government needs to step up and make this information more clear to people. If they know all the facts, they aren't scared, doesn't lead to as many problems. (like the lynching just because he was german american)