Category: Discussion Board 6

Many  migrants from all ethnicities, especially Asians suffer unfair treatment and discrimination from the past and also face it now. Other races of people might think Asian are the lower leveled race because many years ago a lot of Asians were migrants here for doing some low salary and difficult jobs. Racism was the reason why Chinese immigrants were excluded from living in the United States. Chinese communities did not like the mistreatment as they were very hardworking people. Because racial discrimination has always existed in the United States  they had attempted to change the segregation laws placed upon them through petitions and protests, but it did not work. The Chinese communities responded to these arguments by stating it was unfair and it was. They had to pay taxes even though their children were barred from going to these public institutions. After reading the articles i feel upset because  racial discrimination has always existed in the United States. Especially now with our president. The world is facing a pandemic and caused a virus to invade the world. Even though covid 19 started in China. Our president calls it the chinese virus.

 

There are some arguments made that the Chinese were different and came from a foreign land and the way they look. That is the video Carved in Silence shows propaganda of Chinese people came to the united state because of gold but also the western expansion of the railroad, working in the fields, and working in the fishing industries. Also because of the depression, the Americans made the Chinese exclusion act that doesn’t allow Chinese immigrants to come to the united states. Chinese people couldn’t. 

That the Chinese communities came up with a strategy where the cooks for the angel island put secret messages underneath the dishes they serve to the people in prison. I don’t want history to repeat itself and we need to realize what is for us a generation where people could be treated respectfully without there skin color. Yes, there might be some connection because of how people treat each other cause of there skin color where it happened in the news where president Trump blames Chinese people because of Covid-19. That I was shocked were in the video it talks about how much Angle Island has an impact on Chinese American where they suffer so much to come to the united state and to live here.

The Mexican border wall was to exclude Chinese people. There were guards trained and experienced to tell who was Chinese and trying to come through the border of Mexico. Mexico was a better place than any other borders for Chinese migrants to try and cross because Canada worked with the U.S. to stop migration in general, so Mexico was a better illegal gateway into the U.S. There were many ways to compromise. In the article, “The first Mexican border wall was actually to keep out Chinese people”, Harmon Leon states that “Chinese were mostly thought of as a cheap but unwelcome source of labor who weren’t entitled to become U.S. citizens, and so vastly and culturally different that they were incapable of assimilating into American society” (Leon).

In “How early SF kept Chinese children out of the schoolhouse”, Kamiya states that “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 no requirement that public schools be provided for the Chinese or any other nonwhite children” (Kamiya 3). This was completely absurd because it was a racist superintendent, which defintley shaped the discrimination into existence. Chinese communities decided to protest and petition. Also, 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” (Kamiya 3). 

I feel as though in current events, it is easy to categorize Chinese immigrants. In this way, it gives people a reason to discriminate because of race which is not a justification for racism. It is disheartening what the women had to go through to be considered as  well enough to get into the U.S. 

 

Gary Kamiya examines the role of racism in schooling, discussing San Francisco’s discriminatory history. Black, Indian, and Asian children all faced this discrimination, however, in 1870 the law shifted to state that only Black and Indian children needed to be educated in segregated schools. There was no mandate for Chinese students, and this law resulted in the closing of the one, already historically unsteady school for Chinese children. A San Francisco Board of Supervisors report stated that “For however hard and stern such a doctrine may sound, it is but the enforcement of the law of self-preservation, the inculcation of the doctrine of true humanity, and an integral part of the enforcement of the iron rule of right by which we hope presently to prove that we can justly and practically defend ourselves from this invasion of Mongol barbarianism.” This argument stems from the racist belief in Yellow Peril, which grew out of resentment for cheap immigrant labor undercutting white Americans’ jobs. 

“The First Mexican Border Wall was Actually to Keep Out Chinese Citizens” makes it clear that the end of the railroad construction and the gold rush resulted in scapegoating of Chinese “coolies” Political cartoons commonly hawked the image of the sneaky, uncivilized, and dirty Chinese immigrant. This is visible in Leon’s article, but I’m also familiar with it from my own research. A simple google search turns up many images of ponytailed, buck toothed caricatures, complete with upturned, evil eyes, long sharpened finger nails, and a deviously crazed expression, a la Cruella de Ville. The New York Tribune’s editor Horace Greeley called Chinese people “uncivilized, unclean, filthy…lustful…every female [a] prostitute of the basest order.” The claim is that of a people unlike the white norm, who cannot be civil nor understand “higher domestic or social relations” and who pose a threat to white American safety in terms of cleanliness, societal cohesion, and as an outside sexual threat. 

