In its original meaning, an Amerasian is a person born in Asia, to a U.S. military father and an Asian mother. The term has sometimes been used to describe a person in the United States of mixed Asian and non-Asian ancestry, regardless of the circumstances.

Several countries have significant populations of Amerasians, including the islands that dot the Pacific Ocean. These countries include Japan (Okinawa), Thailand (Phuket and Pattaya Beach), South Korea, the former South Vietnam, and most notably, the Philippines, where the largest U.S. air and naval bases outside the U.S. mainland were situated.

Definitions[link]

The term was coined by writer Pearl S. Buck and was formalized by the Immigration and Naturalization Service. Many people were born to Asian women and U.S. servicemen during World War II, the Korean War, and the Vietnam War. The official definition of Amerasian came about as a result of Public Law 97-359, enacted by the 97th Congress of the United States on October 22, 1982.

According to the U.S. Department of Justice and the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS), an Amerasian is: "[A]n alien who was born in Korea, Vietnam, Laos, Kampuchea, or Thailand after December 31, 1950, and before October 22, 1982, and was fathered by a U.S. citizen."^[1] The Amerasian Foundation (AF) and Amerasian Family Finder (AFF) define an Amerasian as: "Any person who was fathered by a citizen of the United States (an American servicemen, American expatriate, or U.S. Government Employee (Regular or Contract)) and whose mother is, or was, an Asian National Asian."^[2]

The term is commonly applied to half Japanese children fathered by a U.S. serviceman in Japan on the island of Okinawa, as well as half-Korean children fathered by veterans of the Korean War. The term is also applied to children of Filipinos and American rulers during the U.S. colonial period of the Philippines (but is still used until today) and children of Thais and U.S. soldiers during World War II and the Vietnam War. The U.S. military stationed bases in Thailand during the Vietnam War. Children born to mainland U.S. and native Pacific Islander parents in U.S.-controlled Pacific Islands are also sometimes considered Amerasian.

Although the term Amerasian originally referred to children fathered by white Americans, it should not be interpreted as a fixed racial term relating to a specific mixture of races (such as Mestizo, Mulatto, Eurasian or Afro-Asian). The racial strain of the American parent of one Amerasian may be different from that of another Amerasian; it may be White, Black, Hispanic, Native American, or even Asian. In the latter case, it is conceivable that the Amerasian could be fathered by a person who shares the same racial background but not the same nationality.

In certain case, it could apply to American females, who engage in professional fields such as military nurse, pursue a relationship, and eventually got married, with Asian males.^[3] Mixed-race children, whatever the occupations of their parents, have suffered social stigma.

In April 1975, Operation Babylift was initiated in South Vietnam, to relocate Vietnamese children, many orphans and those of mixed American-Vietnamese parentage (mostly American serviceman father and Vietnamese mother), to the United States and adopting American families who would take them in.

Amerasians in the Philippines[link]

Since 1898, when the U.S. first colonized the Philippines, there have been as many as 21 U.S. bases and 100,000 U.S. military personnel stationed there. The bases closed in 1992 leaving behind thousands of Amerasian children.^[4] Pearl S. Buck International foundation estimates there are 52,000 Amerasians scattered throughout the Philippines with 5,000 in the Clark area of Angeles. "The majority of the children have been abandoned by their American fathers," said Jocelyn Bonilla, the manager of the Pearl S. Buck center in Angeles City. ^[5] Unlike their counterparts in other countries, American-Asians, or Amerasians, in the Philippines remain impoverished and neglected. A study made by the University of the Philippines' Center for Women Studies further disclosed startling facts affirming that many Amerasians have experienced some form of abuse and even domestic violence. The findings cited cases of racial, gender and class discrimination that Amerasian children and youth suffer from strangers, peers, classmates and teachers. The study also said black Amerasians seem to suffer more from racial and class discrimination than their white counterparts. White female Amerasians are highly vulnerable to sexual harassment, the study noted. ^[6] Two-thirds are raised by single mothers; others by relatives and non-relatives; 6% live on their own or in institutions. 90% are born "out of wedlock." ^[4] It was reported in 1993, that prostitutes are increasingly Amerasian, children of prostitutes caught in a cycle which transcends generations.^[7]

Legal action[link]

A class action suit was filed in 1993 on their behalf in the International Court of Complaints in Washington, DC, to establish Filipino American children’s rights to assistance. The court denied the claim, ruling that the children were the products of unmarried women who provided sexual services to US service personnel in the Philippines and were therefore engaged in illicit acts of prostitution. Such illegal activity could not be the basis for any legal claim.^[8]

