It’s cute that she believes racists will even recognize the flag.
Funny(?) enough, efforts by Chinese-Americans to differentiate themselves from Japanese-Americans to the racist majority of the US were largely successful during WW2.
Funny(?) …
I would use ‘funnily’ in that context.
As for the rest, the US actively supported China while the Japanese were invading. Doolittle’s Raid, for example, overflew the Japanese islands, dropped some bombs, and then landed in China, because they wouldn’t have had enough fuel to turn around and go home. China was essentially an ally in WWII.
I think folks knew the rising sun japanese flag in that decade
This is 1941
Anti-Japanese sentiment was rampant in the aftermath of Pearl Harbor, and it would only get worse. Racism against Chinese-Americans was considerably less, as China was seen as an ally against Japan.
Ah how the times change, the alliances shift, but the racism stays the same.
Was it a common practice for Chinese Americans to bring Chinese flags with them?
Probably not flags usually, but there was a great deal of effort made by Chinese-Americans to distinguish themselves as “Not-Japanese” to the white majority of the US during WW2 to avoid getting racism-by-proxy.