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Chinese communities responded to the border wall by working with “Chinese catchers”, border patrol guards, working with bribes for smuggling. Realizing that Mexican immigrants were welcomed, some Chinese immigrants sought to disguise themselves for entry. In the case of San Francisco’s education disparity, the Chinese community worked significantly with petitions and collective action. In 1859, Chinese parents petitioned the San Francisco Board of Education, resulting in the opening of a primary school for Chinese children. A larger group of the Chinese community later petitioned the Legislature after many failed attempts to run one school, outraged that they had to pay taxes, but that their children were not permitted to attend public schools. 

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Anti-immigrant sentiment is not new in America, a fact that literally everyone and their mom is aware of. With Trump’s presidency, hatred toward immigrants of many nationalities has risen. His treatment of “China”, pronounced Trump-ishly, urges his followers toward deeper anti-immigrant feelings. The rise of Neo-nazis and proud white supremacists speak to the dangers of racism being given a sense of validation and position of power. 

We see the concept of Yellow Peril in fears of “China” overtaking the U.S. economically, as a rising labor and technology powerhouse. Yellow Peril also echoes true in resentment about “America jobs being stolen by China”, similar to the outrage around cheap Chinese labor for the railroads and gold rush. In the wake of COVID-19, xenophobia is glaringly, screamingly obvious. Before COVID hit the rest of the world, Americans haughtily joked of the virus, claiming it due to dirty wet markets, poor hygiene, and implying it was the next zombie apocalypse. This detached view of Chinese people as “outsiders” rings of xenophobia. Anyways, not going to say I told you so in my discussion board post for a class, but… where are the racists with their jokes now that everyone has to wear a mask? 

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From my above response I think its clear that things have struck a nerve. COVID and the blatant xenophobia, harassment, and rise in assaults have been startling and abhorrent for the Asian American community. Family WeChat’s everywhere flooded with warnings, articles linked back and forth, murmurs of what happened to a friend of a friend or someone’s neighbor. I called my grandparents every other day, urging their stubborn spirits to heed our warnings and stay home, or only to travel in broad daylight with each other. 

Beyond recent events, it’s pretty horrible to read such disgusting, blatantly racist statements, even if they are from the 1800’s. The view of Chinese women and the stigma around prostitution also strikes a nerve as it relates to the stereotypes and the specific brand of sexual harassment that Asian women everywhere face. It is uncomfortable and beyond unpleasant to read about. I actually have still not made it through the reading regarding sex work. While these statements are horrible, it shocks me still to think about the fact that the only reason I am reading these statements is due to a specific Asian American history class. I feel deeply for Black Americans who have been forced to study their people’s struggles and the injustices committed against them since grade school. Not to mention the obvious flooding in current events and how Black Lives still don’t seem to matter. Truly horrible to witness and I am sad at how desensitizing and traumatizing it must be to have to study these inhumane histories for many years in an academic setting (often taught by white teachings to boot, most likely) let alone to face this matter daily. I am grateful that this fear of harassment and assault has not been… daily and that its widespread nature is relatively “new” to COVID times. I cannot imagine this type of fear for my own life and my loved ones daily nor the burden of such knowledge.

 

The studying of racist history against Asian Americans makes me more frustrated with some of the Asian American community than ever. It was not so long ago and it is not so foreign of a concept that we were once treated somewhat as horribly. I am angered and concerned that my people have forgotten or somehow think that things are different. Anti-Blackness in the Asian community can’t be denied, nor can the huge Model Minority myth, and this widespread want to ascend to whiteness within Asian Americans. Often, I feel like Asian Americans are content to sit at the side of white america, acting as lapdogs for a master: barking when told, choosing enemies as the master does, accepting treats when tossed, and most importantly, sitting when told. Asian Americans question our difficulties breaking past middle management and forget that it is because a dog is the most beloved pet of the master, but will never be truly human. The evolution of this relationship is disgusting and must be dismantled.

Many Asian Americans fail to realize that we share many struggles with the Black community and likely have more in common with them than white america would seek to have us believe. Every time I read about Asian American history, it strengthens my feelings on this topic: we were once (more heavily) criminalized, excluded, sexualized, spat upon, called “ghetto” It seems so easy for Asian Americans to forget about these political cartoons, about how close we are to the image of dirty cat and dog eaters, for the mind to blank on the Japanese Internment camps and how horrifyingly similar this is to Trump’s border treatment of the Latinx community now. I wonder if xenophobia during COVID and the attention to BLM will change any minds within the As-Am community and if conversations can be started to remember our roots and our loyalties.

