Comparative Studies on the Relations between the U.S. Armed Forces and Ethnic Minorities

本研究项目以美国某少数民族（即菲律宾裔美国人）为其二战老兵寻求“正义、荣誉和公平”的案例为研究对象，这些老兵因其国籍受到严重歧视。上世纪90年代，年长的菲律宾二战老兵根据《1990年移民法》（1990 Immigration Act）争相获得美国公民身份，自豪地移民到美国。然而，他们中的许多人虽然以美军退伍军人的身份获得了美国公民身份，但却没有享受美国退伍军人的福利，依靠微薄的SSI，很快陷入了痛苦和贫困之中。研究项目考察了太平洋战争末期至今菲律宾退伍军人权益问题的起因和发展，发现美国政府和国会确实有意歧视二战期间组成美国武装部队的一部分退伍军人，因为他们的特殊国籍，即1898年至1946年期间美国主权下的菲律宾群岛公民。然而，这个研究项目的主要目的并不是通过讲述他们的历史来为他们的事业辩护，而是争论他们（菲律宾人和菲律宾裔美国人）在他们的斗争中如何成功或不成功地利用历史和其他关于国家、民族主义和公民身份的话语来推进他们各自的愿望。

This research project put its focus on the case, in which people belonging to a certain ethnic minority group (i.e., Filipino Americans) in the United States seek "justice, honor, and equity" for their World War II veterans who have suffered a serious discrimination based on their national origin.In 1990s the elderly Filipino World War II veterans rushed to acquire U.S. citizenship relying on the 1990 Immigration Act and proudly immigrated to the United States. Many of them, however, soon faced misery and poverty dependent on scanty SSI without receiving U.S. veterans benefits despite the fact they got U.S. citizenship as veterans of the U.S. Armed Forces. The research project examined the cause and development of the Filipino veterans equity issues from last days of the Pacific War to the present and found there certainly had been deliberate efforts on the part of U.S. government and Congress to discriminate a portion of veterans who constituted the U.S. Armed Forces during the Second World War, because of their peculiar national origin, i.e., the citizens of the Philippine Islands under U.S. sovereignty between 1898 and 1946. The research project, however, did not primarily aim at giving justification for their cause by means of telling their history but would rather argue how successful or unsuccessful they (Filipinos and Filipino Americans) have been in using history and other discourses on nation, nationalism, and citizenship in their struggle to advance their respective aspirations.