discussion
The Chinese Exclusion Acts of 1882, (and later the Gentleman's Agreement between the U.S., under Teddy Roosevelt, and Japan (which seriously decreased the numbers of Japanese men who could legally immigrate for the same reasons)) were the first immigration laws to restrict immigration based upon ethnicity; these Acts severely restricted the numbers of Chinese people permitted to immigrate to our country from several thousand a year to app. 105 per year; this Acts were extended in different forms until they were repealed in 1943 during WWII because China was our primary ally against Japan during the Pacific Campaign of the War. However, some Chinese Americans continued to have their immigration informally limited until the passage of The 1965 Immigration Act, which prohibited the use of immigration quotas based upon nationality. Although most of them were highly-skilled and built most of the railroads and the vineyards out West, men of Chinese descent were paid less because of their ethnicity. It was the employers who paid them less and thus helped create the hostility that some White workers felt towards peoples from these countries. Thus, their being seen as "cheap labor/unfair economic competition", along with racist stereotypes, were used to justify violent attacks against them in western U.S. states from 1849-1892: "The Tacoma Riot of 1885 and Seattle Riot of 1886 drew national attention to the burgeoning coastal cities in Washington territory for their forced expulsion of their Chinese populations by angry—and largely white—mobs. The actions were part of a brutal wave of anti-Chinese violence that rocked the American West in the second half of the 19th century, displacing more than 20,000 Chinese people; between 1849 and 1906, there were at least 200 purges of Chinese residents in California alone. In response, the U.S. government issued more restrictive immigration policies that created a precedent for race-based immigration quotas." ( https://www.history.com/news/anti-chinese-violence-removal-tacoma-seattle-1885) AND to severely limit their immigration with The 1882 Chinese Exclusion Act. Hate crimes against Asian Americans have also dramatically increased during the pandemic (see NYT article below, which has been copied and pasted below). Some say history is repetitive and cyclical; this is a potential example.
Instructions: First, please refer to the articles in The Atlantic and the NYTimes below which shows how media/popular culture at the time depicted them in negative and false ways:
https://archive.nytimes.com/www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/harp/0327.html
*Then, please read the 3 links below and the NYT article below on anti-AAPI (Asian American Pacific Islander) hate crimes, in addition to the Market Revolution (Industrialization) and the Reconstruction power points, tell me what you learned about the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882, and make a comparison between the anti-Chinese sentiment and anti-Chinese violence at the time and the anti-Asian American Pacific Islander hate crimes during the app. past 2 years. Also, please tell me how the Market Revolution/Industrialization and Reconstruction helped pave the way for this Act. Again, the Market Revolution was from the early 1800s to the mid-1800s, and Reconstruction was from 1865 to 1877:( https://www.ourdocuments.gov/doc.php?flash=true&doc=47
https://history.state.gov/milestones/1866-1898/chinese-immigration
NYT article on Anti-AAPI Hate Crimes:
A string of attacks against older people of Asian descent has led to calls for more police officers, an idea rejected by the city's Asian American leaders.
Members of United Peace Collaborative, a neighborhood watch group, patrolled the streets of San Francisco's Chinatown this week.Credit...Mike Kai Chen for The New York Times
Published July 18, 2021 Updated July 21, 2021
SAN FRANCISCO — Two grandmothers stabbed and a third punched in the face in broad daylight. An 84-year-old man fatally shoved to the ground while on his morning walk. In the past seven months, at least seven older Asian residents have been brutally attacked in San Francisco, a city with one of the largest Asian American populations and the oldest Chinatown in the country.
"It's a horrible feeling to be afraid in your own community," said John Hamasaki, who is a member of San Francisco's Police Commission and who is ethnically Japanese. "People are genuinely afraid to go outside, to walk down the street alone."
The attacks first shocked and angered Asian American residents in the city. But the question of what to do about the violence has now become a source of division.
Many residents of Chinese descent are calling for a significant increase in police patrols. The city's Asian American leaders, however, said they would rather explore solutions that do not involve law enforcement. One of the most proudly liberal cities in the country is torn between its commitment to criminal justice reforms in the wake of George Floyd's killing and the brutal reality of the city's most vulnerable residents being stabbed in the middle of the day on busy city streets.