Asian-Americans must remember where we come from. We need solidarity more than ever amongst POC. 

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.

 

Among arguments made to exclude Chinese migrants, two that stood out from Luibheid, Entry Denied: Controlling Sexuality at the Border, were a racialized conception of germ theory supported by the American Medical Association (p. 37), and the perceived “threat” to white male laborers (p. 34) as well as the nuclear family wherein each member has and performs their respective gender roles. In the text, Mr. Pixley testified expressing his concern for the white male laborer, “The true American hero is the man who takes his dinner out in his tin plate, works all day, six days a week, and brings his wages home for his wife to expend in the maintenance and education of the family, in their clothing and their protection.” Luibheid adds that these heroes are synonymous with “civilization and the U.S. nation” due their gender roles and “sexual arrangements.” The Chinese were singled out and perceived to lack these social constructs, therefore deemed unfit for American society and “unassimilable.” Chinese women believed to be sexual deviants, threatening to lure moral white men away from their families, leading them to disease and immorality.

Another argument put forth uses germ theory to say that Chinese people carried diseases that were particularly dangerous to white men, venereal syphilis, and should thus be barred from entering America. The American Medical Association’s racist stance can be summarized as follows, “The germ theory of disease provided an explanation of the manner in which an obviously inferior group might best a superior one, contrary to the natural laws of social Darwinists.” I thought it was ironic that the AMA would make such claims. Just two centuries prior, the first European settlers brought smallpox to the Americas, which devasted the population of Native American tribes. Medical professionals and government officials used this twisted concept of germ theory to not only declare that one race was superior to the rest, but also that these “inferior” races were dirty and diseased. This threat was to be kept out of the country, away from the moral white man and his nuclear family.

These ideologies and prejudices created dire circumstances for Chinese migrants in America. As explained in the film Carved in Silence: Inside Angel Island Immigration Station, some Chinese migrants who were confined in prison-like conditions would carve poems on the walls, play music, and knit to take their minds off of the anguish caused by their interrogators. Chinese detainees formed a group called the Angel Island Liberty Association, and its main objective was to relay messages from families to detainees to provide accurate information for their interrogation.

One of the most shocking things I realized while studying the material is that many of the immigration procedures that are in place today originated from racially motivated efforts to discriminate against non-whites, and in ways these procedures remain mostly the same. These techniques designed to subjugate Chinese immigrants are now applied to every immigrant, case in point at the Mexican border where families are separated and treated poorly. The racist stereotype that was birthed by the American Medical Association still rings through time in phrases like the “China virus.”

Many Chinese migrants suffered unfair treatment and discrimination from the past and now. Other races of people might think Chinese are the lower-level race because many years ago a lot of Chinese were migrants here for doing some low salary and difficult jobs. Because of that, they gave Chinese migrants many restrictions like some jobs didn’t hire Chinese or gave very low salary to Chinese. Besides that, some black people are also bully Chinese very often. Right now even this stituation is getting improve, but we can still see some black people bully Chinese migrants on the newspaper.

Due to Chinese migrants suffered unfair treatment and discrimination, some Chinese initiated many protests. They tried to catch our community’s attention and let the world knows people should treat Chinese as the same as other races.

I only reviewed some of the materials, but I didn’t feel uncomfortable. I know if we are seeking the truth, then we have to face the past and reviews those histories.

In the beginning of the 1850s, Chinese female prostitutes arrived because they accompanied Anglo-Americans and Europeans. Their reasoning for arriving to San Francisco was to take advantage of the demand for their services which was to their advantage. This was due to the shortage of women (Chinese women)  and conjugal life. The attempted distinction between “real-wives” and prostitutes was flawed severely rly. Officials attempted to separate the two through distinguishing between social relations vs behavioral and/or moral traits. This was problematic because of the stigmatization of streetwalkers and an imbalance in women who get penalized as prostitutes vs how socioeconomic and racial class had alot to do with it. For example, although “streetwalkers” accounted for 10-15% of all prostitutes and 80-90% all arrests, it was woman of color who accounted for 40% of those streetwalkers and 55% of those arrests. 85 percent of which received jail sentences. Because of this, the label “prostitute” was then attached to certain groups of women (and to note not others such as white prostitutes at the time) through social relations that were indeed racist, gendered, and classists rather then determining based on behavior and moral traits.

