Category: Discussion Board 6

Racism was the reason why Chinese immigrants were excluded from living in the United States. White Americans are not treated Chinese immigrants as American citizens because of their different skin colors. Even Chinese children could not go to school in the United States. According to Kamiya’s reading, she stated “In an 1858 editorial, the San Francisco Evening Bulletin reflected the city’s overwhelming rejection of integrated schools. ‘Let us keep our public schools free from the intrusion of the inferior races,’ the paper opined. ‘If we are compelled to have Negroes and Chinamen among us, it is better, of course, that they should be educated. But teach them separately from our Caucasian blood pure…'” Chinese society disagree about this discrimination. They argued that it was very unfair that they were denied the right to send their children to public schools, although they had to pay taxes, and in 1878 they petitioned the legislature, claiming that 1,300 Chinese children had the right to public education. I think racism is happening in Pandemic. Racism will continue in this society, where even the U.S. president calls the coronavirus is a Chinese virus.

1. Some of the arguments that are made to exclude Chinese migrants from the U.S. or from participation in American life are that they were seen as inferior to the white American and seen as second class citizens. There were disgusting stereotypes made about them as well such as them being “uncivilized, unclean…lustful and sensual…every female is a prostitute of the basest order.” They were not only seen as dirty but also were heavily sexualized. Chinese women were forced into prostitution which created the stereotype that they are “lustful and sensual.” Chinese migrant children were also discriminated against in schools — that was if they were able to get into those schools.

2. Chinese communities obviously did not like this mistreatment as they were very hardworking people. They had attempted to change the segregation laws placed upon them through petitions and protests, but even so that didn’t work.

3. These histories have to do with current events as Chinese discrimination still exists to this day. With the COVID-19 plague , the Chinese have been put to blame for this, and many innocent Asians have been harassed and many hate crimes have been committed against them for something they didn’t do.

4. As we review the material it’s interesting to learn a lot about the experiences of different groups of Asians in America, as we are not really taught about Asian American history in schools, and when we are, it usually only focuses on one geographical location in Asia. I like how we discuss all groups and learn about their experiences and struggles, because I like how I can relate and talk about a lot of the topics we discuss.

Basically the chinese were treated as miscreants and were dubbed the dreads of society. Being racially and sexually discriminated against. Even the child were not allowed to attend school in the US. Minorities whoever could attend schools but were alienated from the white students. Very unfair and hypocritical. It was cruel how chinese were thrown into detainment centers and camps, and seem if they were ever treated human, it would be because it’s convenient for white americans, along with black, hispanic, native american, middle eastern, pacific islander, and asians such as indians. Disgusting how imperialistic things are, chinese women being forced into prostitution. Chinese people were kept out of mexico and american and were forced into cheap manual labor and sweatshops. Greeks, slavs, italians and jews were treated badly as well being outcasted and chastised. Today Asians are stereotyped with the following: good in math, eating with chopsticks, knowing martial arts, playing piano. Asians are humiliated and harrassed because of the pandemic, being blamed solely for it and treated like a plague. I’ve read how an 89 year old chinese woman was set on fire in san francisco because of it, and two chinese women in australia were spat at and had a brick thrown at them. these racist white people make me conflicted about being multiracial, I myself am, African, Albanian, Greek and Turkish(which is white), Asian (Indian and Pakistani) and Native American (Cherokee and Blackfoot)

1. The main reason why American society excludes Chinese immigrants from living in the United States is restricted to enjoy normal citizenship rights because of American racial discrimination. Because Americans feel that they cannot convert Chinese into real Americans, because their skin color and culture are different, in fact, even if Asians obtain citizenship in the United States, they are considered second-class citizens.

2. The Chinese community strongly disagrees with this. They feel that it is very unfair, because schools and other places have prejudice against the Chinese, but they still need to pay taxes and other obligations like Americans. But they can’t get the same treatment. Their solution was to petition the government for a segregation bill prohibiting Chinese children from attending public schools.

3. These events have a very serious impact on the current society. It can be said that why there is racial discrimination in society now can be said to be caused by these incidents. Asian Americans are disadvantaged groups. On Coronavirus, we can see how serious the American society’s prejudice against the Chinese people. Even today’s American President still calls it “Chinese Virus” or “China Virus” in his speeches even when the United Nations has named the virus as Coronavirus. It is conceivable that racial discrimination has never been erased in the American dictionary.

4. After reading this week’s material, I feel very ridiculous. Because racial discrimination has always existed in the United States, some Americans call the United States a country of freedom under the law. I think this is the self-hypnosis of Americans. They can eliminate the race that has occupied American for centuries by using the law. It is a joke that everyone is equal. If this is the case, there will be no “black life matter” and no African Americans will be shot dead by the police. The president will not use discriminatory names in his speeches.

1.) Some of the arguments that are made to exclude Chinese migrants from the US were that they were unassimilable aliens or people who couldn’t fit in with the societal norms at the time, those norms being racist and discriminatory towards Asians.

2.) 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. This limiting

3.) These historical events are compared to today’s time because just like in the past and the recent pandemic, many people in the beginning, harbored hate and racism towards Asians and Asian Americans due to the horrible stereotypes associated with the Coronavirus. With the widespread misinformation, they had in the past, a variety of stereotypes popped up and they still ring true today with some being brought back as a result of the pandemic.

4.) As for what came up to me this week while reviewing the materials, not many feelings came up since when I usually read, my feelings do not get invoked and brought up by the words or actions in a reading. Although I did feel disgusted as this was the past of America yet many people today still look to America as if it is a flawless country without fault despite its horrible history.

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.

Based on the readings and film, Chinese immigrants were excluded and banned from basic rights such as working, letting their children attend school, and even migrating to the United States.In the San Fransisco Chronicle, “How early SF kept Chinese children out of the schoolhouse,” the article clarifies that “They were denied even separate schools like those accorded to blacks and Indians, who were granted that right in 1874. The Chinese community argued that it was grossly unfair that they had to pay taxes and yet were denied the right to send their children to public schools.” This quote in the article is significant because it points out that blacks and Indians were granted the right to have their own separate schools, but the Chinese would not be granted their own school and still had to pay taxes without having the children in schools. However, “In 1878, 1,300 people of Chinese descent petitioned the Legislature, arguing that the 3,000 Chinese children in the state had the right to a public education.”In the Timeline article , “The first Mexican border wall was actually to keep out Chinese people”,  the article reveled “Editorial cartoons in newspapers of the time depicted the Chinese as shifty villains.” The article also express that “the white public was stirred to anger by the presence of what they called the “yellow peril.” These statements expressed how the white Americans felt about the Chinese community coming into “their land.” The similarities today, can compare to when Trump wanted to ban people of Islam faith from America, just like in SF, many people retaliated and protest against his choice.  I do have questions wondering if there are any relatives of the protesters from San Fransisco, that can tell us about the protest and treatment of the Chinese.