Excited
Back in June, I had blogged about California State Assembly Member Paul Fong’s effort in writing a landmark bill to apologize to the state’s Chinese-American community for racist laws enacted back in the mid–19th century during the Gold Rush. Last Friday, the bill passed.
The past exclusionary laws prevented Chinese from owning land or property, marrying whites, working in the public sector and testifying against whites in court. Fong’s bill also recognizes the contributions Chinese immigrants have made to the California, particularly their work on the Transcontinental Railroad.
Fong now plans to take the issue to Congress, where he will request an apology for the Chinese Exclusion Act – the only federal law ever enacted to deny immigration based exclusively on race or nationality. The Act was repealed in 1943 during World War II as China became an ally against the Japanese. Ironically, the repeal of the Act followed the internment of Japanese Americans during World War II. But you have to wonder; why would any Asians want to immigrate to the United States, after such blatant discriminatory practices?
True immigration reform did not really happen for Chinese Americans and Asian Americans until the 1960′s — one of the reasons why my father was able to attend graduate school and settle in the United States. Most Asian Americans in the United States are first or second generation Americans, with a good percentage having been born outside the U.S. That is why when I first met 5th generation Asian American Evan Low, Council Member of Campbell, I was just shocked — that is something I could never had imagined while living on the East Coast.
(Image credit: Time Magazine)
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Thank you. This is very interesting and worth bringing to a larger public. Recently I quoted the analogy that people making the fortunes during the Gold Rush in California weren't the gold miners but the people serving them - the hotels, bars...I could think of Levi Strauss making the tents and overalls but then had to stop and wonder about the Chinese...did any make a fortune with the laundries? Very doubtful. Nor building the railroads. What makes America great is so many immigrants come in with the "American dream" which after a generation they achieve. The Chinese are so outstanding now...to think how unenlightened America was until the civil rights era is shocking! My own father as a Jew was not able to get into medical school in the 30s except as a relative of someone else who had distinguished himself as a physician.
Thank you. This is very interesting and worth bringing to a larger public. Recently I quoted the analogy that people making the fortunes during the Gold Rush in California weren't the gold miners but the people serving them - the hotels, bars...I could think of Levi Strauss making the tents and overalls but then had to stop and wonder about the Chinese...did any make a fortune with the laundries? Very doubtful. Nor building the railroads. What makes America great is so many immigrants come in with the "American dream" which after a generation they achieve. The Chinese are so outstanding now...to think how unenlightened America was until the civil rights era is shocking! My own father as a Jew was not able to get into medical school in the 30s except as a relative of someone else who had distinguished himself as a physician.
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[...] View office this past December. I was ecstatic that the ‘Godfather‘ was able to get the state of California to officially recognize and apologize for the racist Chinese Exclusion Acts … for decades, as well as many other discriminatory [...]
[...] immigrants. This is a long-time coming, considering the Chinese Exclusion Act passed in 1882. Back in July 2009, I had blogged that the State of California officially apologized for discriminato… against Chinese immigrants during the Gold [...]
[...] I had blogged about how the state of California had already issued an official apology, and I believe the House version passed sometime over the summer, which was first introduced by the first Chinese American woman elected to Congress, U.S. Representative Judy Chu, (D-California). True immigration reform did not really happen until 1965, and that is when Chinese and overall Asian immigration really started occurring, and that is about the time my parents immigrated to the United States. I am sure that the House and Senate will reconcile the bill and no doubt President Obama will sign the bill into law. MOODTHINGY How does this post make you feel? [...]