The Exclusion Act of 1882 banned Chinese immigrants from entering the country (which was also the first group to be banned). This resulted in them becoming the first immigrants who had to sneak into the U.S. The did this through Mexico. This was due to a few factors. For example, in the beginning of 20th century, only a few guards worked on the Mexican border and named themselves “Chinese catchers.” The response was international smuggling rings. Border inspectors were paid off by said smugglers. If you were Mexican at the time it was easier to cross the border. Because of this, many Chinese immigrants dressed up like Mexicans and even learned some lines in Spanish to fool border patrol.

Chinese (often labeled Mongolian) people along with Negroes, and Indians were see as an inferior race to “pure Caucasian blood. In the 1870s, the use of cheap Chinese labor undercutting white worker wages cause hostility towards Chinese immigrants. During this time, the state law changed and stated that in separate schools from white children, only Indians and blacks need to be educated. It also didn’t help that the superintendent of schools James Denman (he who closed Chinese schools a decade earlier citing low attendance) now had the legal right to close them for good. These course of events led to anger in the community with Chinese communities arguing that they found it unjust they were paying taxes and were simultaneously denied the right to send their children to public schools and receive an education. This lead to 1,300 people of Chinese decent in 1878 petitioning a Legislature in which they argued 3,000 Chinese children in the state had a right to public education. Even with the support of a clergyman (Rev. William Gibson) this was still met with much resistance including the San Francisco Board of Supervision.

When Chinese immigrants first arrived, they experienced closed confinement that was almost prison like. Both men and women (husband and wives and even mothers are children) were separated for an unspecified amount of time. There was a massive difference in Eastern medicine and Western Medicine. Women and men  were forced to strip nude for full physical examinations. In the East, a examination never required them to be naked so there was a sense of humiliation and shame. Many of the challenges  resided in those who bought their way in with a new identity and having to go through rigorous interrogation with officials . If they were to assume the identity of another the question asked had to aligned identical to the answers received. Considering there was both a language barrier and a culture difference, many detainees often were held for months and/or deported.  Questions were often repeated and were asked in reference to their home, layout of rooms and furniture, how many windows and the distance from their space and their neighbors. Officials would also ask them about their “idols”. If a family planning to immigrate answers to those questions aren’t the same, they were further detained and even deported back to China. These questions show that Chinese immigrants were seen as barbaric, uncivilized, untrustworthy and must be heavily vetted to ensure safety to current American citizens (more like protect pure Caucasian blood). Detainees responded by paying for smugglers to give them guide books and many with unsatisfied with the conditions of these prison like camps. The title of the film is in reference to Chinese detainees carving nameless poems into the wall describing their experience being on Angel Island including  the conditions, the intense interrogation, humility lasting physical examinations and being separated from their family. The poems also express that trauma and the hope of wanting to leave.

Watching this created lots of anger and hurt for me. I knew of The US doing this but never heard the testimony from people who made it to Angel Island. It also made me extremely uncomfortable when the woman was being examined because she didn’t even have a right to body autonomy. Like her humiliation felt like my humiliation and when she started to cry I felt like I wanted to start to cry. It was very disturbing to watch and to also hear how they sacrificed everything only to be propelled into basically a prison. They were treated like prisoners.

In American society, the Chinese faced racism through stereotypes as well as over sexualizing the women of Chinese descent. Through these “reasons” the Chinese were excluded from participation in American life and were seen as second class citizens which were inferior to the white Americans. The women were forced into sexual acts which created a stereotype of being lustful, dirty, unclean etc. They were also forced into detainment camps or used for manual labor in horrible conditions without much pay. However, the exclusion from American society and way of life were not only limited to the women but many Chinese children were also not given many opportunities to attend school. For those who were able to attend they faced a lot of discrimination within an educational space that’s supposed to help students not hurt them. Naturally the Chinese were outraged by the disrespect to their culture and wanted change. They tried peaceful protest by sadly it didn’t change the laws discriminating against them. Now many Asians face harassment and are blamed for the current pandemic going on just because it originated from China. The American president publicly made bad jokes and snarky remarks on this pandemic encouraging people to join in on the blame against the Chinese. It’s another way of discrimination and a way for Americans to exclude them from the society through hate crimes, either verbally or physically. It’s interesting to learn about because not many school teach about Asian American history or the experiences that Asians went through in America. It opens up many thoughts and discussions because it shows the true nature of American history and how many groups were discriminated against and had to fight hard for the positions and rights in today society. It’s also important to learn this because history has a way of repeating itself if we’re not careful. Through this class I was able to see connections between the modern world and how we treat each other in society and compare or contrast between how they were treated in the past. But it’s not only Asians but multiple cultures had to go through similar things as well and in today’s society Americans find new things to further separate cultures.