| 8 Who Isn't Free? The Chinese! |
| Look at this innocent little baby, forget that Richard Tom was a 'paper son', and imagine that this was you. Your parents wanted you to start a life in America, where they thought that you would achieve something worthwhile. But, instead of achieving something, you wanted to leave because you have no rights and there was plenty of discrimination to go around. Where specific laws were passed against the Chinese and that includes you. Without the same rights as the other people, you didn't see the point of living in a new place. You came because of all the wonderful things that you heard where there are freedom and rights. |
| Where you didn't get the rights because of the riots that had broken out because the whites burned the Chinese homes and they killed a lot of them. Even though Chinese worked harder for less money, that doesn't give the whites more power to pass the Chinese Exclusion Act in 1882, and to persuade the Congress into keeping the Chinese out because they were taking there jobs away. Congress passed the Chinese Exclusion Act, which stopped the flow of Chinese people from emigrating to the United States. If the whites had worked as hard as the Chinese had, they might still have their jobs, but instead they didn't put enough effort into do the work. It was the whites fault that they lost their jobs, the Chinese were just simply better than the whites, where they worked hard and never complained. Well did you think that the whites would give any kind of feelings towards the Chinese about the there needs? No! Broadsheet 3: Asians: The Chinese mentioned that: |
| "By the late 1870s, the whites made life for the Chinese in California difficult. Chinese were driven out of small towns and their homes were burned. Employers who hired Chinese were threatened. A great riot erupted in San Francisco in July of 1877, the Chinese were assaulted, and homes and businesses were burned." |
| The Chinese didn't get freedom that they deserved, where white people who thought that they ruled over America were harassing them. The whites believed that there race were more dominant than the Chinese was. Where you murder your opponent such as what the whites did to the Chinese. |
| During the times that the Chinese tried to immigrate to America, they suffered from some of the most fatal laws passed to keep them out. The Chinese Exclusion Act in 1882 limited and stopped the flow of Chinese immigration to the United States. This law banned the immigration of Chinese laborers in the US for ten years and prohibited the naturalization of Chinese. This law was extended in 1892. Another such law was the Page law, which excluded women from coming to America because they thought that they were going to be prostitutes. The California Anti-Coolie Tax protected the labor of "free white Americans" against competition with the Chinese Coolie Labors. This tax discouraged the immigration of the Chinese into the state of California. There was only one treaty, that was to secure the freedom for the Chinese, and that was the Burlingame Treaty. It was about respecting the Chinese, free trade, to learn and study, and to roam around freely, where the other laws and taxes didn't. This treaty went against everything that the whites wanted to prevent the Chinese from having, and wanting the Chinese to be free just like the whites. It wanted the Chinese to have equality just like teh whites, it wanted the Chinese to be just the same as everyone else so they won't be treated differently, from all the discrimination between the whites and the Chinese, they wanted the final freedom of choice between the two ethnicity. |
| How were they really treated differently between each other? The Northern Europeans found jobs easily while the Chinese had to struggle to find jobs that allowed them to work there. The Northern Europeans found life easy, where they can easily be naturalized citizens of the United States, while the Chinese couldn't even become citizens, where they weren't even allowed to come in. Where the Chinese struggled the most in life, tried to come into America, the Northern Europeans found life easy, just made for them, but different groups of ethnicity had faced different kinds of discrimination. Not many people wanted to help the discrimination of the Chinese. One man named Denis Kearney, a leader of the Workingmen's Party, which dominated California politics during the decade, was one of many political demagogues who spoke at anti-Chinese rallies. Kearney stated: |
| We have made no secret of our intentions. We make none. Before you and before the world declare that the Chinaman must leave our shores. We declare that white men, and women, and boys, and girls, cannot live as the people of the great republic should and compete with the single Chinese coolie in the labor market. We declare that we cannot hope to drive the Chinaman away by working cheaper than he does. None but an enemy would except it of us; none but an idiot could hope for success; none but a degraded coward and slave would make the effort. To an American, death is preferable to life on a par with the Chinaman. |
| This was easily recognized to be something that advocated violence as a legitimate to drive the Chinese out of the United States. Where the whites didn't see why the Chinese belonged and why they were better than they were, since the Chinese worked cheaper than the whites, they are no one but enemies to the whites. |
