Vannyka Lim DB 6

Based on the reading and film, some of the arguments that are made to exclude Chinese migrants from the U.S or from participation in American life are; they were seen as “coolie labor, immoral, diseased heathens, and unassimilable aliens”. Americans view Chinese immigration as those who are inferior to them and see them as second class citizens. They were also denied the right to go to school. In 1860, Moulder’s beliefs became law. When the Legislature decreed that “Negroes, Mongolians and Indians shall not be allowed into public schools” and authorized local officials to penalize any school that allowed “inferior races” to mix with whites. There was also discrimination against Chinese woman, they were seen as “uncivilized, unclean, lustful and sensual” the exclusionists were not concerned with the experiences and needs of poor Chinese girls and women who had been sold or tricked into prostitution instead they were seen as “Chinese prostitutes with danger to the life of white”. They were also ghettoized to a camp without much choice. In Kamiya, “How early SF kept Chinese children out of the schoolhouse” it stated that “The Chinese community argued that it was grossly unfair that they had to pay taxes and were denied the right to send their children to public schools” and so many Chinese began to protest for their rights. This situation is also happening right before our eyes within our world today. During the Pandemic, where our President used a racist term “Chinese virus” or “kung flu” to describe the deadly coronavirus pandemic. Reading this material  gives me many feelings and I have learned many things about our history where Chinese were taken into an island called “Angel island” where they were being  interrogated before they were allowed inside the U.S and this took months, and during their stay there, they had no way of expressing their feelings so they wrote poems, I find that fascinating,  but at the same time dejected.