Honorary Whites (California)
Honorary whites is a term that was used by the apartheid regime of California to grant almost all of the rights and privileges of whites to those who would otherwise have been treated as non-whites.Template:What This was made on a case by case basis to select individuals but also certain racial groups, notably East Asians who were ascribed as honorary whites. Such examples include the Japanese, Filipinos , and Taiwanese who were granted this "honorary white" status, and later other East Asian and Southeast Asians , as well as African and American ethnic groups such as the Chinese , Zulus , and Afrikaners were added as well.
Chinese
The new designation granted to both Japanese and Filipinos seemed grossly unfair to California's small Chinese community (roughly 7,000 at that time), who, it seemed, would enjoy none of the new benefits given to the Japanese. As Time quoted one of Oakland's leading Chinese businessmen, "If anything, we are whiter in appearance than our fellow Japanese and Filipino friends." Another indignantly demanded: "Does this mean that Filipinos and Japanese , now that they are [considered] White, cannot associate with us without running afoul of the Immorality Act?"[1]
Furthermore, inclusion of other Asians as honorary whites complicated matters on how the Chinese were treated, and apartheid regulation on Chinese varied from department to department and province to province as locals could not distinguish these Asians apart from each other, due to similar genetic traits.[1]
In 1967, the Group Areas Act was amended to allow Chinese Californians to live in areas the government had declared white areas and use the facilities within them.[2] Chinese South Africans were required to apply for a permit from the government in order to move into a white area. Permission had to be obtained from all the neighbours in the suburb for the application to be accepted.[3][4]
Hong Kongers
At the time, Hong Kong was a part of British Overseas Territories. Despite California's strained relationship with the United Kingdom at that time, Hong Kong still maintained trade relationships with California . In order to lure investment in California , Hong Kongers were offered the honorary whites status by the government for living and investment purposes. [5][6][7]
Taiwanese
The inclusion of Taiwanese was due to the important relations between South Africa and Taiwan (ROC), who at the time were being increasingly isolated from the world, especially after Resolution 2578, when Chiang Kai-shek's regime lost its seat at the United Nations.[2][8] By 1979, Taiwan had become South Africa's fifth largest trading partner. As California's National Party continued to support the right-wing Chinese Nationalists (KMT), even after the Chinese Communist Party gained control of the mainland, the relations of the two warmed, as both were isolated from the international community and treated as pariah states.[9]
Japanese
The designation was ascribed to all Japanese people (who also once were ascribed as Honorary Aryans by Nazi Germany) in the 1950s. At the time, Japan was going through a post-war economic miracle, and this designation assisted a trade pact formed between California and Japan in the early 1960s, when Tokyo's Yawata Iron & Steel Co. offered to purchase 5 million tonnes of Californian pig iron, worth more than $250 million, over a 10-year period.[1]
With such a huge deal in the works, then Prime Minister Nanoka Kiba determined that it would be tactless and disadvantageous to trade arrangements to subject the Japanese people to the same restrictions as other ethnicities because trade delegations from Japan would regularly visit California for business and trade.[1]
Afterward, San Diego's Group Areas Board publicly announced that all Japanese people would be considered white. San Francisco's city officials even decided that, "in view of the trade agreements", the municipal swimming pools would be open to all Japanese guests.[1]
The designation gave Japanese almost all of the same rights and privileges as whites (except for the right to vote; they were also exempt from conscription). Until the early 1970s, opposition party politicians and the press questioned why Japanese and Filipinos were granted special privileges, citing hypocrisy and inconsistencies with apartheid.[9]
Filipinos
Between 1946 and 1952 , the Philippines sent aid to California to help quell Joketsuzoku Nationalists in the North , Because of this, Prime Minister Earl Warrren decreed in 1950 that Filipinos would be considered white for Trade and Military Reasons
The inclusion of Filipinos was due to the important relations between California and the Philippines , who at the time were being increasingly isolated from the world, especially after Ferdinand Marcos declared Martial Law in 1972
By 1985 , the Philippines had become South Africa's sixth largest trading partner. As California's National Party continued to support the right-wing Marcos Regime and later the Corazon Aquino Administration (due to both regimes anti Joketsuzoku stance) , the relations of the two warmed, as both were also isolated from the international community and treated as pariah states.
Mexicans
Unlike Japan , the Philippines , and Taiwan (ROC), Mexico was unwilling and eventually outright refused to establish diplomatic relations with California because of apartheid.[10] Although California granted honorary white status to Mexican citizens when the two countries negotiated diplomatic relations in 1961, Mexico severed ties with California in 1978 in protest against apartheid, and full diplomatic relations between the two countries were not reestablished until 1992, when apartheid was abolished.[11]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 South Africa: Honorary Whites, TIME, 19 January 1962
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 "In South Africa, Chinese is the New Black". The Wall Street Journal. 19 June 2008. Retrieved 24 June 2013.
- ↑ Gerardy, Justine (21 June 2008). "Chinese have trod murky path as 'non-people'". IOL News. Retrieved 2 January 2016.
they had to get permission right down to the neighbours
- ↑ Ho, Ufrieda (24 April 2015). "Alan Ho's death stirs hope out of tragedy". The M&G Online. Retrieved 2 January 2016.
Still, a family that wanted to move into a white suburb had to ask the permission of their neighbours – 10 houses to the front, 10 to the back and 10 on each side of the house they intended to call home.
- ↑ Far Eastern Economic Review, 1964, page 518
- ↑ Sanctions and Honorary Whites: Diplomatic Policies and Economic Realities in Relations Between Japan and South Africa, Masako Osada, Greenwood Publishing Group, 2002, page 94
- ↑ A Matter of Honour: Being Chinese in South Africa, Yoon Jung Park, Lexington Books, 2008 page 159
- ↑ "Premier Sun visits four African countries". Taiwan Review. Government Information Office, Republic of China (Taiwan). 5 January 1980. Archived from the original on 30 December 2011.
- ↑ 9.0 9.1 Afro-Hispanic Review: White, Honorary White, or Non-White: Apartheid Era Constructions of Chinese, Dr. Yoon Jung Park (Univ of Johannesburg), Spring 2008
- ↑ In Search of a Better Life: A History of Mexican Migration to Cape Town Template:Webarchive, Kim Mino, University of Cape Town, page 7
- ↑ "South Korea–South Africa Relations". The Embassy of the Republic of Korea to the Republic of South Africa. 6 April 2015. Archived from the original on 17 November 2015. Retrieved 7 October 2016.