Friday, June 15, 2018

A Minute on a Soap Box



                (Gets up on Soap Box)

PBS recently blew my mind with an episode of American Experience. This recent episode discussed the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882. An event in American History conveniently left out of my history curriculum while a young lad at school.  It is an appalling example of Immigration “Reform” run amok.

                “The Chinese Exclusion Act was the first major law restricting immigration to the United States. It was enacted in response to economic fears, especially on the West Coast, where native-born Americans attributed unemployment and declining wages to Chinese workers whom they also viewed as racially inferior. The Chinese Exclusion Act, signed into law on May 6, 1882, by President Chester A. Arthur, effectively halted Chinese immigration for ten years and prohibited Chinese from becoming US citizens. Through the Geary Act of 1892, the law was extended for another ten years before becoming permanent in 1902.” - http://ocp.hul.harvard.edu/immigration/exclusion.html

                This Exclusion Act was law in the United States of America until 1943. It wasn’t completely eliminated until 1965 with the passage of the Immigration Act. During the time the law was in effect, it was determined that even American born children of Chinese Immigrants were not guaranteed the same rights as other American born children of other ethnicities, like the Irish, Polish, Italian or those of European stock.

                It was truly a shameful history lesson. One that I honestly never heard of before until this PBS special. The timeliness of this special was not lost on me as the United States once again and continues to grapple with the issue of Immigration. It occurred to me that Americans have short memories and frankly have failed to learn anything from our mistakes. I’m not saying we have to be perfect, but when it comes to Immigration issues, we’ve been there/done that. And we have apparently, not learned anything.

                The Chinese Immigrants looked different, practiced a different religion, spoke a different language and had altogether different ways of doing things. The Chinese were so reviled they were deemed to be, “unassimilable” to American culture and values; it was thought that it would be better to limit the amount of them here and flatly refuse to allow more into the country.  Frankly, White People didn’t understand them, didn’t want to understand them, and we’re afraid of what they didn’t understand. They decided to, figuratively, kill what they didn’t understand. Sometimes literally.

                It’s no surprise really that this period in American History was not exactly taught to grammar school and High School Students. We were always taught that America was the land of opportunity in which all people, from all over the world were allowed to be who they were and join into the “Melting Pot”.  We were taught the poem on the Statue of Liberty was American canon and it was to be abided, and all peoples, “Yearning to breath free”, were to be welcomed.

                It’s a real shame how my classic American Optimism was once again shattered by this story of blatant legislated bigotry. I always try to believe that the United States of America is a place where everyone should get a fair shake. I know in my heart of hearts it’s a myopic optimism. I was always taught to believe in the good about America and to ignore the mistakes of our past. Bigotry, forget it. Racism, forget it. Sexual Orientation issues, forget it. Just go about paying your taxes and we’ll make sure the big bad (Insert Non-Catholic Nation here) doesn’t bomb you in the night.

                In fact, it would appear a blind adherence to psudo-religion doctrine is the cause of a lot of issues for Americans. It seems a lot of issues between Americans and immigrants, especially the Chinese, stemmed from the fact that they did not practice some form of Catholicism.   I would say the same applied to the Jewish, Buddhists, Hindus, what have you. Yet it would appear it was the Chinese who suffered the most with having their very existence in America legislated.  Basically told, you’re an undesirable and we hate you.

                The Chinese persisted and eventually, through an immense amount patience, hard work and political action, managed to weave their way into the American fabric. And yet, there is still residual mistrust and hatred residing in some parts of this nation. For the Chinese, or anyone who is, “Different”. A mistrust I find very difficult to fathom.

                The same could be said for Latin immigrants, ex-pats if you will, attempting to find for themselves a new life in the United States of America. In fact, the rhetoric about this issue is so perplexing, I’m not even actually sure what name I should refer to regarding those new immigrants. Somehow, “Latin,” seems incorrect.  Perhaps, “huddled masses,” is more apt. I’ll just call them huddled masses.

                These huddled masses, so reviled for their different languages, customs, beliefs and general appearance; are being treated by this current American government in much the same way immigrants in the past were being treated. Our elected representatives enact laws, create restrictions, barriers, and impossible hoop-jumping tricks to limit the arrival of the new huddled masses. It is so reminiscent of the political behaviors of the 1880’s I can’t believe no one has pointed this out to anyone in power.  

                Or maybe it has been pointed out to them and they just don’t care.  Maybe this concept of a Nation, built by immigrants, has been deemed undesirable, and has been washed from history. Just like it was left out of my school boy days.

                (Steps off soap box)


https://www.pbs.org/video/the-chinese-exclusion-act-eixnlw/

No comments:

Post a Comment