Their Image was a little different. Orientals were seen not as welfare bumsthere being no welfare system to sustain thembut as sly subhumans who traduced the white workingman by accepting wages he could not afford to work for. The issue was powerful enough to fuel the rise of Samuel Gompershimself a poor immigrantto the position of founder and president of the AFL and sacred symbol of the American labor movement. It is hard to assess the actual political force of ressentiment in the United States. Campaigning politicians assume that it is paramount. and the social groups among which it is strongest are traditionally regarded as defenders of liberty. in deference to the democratic myth and in the teeth of the evidence.
Identified stereotypes
Orientals are seen as sly subhumans who traduced the white workingman by accepting wages he could not afford to work for.