The US Supreme Court manufactured whiteness to permanently exclude Asians from citizenship

Evidence

In 1922, Takao Ozawa, a Japanese immigrant who had lived in the US for many years, went to the US Supreme Court to challenge the law that prevented Asians from becoming naturalized citizens. In Ozawa v. the United States, he argued that his skin was actually lighter than many white people’s, so if Italians and other Europeans could become US citizens, why not Asians? The Supreme Court ruled that race was an issue of blood, not skin color, and that no matter how light an Asian person’s skin, they could never be considered “white,” but would always be “foreign.” One year later in 1923, an Asian-Indian immigrant, Bhagat Singh Thind, argued that he had the right to be a US citizen because he was an upper-caste Hindu, descended from white Aryans who had settled in India. Thus, his blood was white. The Supreme Court responded in United States v. Thind that race was not a scientific category but a social one and that no matter how much white blood an Asian might have, he was still “foreign” and could never be an American. The court gave up on using expert testimony and stated that the “common” American simply knew Thind was not white. “Common speech” and “popular understanding” were to be the new tests of whiteness. — Deepa Kumar, Islamophobia and the Politics of Empire, 951

In 1922, Takao Ozawa, a Japanese immigrant who had lived in the US for many years, went to the US Supreme Court to challenge the law that prevented Asians from becoming naturalized citizens. In Ozawa v. the United States, he argued that his skin was actually lighter than many white people’s, so if Italians and other Europeans could become US citizens, why not Asians? The Supreme Court ruled that race was an issue of blood, not skin color, and that no matter how light an Asian person’s skin, they could never be considered “white,” but would always be “foreign.” One year later in 1923, an Asian-Indian immigrant, Bhagat Singh Thind, argued that he had the right to be a US citizen because he was an upper-caste Hindu, descended from white Aryans who had settled in India. Thus, his blood was white. The Supreme Court responded in United States v. Thind that race was not a scientific category but a social one and that no matter how much white blood an Asian might have, he was still “foreign” and could never be an American. The court gave up on using expert testimony and stated that the “common” American simply knew Thind was not white. “Common speech” and “popular understanding” were to be the new tests of whiteness. — Deepa Kumar, Islamophobia and the Politics of Empire, 951

Categorization

• XREF: Builds on ch15 claim that ‘US courts redefined race socially to permanently exclude Asians from whiteness and citizenship’; this supplies the two concrete case precedents. — connects to: US courts redefined race socially to permanently exclude Asians from whiteness and citizenship — Deepa Kumar, Islamophobia and the Politics of…, 966; US courts redefined whiteness as common sense to exclude Asian immigrants; Courts distinguished biological whiteness from culturally acceptable whiteness for citizenship — Sahar F. Aziz, The Racial Muslim: When Racism Quashes…, 539 (+7 more)
• DEFINE: Shows how ‘common speech’ replaced science as the operative test of racial whiteness.
• corroborated: 2 independent passages support this claim — Deepa Kumar, Islamophobia and the Politics of…, 951

Broader Connections

• US courts redefined race socially to permanently exclude Asians from whiteness and citizenship #expands (0.95) — Deepa Kumar, Islamophobia and the Politics of Empire, 966
• US courts redefined whiteness as common sense to exclude Asian immigrants #corroborates (0.90)
• US citizenship law grounded whiteness in popular perception rather than science #corroborates (0.85) — Junaid Rana, Terrifying Muslims, 207
• Courts distinguished biological whiteness from culturally acceptable whiteness for citizenship #qualifies (0.75) — Sahar F. Aziz, The Racial Muslim, 539
• US law racialized entire geographical regions to bar Asian immigrants #expands (0.75) — Junaid Rana, Terrifying Muslims, 291
• Arabs’ citizenship eligibility flip-flopped because courts inconsistently defined whiteness #expands (0.75)
• US prosecutors argued for a graded hierarchy of Whiteness in citizenship #expands (0.75)
• Arabs were legally classified as white in 1943 to distinguish them from ineligible Asians. #expands (0.70)
• INS granted Arabs citizenship eligibility by classifying them white and separate from Asians. #expands (0.70) — , Selod, Saher - Forever Suspect_…, 123
• Arabs were classified white for citizenship so they could be distinguished from ineligible Asians #expands (0.70)