International Amerasian Day[link]

March 4 has been designated as Amerasian Day in the Philippines. The Amerasian Foundation has designated it as International Amerasian Day.^[9]

In popular culture[link]

• In the M*A*S*H episode "Yessir, That's Our Baby," the staff of the 4077th find an abandoned Amerasian baby and attempted to help her after Father Mulcahy warns that she will be mistreated at the orphanage. Although the staff initially decline his advice about leaving her with a reclusive monastic order, their own efforts to solicit aid from various organizations were bluntly rebuffed with frustrating regularity. This included a confrontation with a South Korean representative who pointed out the mortifying fact to the U.S. officers that their own government ignores the issue as well. Eventually, the staff leave the baby with the monks.

• The character of Mia Elliott played by Amerasian actress Nancy Hsueh, on the cancelled daytime soap Love is a Many Splendored Thing, was one of the first Amerasian soap opera characters.

• The Chuck Norris film Braddock: Missing in Action III (1988) depicted Amerasian children trapped in Vietnam; in the film, Norris is the father to an Amerasian child believing that his Vietnamese wife died during the Fall of Saigon.

• In the television show King of the Hill, it is revealed in an episode that the protagonist Hank has an Amerasian half-brother named Junichiro, the result of an affair between Hank's father and a nurse during his stay in post-World War II Japan.

• In the 1999 American Vietnamese language film Three Seasons, James Hager, played by Harvey Keitel, searches for his Vietnamese Amerasian daughter in hopes of "coming to peace with this place".

• The 2004 film The Beautiful Country is about an Amerasian boy (played by Damien Nguyen) who leaves his native Vietnam to find his father.

• Daughter from Đà Nẵng is a 2002 award-winning documentary film about an Amerasian woman who returns to visit her biological family in Đà Nẵng, Vietnam after 22 years of separation and living in the United States.

• In the graphic novel and movie Watchmen, "The Comedian" Edward Blake kills the mother of his unborn Amerasian child in a bar as the war is ending.

• The Clash's song "Straight to Hell" focuses on Amerasian children who were abandoned by their US military fathers during the Vietnam War.

• The musical Miss Saigon focuses on a young Vietnamese woman who falls in love with an American GI and later has his child after the Fall of Saigon.

Amerasian organizations[link]

Several organizations still serve the Amerasian populations in Asia, Australia, US and Europe.

• Amerasian Family Finder (Jennifer W.) - Focuses on Filipino Amerasians
• Amerasian Foundation (Kevin Miller, Jr., MPA) - Focuses on Japanese Amerasians
• Hanmi Amerasians Association of the USA - Focuses on Korean Amerasians
• Korean Amerasians Association - Focuses on Korean Amerasians
• Vietnam Babylift - Vietnamese Amerasians were part of Operation Babylift

See also[link]

• Multiracial
• Afro-Asian
• Bui Doi
• Eurasian (mixed ancestry)
• Hafu
• Hapa
• Mestizo
• Mulatto

Footnotes[link]

Further reading[link]

• Bass, Thomas A., Vietnamerica: The War Comes Home, Soho Press, Incorporated, 1997. ISBN 1-56947-088-X
• Anderson, Wanni Wibulswasdi; Lee, Robert G., Displacements and Diasporas: Asians in the Americas, Rutgers University Press, 2005. ISBN 0-8135-3611-1

External links[link]

• Asian-Nation: Vietnamese Amerasians, by C.N. Le, Ph.D.
• Asian-Nation: Multiracial Asian Americans, by C.N. Le, Ph.D.
• AmerasianWorld.com, by Kevin Miller, Jr., MPA
• SaigonNezumi.com, by Kevin Miller, Jr., MPA
• Rick Smolan tells the story of a girl via TED.com

v t e Asian Americans East Asian Chinese (Tibetan1) Japanese Korean Mongolian Taiwanese South Asian2 Bangladeshi Indian Indo-Caribbean Nepalese Pakistani Sri Lankan Tamil Southeast Asian Burmese Cambodian Filipino Hmong Indonesian Laotian Mien Singaporean Thai Vietnamese Other Afro-Asian Amerasian Asian Hispanic and Latino Americans Eurasian Multiracial American Punjabi Mexican History General Immigration Military Topics Arts and Entertainment Demographics Politics Stereotypes 1 The US Census Bureau reclassifies anyone identifying as "Tibetan American" as "Chinese American".[1] 2 The US Census Bureau considers Afghanistan a South Asian country, but does not classify Afghan Americans as Asian.[2]