How did negative myths and stereotypes feed racial prejudice?

"We cannot make a homogeneous population out of people who do not blend with the Caucasian race," said Woodrow Wilson during his 1912 presidential campaign. Japanese immigrants were described as an invading horde or "yellow peril" long before the U.S. was at war with Japan. Labor groups accused Japanese immigrants of lowering the standard of living for white workers, of being dirty and unhealthy, and of being unable to assimilate to American culture. The same prejudiced rhetoric had been aimed previously against Chinese immigrants.

Japan's success in the Russo-Japanese war of 1904-1905 had fueled some paranoia that "little brown men" would soon invade the U.S. Popular writing, movies and the news media--the Hearst newspapers in particular--encouraged public fears. In "Patria," a fictional 1916 film, the Japanese are shown invading the U.S. via Mexico with the aid of Mexicans. Other racist propaganda warned of the so-called "mongrelizing" of America that would supposedly result from increasing numbers of people of color. Pseudo-scientific literature falsely labeled "yellow people" as inferior.^[4]

4. Personal Justice Denied, page 37.

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