A Look at Asian American Studies - Emery McKee - Ryan Caragher - Emma Rohrer - Gabe Velazquez

Protest, violence, and civil unrest are common ideas that are related to the U.S. during the Vietnam War. However, it is not often that people connect Hawaii to this moment in history. Upon analysis by Simeon Man, it is evident that the military's use of Hawaii can be directly connected to the violence that the United States caused in Vietnam. When the war began, the U.S. military began to build mock Vietnamese villages to imitate what soldiers would experience in the foreign country. The most notable example of these training grounds was the Schofield Barracks in Hawaii. While this tactic seemed reasonable, it is apparent that the true intentions of these villages were to cement the idea that foreign places and people were not to be trusted, and that anyone could be their enemy. Not only this, but Hawaii was similar to Vietnam before it was conquered by the U.S. Just as American soldiers were going into Vietnam, a technologically deficient land, the Hawaiians were in the same position of being technologically deficient when the U.S. acquired the Hawaiian’s territory. This racialized training of the military culminated when the My Lai massacre occurred on March 16, 1968. Back in the U.S, the brutal killing of so many Vietnamese was decried by politicians and activist groups alike. In the end, however, this tactic of annihilating Vietnamese villages without consciousness to the people who lived there can be attributed to the Schofield Barracks in Hawaii. Ultimately, as the war progressed, Hawaii’s role in the war began to cement itself in history, whether or not it was for the right or wrong reasons. THE CLASH