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13 PAUL KRAME R J I M CRO W SCIENC E A N D TH E "NEGR O P R O B L E M " I N TH E OCCUPIE D PHILIPPINES, 1 8 9 8 - 1 9 1 4 We ar e betraying a tendenc y t o swagge r unde r th e "whit e man' s burden, " sometime s i n th e gar b o f commercialism, sometimes in the raiment of science. —James LeRoy, "Race Prejudice in the Philippines" In 1901 , William Free r lande d a t th e por t o f Manila o n th e arm y transpor t Meade, read y to begin servic e as a school instructo r i n th e newest outpos t o f th e United States . "Th e sound s o f th e rive r an d stree t life , th e peculia r odors , th e strange sights , wer e bewildering, " h e wrot e i n 1906 . "Th e cloute d Chines e coolies laborin g o n th e water-front , th e Filipin o boy s swimmin g . . . th e od d vehicles and emaciate d ponie s drawin g them, Sikhs , Cingalese,—all thes e mad e up th e mos t interestin g medle y I had eve r seen . That da y and th e fe w immedi ately following I looked an d lingered , an d looke d again , hel d b y a fascination I could no t resist. " l Free r was no t alon e i n grapplin g wit h th e diversit y o f th e Philippines. Throughou t th e U.S . occupatio n o f th e Philippines , America n colonialists face d th e tas k of making racia l sens e of the population o f the newl y PAUL KRAME R acquired territory, a s both a symbol and practical instrument o f colonial control . Seeking tool s i n thi s effort , the y ofte n dre w deepl y o n th e racia l idea s an d structures o f lat e nineteenth-centur y society , specifically , th e debat e o n th e "Negro Problem. " Bu t whil e racia l thinkin g saturate d debate s ove r colonialis m and it s institutions, th e politics of empire was too contentious fo r racia l though t to settl e neatl y int o an y on e channel . Rather , "race " in th e Philippine s cam e t o have meanin g onl y i n th e contex t o f argument s ove r America's imperia l role , a concept buil t an d rebuil t withi n specifi c politica l climate s an d institution s o f authority. I t i s the goa l o f this paper t o sketc h th e competin g rendition s o f th e imperial "Negr o Problem " tha t too k shap e durin g th e earl y year s o f th e U.S . occupation.2 A s i t wil l show , durin g th e Philippine-America n War , politica l alignments fostere d a n associatio n betwee n Filipino s an d blac k Americans , in cluding thos e mad e b y blac k soldier s questionin g thei r participatio n i n a ra cialized war of conquest. I n the postwar period, the analogy between th e "Negr o Problem" an d th e U.S . rol e i n th e Philippine s continue d t o impac t colonia l policy and th e behavior of American elites . Efforts wer e made to temper its most violent aspects , t o find mor e scientifi c categories , an d wher e useful , t o tur n i t toward the consolidation o f a paternalistic civilian government an d the establish ment o f network s o f collaboration . Fo r al l thei r elasticity , however , paternalis t associations between Filipino s and black s provoked th e resentment o f influentia l Filipinos an d wer e occasionall y stretche d int o mor e radica l interpretation s b y American officials. After 1907 , the political advances of nationalists, institutiona l changes i n colonia l science , an d th e respons e...

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