Source: Zhonggong Net - Workers Daily
Original title: Belated Apology
Dong Pei
On September 28, local time, the city of San Jose, California, officially apologized to the mistakes made in history - on May 4, 1887, the city's Chinatown was deliberately set on fire and more than 1,400 people were displaced.
From the late 19th century to the early 20th century, san jose was the second most populous city in California with the largest Chinese population, after San Francisco. In 1887, after the passage of the Chinese Exclusion Act in the United States, Chinatown was burned down.
The Chinese Exclusion Act is one of the most significant restrictions on free immigration in U.S. history. The bill prohibits "skilled or unskilled Chinese laborers employed in mines" from entering the United States within 10 years through imprisonment and deportation.
The background of the law was the "gold rush" in California that began in 1848. At that time, groups of Chinese came here, and in addition to becoming the lowest gold diggers, they also engaged in various arduous work such as logging and railway construction.
Data show that at the height of U.S. railroad construction in the 1860s, 90 percent of railroad workers were Chinese. With them as the main force, the first transcontinental railway was built.
With the gradual retreat of the "gold rush", employment competition has become more and more fierce, and Chinese workers are increasingly hated by white workers because of their hard work and cheap labor prices.
By the 1870s, when the U.S. Civil War recession was in recession, some politicians politicized anti-China hatred, accusing China of "coolies" for low wages, and public opinion and laws at the time demonized Chinese workers and immigrants from Asia in many forms.
In 1879, California passed a bill that explicitly authorized the state to decide who was entitled to reside in the state and prohibited Chinese from being employed by corporations and state, county, or city governments.
In 1882, the U.S. federal government passed the Chinese Exclusion Act.
The act brought endless disasters to Chinese laborers. The city of San Jose has adopted a series of policies and measures against the Chinese, which has directly led to serious racial discrimination and violence against local Chinese immigrants.
In March 1887, the City of San Jose issued a decree declaring Chinatown a "public nuisance" and calling for its demolition. In May, Chinatown was deliberately set on fire.
Looking back at this history, San Jose City Councilor Peralez, who initiated the apology, said that the closure of Chinatown was a decision made by the San Jose city government at the time and led to its eventual burning. "This decision was very racist," Peralez bluntly said, adding that the government at the time was undoubtedly discriminating against and persecuting the Chinese.
Why is an apology campaign now? Peralez said he hoped the move would help resolve the racial discrimination that is taking place today. He himself has seen with his own eyes that after the spread of the new crown virus last year, discrimination and hatred against Asians in the United States have risen, and the city of San Jose has also occurred.
"What can the city do to curb Asian-American hatred?" Peralez said the campaign was a "wake-up call to let history repeat itself."
Peralez said bluntly, "At present, nationalist sentiment is rising in some us states, such as the so-called 'America First' ... In fact, in the past 4 years, social division and racism in the United States have become more severe. ”
Editor-in-charge: Zhu Jingjing