Anti-Asian Pacific Coast Race Riots 1907; Racism Against Asians In U.S.

[appalachiablue]

Last edited Sat Mar 20, 2021, 11:37 AM - Edit history (1)

- Boarded windows & storefronts on Pender Street in Chinatown after the September 1907 riots in Vancouver, B.C. Canada.
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(Wiki). The Pacific Coast race riots of 1907 were a series of riots against both Americans and Canadians of Asian descent that took place within the U.S. and Canada. The riots, which resulted in violence and destruction of property, were the result of anti-Asian tension caused by white opposition to the increasing Asian population during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Most notable riots that took place were in San Francisco, California; Bellingham, Washington; and Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. Each city and anti-Asian activist group claimed its own unique reasoning for their specific riots, which were encouraged by the Asiatic Exclusion League.

History: During the late 19th and early 20th centuries, both the U.S. and Canada were experiencing a wave of Asian immigration. As more Asian immigrants continued entering North America, a growing number of citizens on the Pacific Coast became concerned due to economic fears and racist attitudes. American and Canadian citizens grew fearful that Asian immigrants would compete for jobs seen "only" for whites. The immigrants were regarded as "cheap labor", and some employers were accused without evidence of firing Caucasian workers and replacing them with immigrants. "By [the] 1880s, more than 100,000 Chinese were employed in a wide array of occupations, ranging from work on the railroads, in agriculture, and in mining, to work as domestics, in restaurants, and in laundries". Shortly after the Chinese immigration wave, Japanese citizens followed suit and migrated to the U.S. By the late 1880s, the number of Japanese immigrants was equivalent to the number of Chinese immigrants.

As the 19th century came to a close, immigration continued to increase along with Nativism, the idea of preserving the current "American social values". Many nativists viewed immigrants who were not Protestant, white or from select regions of Europe as "un-American" and therefore were unable to assimilate into society. It was claimed that if such citizens were seen as "unfit for society", they were considered a threat to the preservation of "American values". Many white Canadian and American citizens engaged in violent actions to force Asians out of jobs and certain cities in the spring, summer and fall of 1907. The Pacific Coast race riots consisted primarily of three major riots. These riots took place in San Francisco, Bellingham, and Vancouver.

The San Francisco riot began May 20, 1907 and lasted for several nights. It was led by European-American nativists who used violence to advance their goals of excluding Japanese immigrants and maintaining segregated schools for Caucasian and Japanese students. The conflicts over segregated schools for Japanese students and the San Francisco riot led to negotiations between the U.S., Canada, and Japan, culminating in the Gentlemen's Agreement. The Japanese government agreed to not issue passports for entry into the U.S. to any skilled or unskilled labor if they had not previously been to the U.S. Bellingham riots: Main article: Bellingham riots. The Bellingham riots took place on September 4, 1907. As Asian immigrants migrated to Bellingham, employers saw an opportunity to employ Asian immigrants at cheaper wages than Caucasian workers. This added to the racial and ethnocentric hostilities in the community as Caucasian lumber workers feared that the South Asian immigrants would displace them...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pacific_Coast_race_riots_of_1907
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- Sikh men in Bellingham, Washington, 1907.

'The 1907 Bellingham Riots,' University of Washington.

On September 4th, 1907, 500 white working men in Bellingham, WA gathered to drive a community of South Asian migrant workers out of the city. With the mission of “scar[ing] them so badly that they will not crowd white labor out of the mills,” the growing mob rallied and went to work.1 The rioters moved through town, breaking windows, throwing rocks, indiscriminately beating people, overpowering a few police officers, and pulling men out of their workplaces and homes. They eventually rounded up 200 or so of the South Asian immigrant workers in the basement of City Hall to stay the night. The mob was successful in that within 10 days the entire South Asian population departed town. Despite promises of protections from city officials, the South Asian workers well understood that there was no protection for them in Bellingham and migrated up and down the Pacific coast looking for safer and saner living conditions.

The historical forces that lead to this outbreak of racist violence in this small town in the Pacific Northwest are complex and were long in the making. The actions of the rioters would in the coming decades have very real repercussions in the halls of Congress, the U.S. Supreme Court and the lives of migrants the world over. In less than 20 years the overt racism, violence and illegal efforts of the 1907 Bellingham riot eventually found legalized and strengthened expression through the U.S. legal system and federal government. The Bellingham mob and the federal government alike both served to police and protect the boundaries of U.S. citizenship and white privilege. Today the U.S.-Mexico border has increasingly become both a literal and symbolic site of fierce debate, contestation and struggle over the changing identity of the U.S. Similarly, as Chinese, Japanese and Korean immigrants made their way to the shores of California and surrounding states at the turn of the last century, the Pacific coast held an equally powerful hold on the national imagination...

https://depts.washington.edu/civilr/bham_history.htm



- Anti-Asian Racism in America is Not News, and That is Exactly the Problem, Yahoo News, Alyssa Huang, March 15, 2021. (Editor's Note: The opinions expressed in this piece are solely those of the author).

