From the readings and film, It becomes fairly obvious that Chinese immigrants were pretty undesirable back then. It seems like people were pretty racist back then and were intent on keeping their exclusively white community intact. As quoted in one of the articles, New York Tribune editor Horace Greeley sums up what people felt: “The Chinese are uncivilized, unclean, and filthy beyond all conception without any of the higher domestic or social relations; lustful and sensual in their dispositions; every female is a prostitute of the basest order.” Basically, they were viewed as second class citizens – if they even managed to obtain citizenship. It wasn’t even subtle or something the white residents were trying to hide, they would explicitly refer to the Chinese (and other ethnicities) as inferior. From an 1858 editorial, “Let us keep our public schools free from the intrusion of the inferior races,”. Most of these immigrants were honest hard-working individuals trying to help themselves and their families. It’s pretty terrible because all these immigrants came to America expecting a better life but instead were treated terribly by the residents. Honestly I thought it was hilarious when in the film the building holding the records burned down so everyone who was there automatically received citizenship because nobody could prove otherwise.
Obviously, the immigrants were not particularly happy about being segregated from everything, even in basic necessities such as school (Especially considering they paid taxes). They attempted to petition the city to change the segregation laws preventing Chinese children from going to public school, but to no avail. This is a pretty shitty part of our history and I’m definitely glad there is are no longer these enforced segregation rules that target specific ethnicities. Thankfully we’ve progressed to the point where while racism still exists, it is very much condemned by a vast majority of society and is no longer the prevalent force it was throughout history.
