The American Dream is a concept or a set of values that is related to attaining financial freedom and material satisfaction. The Dream serves as a template for the ideal life in the US, but often could not be further from reality for many Americans. Fear in part has been involved with perverting the American Dream particularly in the sectors of work and politics throughout U.S. History. Fear in America’s past has allowed for forces to oppress and control the oppressors. Fear dominates how people think about each other. This has been true since America’s founding and has persisted and remained alive until today. Fear works both against minority groups while also influencing the decision-making of those in power. Fear has infiltrated multiple spheres in the US since 1860. Surprisingly, the US engages …show more content…
While there was a national movement to exclude Asian immigrants from all parts of American life, the Santa Clara Valley serves as a microcosm for understanding the racial climate detailed in Cecilia Tsu’s Garden of the World: Asian Immigrants and the Making of Agriculture in California’s Santa Clara Valley. White farmers idealized their valley as an Eden with orchards and white farmers picking fruit. This image did not include asian immigrants though. Tsu explains, “leasing land to Chinese for berry culture as acceptable precisely because the work involved was so tedious and labor intensive.” The White farmers clearly desired to maintain their place in their idyllic valley, yet the reality of the matter was California was becoming increasingly diverse. Out of fear of their image they exclude Asian immigrants from certain forms of labor. While Asian immigrants worked toward the American Dream in the Santa Clara Valley of owning and running a farm, white politicians crafted exclusion acts and white farmed kept them out of certain