| There were many rights the Chinese couldn't have that the whites had, the whites were allowed to become naturalized citizens of the United States while the Chinese couldn't. Since they had more power and services, they didn't need the Chinese so they kicked them out. They discriminated the Chinese people and that they needed to be cleaned away. Many people who aren't Chinese thought that they were strange because of the way they looked. They were portrayed as monsters. In advertisements they were shown to have claws. Prejudice against those who look different from you is racism. |
| There were plenty of enemies to go around, the Chinese decided to stick to one area of the United States. They went to New York and started to spread all around Mott St. where they opened laundries and restaurants. They were afraid to leave their territory because of the whites. They knew that if they left then they would see the whites and that would cause problems to arise again. So they all decided to stay in Mott and not go out. The Chinese were presumptuous because they had won all the cases between them and the whites. |
| One such case was the Yick Wo vs. Hopkins case, which was a criminal case; it was about a San Francisco law. Yick Wo won, was this because of luck? The answer was no, the only reason the whites done what they done was because they weren't the same race, they were considered dirty to the whites and that they just plainly despises them. Many whites found the same jobs, as the Chinese didn't get blamed for working and owning wooden laundries. Why was it only the Chinese and not the whites, only except for white women who opened up a laundry too? Why did they arrest all the Chinese and that white women? Was it because of their background, saying that the women are prostitutes, or maybe because they just have no right to do so? This wasn't the case for the US Supreme Court [the highest court in the land]; they weren't persuaded to believe the ways the Chinese were portrayed, but instead they replied "with an evil eye and an unequal hand." That means the Sheriff was evil and they were discriminating the Chinese, and not being fair. The Court argued: |
| The 14th Amendment to the Constitution is not confined to the protection of citizens. It says: "Nor shall any state deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within is jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws." |
| All persons in the United States even if they aren't citizens are entitled to the same fair rights and treatment. |
| Although many Chinese people came, searched for money and saved enough money to come to America, they weren't allowed in, they were locked out, so they just protest, not as much as the whites. The whites feared that if they allowed Chinese to come in, they would take their jobs away from them, so that's why they Chinese weren't allowed to come in. The whites were concerned about their money, and their jobs. Although the Chinese paid to come to America, they had a hard time getting in. Did they come for nothing? Many Chinese couldn't get the education that they sought. Since the whites discriminated against the Chinese, the whites didn't want them to learn the same things because they were getting knowledge, so they will now if you were stereotyping them. The whites were racist against the Chinese because they looked different. |
| A man named Pun Chi, appealed to congress to protect the rights of the Chinese. He reminded Congress that Chinese Immigration was encouraged. So then they should be the ones who should protect the Chinese. The congress wanted to ender Chinese Immigration while Pun Chi wanted it to go on, he said that it was there fault that the Chinese immigrants came in the first place, and since they came, they should be the ones who should protect the Chinese immigrants and there rights. |
| The Chinese rights changed as time went by. The Chinese weren't allowed to come to the United States because so many harsh laws were passed against them. The Chinese experienced differs from those of the other ethnicity race because of all the problems that they had faced, when they tried to come in. Judge Thomas Burke made a speech during the Anti-Chinese incidents that wanted to encourage Anti-Chinese. He said: |
| "We want by lawful and fair, means, that this community and the Territory shall be freed from the presence of the Chinese." |
| He wanted to encourage the Anti-Chinese movement. He said that they went by fair and lawful behaviors, but there community would be much stronger and must better if the didn't see a Chinese again. |
| From different points of view as history takes place the movement of a law was passed because of a reason. There is a reason for why the exclusion acts were passed because there were a huge amount of Chinese coming all at once. William Wei describes: |
| "From today's perspective, it is difficult to believe that once upon a time in America, Chinese were considered heathens and subjected to widespread persecution and violence. The earlier hostile attitude toward Chinese is a far cry from the contemporary esteem for them as a "model minority" to be emulated by others. But as the pages of Harper's Weekly document, in the 19th century, many people considered the Chinese to be inassimilable and therefore unacceptable-hence, they're eventual exclusion from America in 1882. |
| Since people considered the Chinese to be unusual, they weren't accepted as one of the Americans so that's why they where excluded from America in 1882. Just because of they way they looked. |