“GO BACK TO YOUR COUNTRY! CHINESE TRASH!” I was shocked. “Is she yelling at me?” I wondered in disbelief. I was walking my dog when my attacker approached. In seconds, a hot wave of anger, fear, and shame washed over me. I picked up my pup and ran. She followed me, hurling more racist slurs. A few blocks later, I hurried through the lobby and punched the elevator button, hands shaking. Upon entering my apartment, I collapsed on the couch, held my dog, and sobbed. My mind raced. Should I call the cops? I wish I filmed her for proof! Was that illegal? What’s the use? No one cares. I have been a victim of racial discrimination many times in the past, often in the presence of others. No one helped me then, and I did not expect anything to change now. In the wake of the recent and numerous attacks on Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders (AAPIs), I realized I needed to speak up. My silence was complicity in this nation-wide acceptance and ignorance of violence against AAPIs. Although these past weeks have been especially severe, anti-Asian sentiment in America is not new.

The U.S. has a deep history of legitimized violence against AAPIs. The mid to late 1800s was a period of intense animosity and legal discrimination against Asian — especially Chinese — immigrants. The first federal anti-immigration law was the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882. Along with this legislative attack on Asians in the U.S., American citizens themselves targeted and killed large numbers of AAPIs. In The Chinese Massacre of 1871 a lynch mob, hung, shot, and pillaged Asians in Los Angeles. White miners robbed, stabbed, burned, and starved Asian laborers during The Rock Springs Massacre of 1885 and The Hells Canyon Massacre of 1887. After each of these atrocities — and many others — few were held accountable. All of this senseless slaughter was encouraged and legalized in the name of white nationalism. As the U.S. fought to liberate concentration camps abroad, at home, the government stripped hundreds of thousands of Japanese citizens’ rights and forced them into American internment camps. In one of its most repugnant opinions, Korematsu v. United States, the Supreme Court upheld and protected this government-sponsored military detention of Americans based on their race. Justice Murphy in his dissent blasted these discriminatory actions as “abhorrent and despicable,” the kind of treatment seen in “dictatorial tyrannies” that the U.S. had pledged to fight against.

In our ongoing battle against tyranny, we Americans often disregard the oppression occurring within our own borders. While this history is nowhere near exhaustive, it is more relevant than ever. I grew up in an affluent, white, suburb of New York City. As I stepped onto the school bus on the first day of kindergarten, the second graders in the back started chanting “fried rice and egg rolls!” When I looked to the bus monitor for help, they did not even understand what was wrong. I remember sinking into my seat, curling up next to the window, and hiding my face as burning tears streamed down my cheeks. In the classroom, the harassment continued without acknowledgment. My teachers failed to notice when the boys called me "Ch**k" or pulled the corners of their eyes back and squealed “Ching, Chang, Chong!” I learned to live with this humiliating treatment because no one ever stood up for me to make me realize just how wrong it was. Anti-AAPI racism is engrained and accepted even in America’s most progressive counties.

In the last year, violent hate crimes against Asian-Americans have surged. The racist rhetoric invoked by our nation’s leaders undoubtedly fuels this animosity. Pak Ho was assaulted and left brain dead and died in Oakland, CA; Nancy Toh was spit on and knocked unconscious in White Plains, NY; and a man in Queens, NY spit on a woman and her baby and called her “Chinese virus.” The list goes on. I only learned of these atrocities through AAPI social media (@nextshark, @amandangocnguyen, and @asianswithattitudes). National news outlets ignored these stories. Once again, Americans turn a blind eye to Anti-Asian violence in this country. To end this cycle, we all must acknowledge and take a stand against the recurrent violence against Asians in America. You can start today by raising awareness of these attacks; educating yourself on the past and current injustice against AAPIs; demanding that your legislative representatives take substantive actions to protect vulnerable communities; reporting instances of discrimination; and donating to victims and AAPI community safety groups.

About the Author: Alyssa Huang is a first-year student at Harvard Law School...https://news.yahoo.com/anti-asian-racism-america-not-215738548.html

[Martin68]

1. The benefits that immigrant communities have provided, and the racist actions taken against them

by Americans across the US are an essential part of US history. We should be taught about this in school. The same goes for the struggles of labor to get fair pay and safe working conditions. Until they are part of the curriculum from elementary through high school, we will continue to pay the price of an education system created by the wealthy and powerful for the perpetuation of their advantages in society.

[appalachiablue]

2. Immigration and US labor history

were absent in both my HS and college classes. What a travesty but I'm gratefully learning about these important aspects of our nation's history years later. A big reckoning in terms of teaching is in order I agree.