Hundreds gathered at Embarcadero Plaza in San Francisco in March to protest the increase in hate crimes against the Asian American and Pacific Islander community.Credit...Jim Wilson/The New York Times
Connie Chan and Gordon Mar, the two members of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors who are of Chinese descent, have been under pressure from Chinese activists to increase police staffing, a move the elected officials have largely resisted. Chinese activists — many of whom also denounce Chesa Boudin, the city's district attorney, for not being tough enough on crime and back a recall effort against him — have shown up at meetings to challenge officials, including Ms. Chan and Mr. Mar.
"I haven't heard of anyone in the Chinese community who doesn't want more police," said Leanna Louie, a former Army intelligence officer who is Chinese American and who last year founded a neighborhood watch group called the United Peace Collaborative. "We are very dissatisfied with Asian representatives. We are going to work furiously to replace them."
How city leaders, police officials and prosecutors should respond to the violence has been part of a bitter and emotional debate at a time when Asian Americans in California and across the country have been the victims of verbal and physical attacks during the coronavirus pandemic.
Hate crimes against all major ethnic groups in California rose sharply last year, and bias crimes against Asian Americans more than doubled, from 43 in 2019 to 89 last year, according to a report released in June by the California attorney general's office. The group most targeted by hate crimes in the state remained African Americans, with 456 bias crimes recorded last year.
In San Francisco, a city where 34 percent of the population is of Asian descent, the attacks have shaken up the Chinese electorate, which has voted in increasing numbers in recent decades but still below their share of the population. The social fabric and history of the city are tightly interwoven with the Cantonese, Japanese, Filipino, Vietnamese and many other Asian groups that have immigrated to the city since its earliest days. The city's first Asian American mayor, Edwin M. Lee, died in office in 2017, a symbol both of ascendant yet not fully realized Asian political power.
"I haven't heard of anyone in the Chinese community who doesn't want more police," said Leanna Louie, who founded United Peace Collaborative last year. Credit...Mike Kai Chen for The New York Times
The assaults themselves have become a point of dispute. Asian American leaders and residents disagree over whether the attacks were random or were motivated by racial animus. None of those arrested in the seven most high-profile attacks since January have been charged with a hate crime. The attacks occurred while San Francisco has been confronting what many residents perceive to be a crime problem worsened by the pandemic.
Car break-ins in San Francisco occur at rates among the highest in the nation. And midyear crime statistics released on Monday show a sharp rise in people injured or killed in shootings. And Asian residents are not the only ones being assaulted: Crime data from the San Francisco District Attorney's Office shows that Black, Latino and white residents are more likely to be victims of crimes involving force and trauma than those of Asian descent.
In the most recent attack against Asian Americans in mid-June, a 94-year-old grandmother of Chinese descent who was walking with a cane was stabbed in front of her apartment building, blocks from one of San Francisco's most exclusive neighborhoods.
The city's immediate response to the attacks was to redeploy 20 officers onto foot patrols. A multilingual hotline to report hate crimes was established. But both city and community leaders have acknowledged that those measures have not been enough.
"I take personal offense to what we see happening on the streets because I'm very sensitive about the need for us to take care of our elderly population," Mayor London Breed said in an interview. "I was raised by my grandmother and I can't imagine if someone did this to her."
Commuters waited at a bus stop in San Francisco the day after two older women were stabbed there during rush hour.Credit...Mike Kai Chen for The New York Times
The mayor's spokesman, Jeff Cretan, said she had requested the hiring of 200 officers over the next two years, roughly enough to replace officers who are retiring. The city's Board of Supervisors scaled back the request to 135 officers, a move the Police Department says will result in the force shrinking because of imminent retirements.
Bill Scott, the chief of police, said he was disappointed by the Board's decision.
"The style of policing that I believe San Franciscans want is labor-intensive — community engagement, foot beats, bicycle patrols," Chief Scott said. "We are far short of where we need to be."
Ms. Chan, one of the city's two supervisors of Chinese descent, argues that the money can be better spent on other city services and that the police can do more with its current staffing.
"It's not really about the number of officers, it's really about the quality of our officers," said Ms. Chan, who immigrated to San Francisco from Hong Kong as a teenager.