Transcriber: Suravi Kuanr Reviewer: Marina Naguib
During the Sino-Japanese War in China, my great grandfather went completely broke.
He lost his business. He lost his house
And ended up with two options, to emigrate to another country or to live on
The streets. So naturally, he decided that he wanted to immigrate to America.
This promising land of freedom and welcome and peace.
Unfortunately, because of his status as a completely broked Chinese man,
He wasn’t allowed to enter the United States.
Instead, he watched as his wealthier friends escaped the war
And found new lives in America.
Twenty years later, when another war broke out in China, he was arrested.
So naturally, when I first heard this story as a little nine year old girl,
I was like, well, why wouldn’t they let my great grandfather into America?
What on earth did he do so wrong?
Well, nothing except that he was Chinese and he didn't have any money.
At the time, America had completely shut its gates to
The entire race of Chinese people unless they had something useful to offer to
American society, such as a higher education,
Having relatives there or having lots of money.
Because my great grandfather had none of those things and he was Chinese,
America decided that its welcoming
And free image wasn’t going to apply to him.
But how do we get here in the first place?
Since when did race determine if we were worthy enough to step foot
On American soil? Well, that really depends on if America sees
A race of people as useful or if America has just had enough of that race.
If my great grandfather had tried to immigrate 40 years earlier,
He would have been welcomed and praised in America.
Because at first, America saw value in Chinese immigrants, cheap labor
And the Chinese built up a reputation of being both efficients
And diligents in work. So the governor of California even described them
As one of the most worthy clauses of our newly adopted citizens.
And that further Chinese immigration was highly desirable.
That is, until the US decides that there are too many Chinese people.
One year, the Chinese population doubles and America went into a panic.
Suddenly, Chinese efficiency was no longer a good thing
As they became too efficient and machine like. Cheap labor was no longer desirable
As suddenly the Chinese were lowering wages and taking
The good jobs away from white Americans.
The economic argument becomes even more ironic when you find out that while this
Taking jobs away from white Americans argument is becoming popular,
Some newspapers are still publishing articles about how
The glorious Chinese were contributing
So much in tax revenue to state governments every year.
So clearly, this immigrants taking over American jobs argument isn't
A very convincing one.
So instead of looking at all these economic arguments
That are a little self-contradictory,
We can look into some of the racial fears that might have played into the hate
And hostility toward the Chinese.
As I said before, this paranoia appeared
With a number of Chinese immigrants nearly doubled within a year.
It also comes at a time when the Chinese are finding success
And are directly competing with white owned businesses.
Why people feared the Chinese immigrants would eventually outnumber white
Americans and redefine America as a place of Chinese power?
American journalist who really compared the growing numbers of Chinese immigrants
To a Niagara holding millions upon us in the vast overcrowded hives of China.
And that's only one example of some of
The particularly evil quotes going around at the time.
Not only does this man compare the Chinese to a bug,
He also uses this Niagara Waterfall metaphor to create this image of
An endless, unstoppable wave of Chinese people taking over America
And washing away its traditional white identity.
Now, you would think that we've learned from our mistakes
And we no longer describe people as bugs.
Yet today we're still using
The same dehumanizing language to characterize immigrants.
A Times article described immigrants at the Mexican American border as
The flowing into California and surging across the two thousand mile border from
The Pacific to the Gulf, and it once again portrays people
As this water like force that threatens to flood or flush out white America.
By linking this image of water to mass numbers of immigrants,
This article evokes this fear that immigrants are somehow
A problem that America must control or contain.
And, well, efforts to control this evil immigrant invasion ultimately proved
Successful and Congress passed the Chinese Exclusion Act.
This marked America’s first attempt to exclude a group of people based
On their race. The Exclusion Act characterized Chinese people
As illegal aliens who just had no chance of belonging in American society.
The US Supreme Court justified this exclusion by saying that Chinese
Immigrants were a different race that was dangerous to America’s peace
And security. This was the first time,
But definitely not the last time that
The nation’s highest court used national security to justify exclusion.
The Supreme Court's words of Chinese danger dramatically heighten
The hostility towards Chinese people who were rightful citizens at the time.
Many Chinese laborers sought safety in San Francisco after people drove them
Out of other Western states.
The San Francisco Board of Supervisors described Chinese immigrants living
Conditions as filthy the extreme and a constant menace to
The welfare of society.
Because of the Exclusion Act,
Chinese people were no longer considered members of society
And were even seen to be less than human.
And it wasn’t just race, though
It was an exclusion factor, while Chinese laborers were barred from America,
Chinese merchants, teachers, students and diplomats were exempt from exclusion.
This marked the first time in American history that
An Act had restricted immigration based on both race and class.
Those who are good enough or able to cross the border while the ordinary
And less useful people like my grandfather were excluded from American soil.
This was a pivotal point that began this long history of minorities competing
Within their group and trying to outperform one another to earn
A spot in one of those limited and finite spaces permitted to minorities.
Simply put, Chinese Americans were instilled with
The pressure that they literally
And physically had no place in American society unless they were the cream of
The crop.
This is a pressure that still exists today.
The model minority method I hear
So much about just brushes over Asian American people’s merits like it’s
An expectation and stereotypes them as beings with no personality.
This myth has direct roots in Chinese exclusion,
And as long as it remains a popular name tag for Asian Americans,
It will keep perpetuating the stiff competition within
The Asian American community.
As a Chinese American, it never feels like it's enough to be qualified
And worthy as a person, but I have to be qualified and worthy for
An Asian person in order to be accepted.
And while Chinese Americans are still facing the aftereffects of exclusion,
There are other groups are experiencing nearly
The same Chinese exclusion situation, just under a different name.
Immigrants at the Mexican American border today face
The same attacks about taking American jobs and destroying the economy.
Just a few years ago, the president of
The United States banned people from predominantly Muslim countries in
An order called Protecting the nation from foreign terrorist entry.
And yet with all this racially motivated attacks,
America still praises itself to be this nation of immigrants that is
So welcoming and so democratic.
It’s just a repeating cycle of history that hurts
A different minority group each time.
So what can we do to try and break the cycle?
Well, for one, we can pay attention to our rhetoric,
Understand where this model minority comes from exclusion and
The pressure that it places on Asian-Americans.
Understand why people are using this taking American jobs slogan to justify
The fact that they’re building walls
And barbed wire electric fences to keep people out.
From the Chinese Exclusion Act to everything that's been happening up to
This very moment. It’s all identical.
But we can break the cycle.
Thank you.