| Through all the hatred that risen between the whites and the Chinese, the laws were becoming more and more powerful in the non acceptance of the Chinese. The more problems the whites and the Chinese had, the more they will despise each other, and the more they despise each other, the more laws against the Chinese there would be. They were "misunderstanding each other," get ideas from their appearances and there behaviors. Not what the United States promised when the Chinese decided to come to America. What happened to all the rights, what happened to all the money and power? The Chinese began to think that America is a bad place to immigrate to since they don't have many rights or powers and certain laws were only for them. So who didn't get freedom? The Chinese! |
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| Richard Tom was a 'paper son.' He had a paper saying that he was the son of a man who was already living in America legally so he can come in because he was the son of that man. Many other kids like Richard Tom said that they were the sons and daughters of Chinese already there, so they are allowed in America. They had no to see if they are really their sons and daughters because the records were burned in Angel Island. www. cynthiatom.homestead.com/ RichardTom.html ___________________________ |
| Many Chinese immigrants would have a paper with them that stated they were sons and daughters of the Chinese who are legally allowed and living in the United States. This is process is called Paper sons. So since they have this important piece of paper, they could get into America because there records were burned. |
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| Even though some Chinese made it to America, they faced many problems. Their were riots and fights aganist the Chinese. The Chinese weren't pleased with what they found in America, "misery and pain." |
| The Chinese Exclusion Act was an act that was made to keep the Chinese from coming to America for a certain amount of time. That stopped the flow of the Chinese immigrants from coming to the United States. The Geary Act extended the Exclusion Act. |
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| This is a racist advertisement showing Anti-Chinese. The discrimination and hatred between the Chinese and the whites are showed in this advertisement for soap. Saying that the Chinese are dirty so they needed to be cleaned away from American soil, so that's why you see Uncle Sam kicking Chinese men out. www.picturehistory/find/ p/1876/moms.html |
| Laws that were passed against the Chinese were: Geary Act Page Law Scott Act Chinese Exclusion Act The ONLY law that was for Chinese immigration is: The Burlingame Treaty |
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| Chinese kids weren't allowed to come in and learn what the whites learn. This is a picture from Canada, and as you can see, Chinese everywhere didn't get the deserved rights as other people. They weren't even accepted in different parts of the world like Candad, so the United States isn't the only place who was exluding the Chinese. |
| The Yick Wo vs. Hopkins case was all started because the Sheriff said that the Chinese couldn't operate a laundry made out of wood [which the whites did to, but they didn't get in trouble] Yick Wo's lawyer appealed their case to the US Supreme Court and won because the it was okay if not a lot of people are doing it. |
| The US Supreme Court [highest court in the land] only takes the most important cases that deals with freedom and the constitution. Yick Wo vs. Hopkins was about the rights of people who are not American. |
| Racism is being prejudiced against a group of people because of different race or culture. Racist is being intolerant of a person's race or culture. |
| Anti-Chinese is when a group of people ban together to stop Chinese people from immigrating to America. This will limit the Chinese population. Such as Denis Kearney who formed the workingmen's association where they limit the Chinese population. |
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| In this picture from Harpers Weekly, the Chinese appears to be very poor because of all the rights they lacked. The Chinese were homeless, jobs weren't opened to them and they were discriminated against. |
| Denis Kearney Encouraged Anti-Chinese |
| Denis Kearney sees himself as a man with great powers, he thinks that he is the most important person fighting against the Chinese. Who thinks that he is successful man. |
| Denis Kearney was one of the most important leaders of the Anti-Chinese campaign in California. Denis Kearney was born in Ireland in 1847, and he married and started a family. Kearney was elected secretary for the workingmen's association, which was established in San Francisco in 1877. The workingmen's association became one of the most important California politics. Kearney was with the anti-Chinese, making the Chinese suffer, from the killing of a few Chinese, to the burning of their laundries and from the abrogation of the Burlingame Treaty, which made the Chinese unable to come into America without there freedom and rights. Denis Kearney was a man who encouraged other Americans to go against the Chinese. Kearney wants his fellow American citizens to help him stop Chinese immigration to California because they were weird to him, since the Chinese have queues. He was a man who spoke in Anti-Chinese rallies. The workingmen's party demanded a law to end Chinese Immigraiton. He was a man who believed that the Chinese, "must go." |
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