I feel like I was taught a white-washed version of American history in school. It is only now when I’m 32 that I’m learning about the terrible things we did. My ideals of an American built by immigrants that offers the American dream are being badly shaken.
I learned last week that the United States purposely excluded Chinese and other Asians, including Filipinos (who lived in a country we controlled following a war with Spain) from coming here as citizens. We first banned the Chinese in 1882, spurred on by Californians who were upset about the large numbers there. In fact, the Chinese immigrant group was the largest single group in that state at the time. This terrible act, the Chinese Exclusion Act, was renewed again in 1892 and again — this time indefinitely— in 1902.
According to Wikipedia:
“The Chinese Exclusion Act was one of the most significant restrictions on free immigration in U.S. history. For all practical purposes, the Exclusion Act, along with the restrictions that followed it, froze the Chinese community in place in 1882, and prevented it from growing and assimilating into U.S. society as European immigrant groups did.” http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_Exclusion_Act
But that wasn’t enough, apparently. In 1924, another immigration act — this time targeted at the Japanese, was passed. It limited immigration from all Asian nations — again, including the Philipines which the United States was in possession of, leaving the Filipinos as neither aliens nor citizens, but somewhere in between. They didn’t have their own country.
According to Wikipedia:
“The Immigration Act of 1924, or Johnson–Reed Act, including the National Origins Act, Asian Exclusion Act (43 Statutes-at-Large 153), was a United States federal law that limited the number of immigrants who could be admitted from any country to 2% of the number of people from that country who were already living in the United States in 1890.
“The Act barred specific origins from the Asia-Pacific Triangle, which included Japan, China, the Philippines (then under U.S. control), Siam (Thailand), French Indochina (Laos, Vietnam,and Cambodia), Singapore (then a British colony), Korea, Dutch East Indies (Indonesia), Burma (Myanmar), India, Ceylon (Sri Lanka) and Malaysia.[4] Based on the Naturalization Act of 1790, these immigrants, being non-white, were not eligible for naturalization, and the Act forbade further immigration of any persons ineligible to be naturalized.
“In the 10 years following 1900, about 200,000 Italians immigrated annually. With the imposition of the 1924 quota, 4,000 per year were allowed. At the same time, the annual quota for Germany was over 57,000. 86% of the 155,000 permitted entries were from Northern European countries, with Germany, Britain, and Ireland having the highest quotas.
“The Act set no limits on immigration from Latin America.” http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Immigration_Act_of_1924
I have to ask why. Why were those in the United States unwilling to welcome additional immigrants? What happened? An article at www.wisegeek.com suggests this:
“In arguments which seem familiar to modern followers of the immigration debate, Asians were accused of taking white jobs and causing social unrest.” http://www.wisegeek.com/what-was-the-asian-exclusion-act.htm
Wow. That does sound familiar — consider the Hispanic immigrant debate going on right now.
The article continued: “Modern-day Chinatown may be a popular tourist destination, but it was once the only place in which Chinese could safely live. ... It is an important part of American history, especially because some Americans are unaware of the widespread discrimination faced by Asians until the middle of the twentieth century.” I know I sure was unaware of this.
I can’t help but question why immigrants would exclude other immigrants. When it come down to it, that’s what we all are, all of us but the Native Americans, that is. The rest of us, well, we sailed here from other lands — Sweden, Denmark, Britian, Ireland, France, Germany, Africa, Asia, etc. Why do we think that just because we got here first that we have the right to say we won’t accept others?
