City of Seattle acknowledges Anti-Chinese discrimination

Photo caption: A caricature of a Chinese worker from an 1899 editorial cartoon titled "The Yellow Terror In All His Glory" /Photo: Wikipedia

 

On August 10, the Seattle City Council approved a resolution expressing regret for legislation passed in the 1800s that discriminated against Chinese immigrants.
In 1889, Washington Territory, now Washington state, prevented Chinese people from voting, owning land and providing evidence in court cases involving Caucasian people, says the council. In 1885, Seattle City Council had adopted several anti-Chinese laws. In 1886, according to council, an anti-Chinese riot forced 350 Chinese people to leave the city. 
Laws passed by Washington Territory, which became Washington state in 1889, barred Chinese people from voting, owning land and giving evidence in court cases that involved Caucasian people, according to the council. The resolution is a gesture that doesn’t change any present-day laws.
Chinese Exclusion Act (1882) prohibited immigration of Chinese labourers and prohibited Chinese from becoming U.S. citizens. This Act was the first time the U.S. restricted immigration based on race and nationality. Other Chinese Exclusion Acts were passed to extend the1882 Act which was not repealed until 1902.
“We shouldn’t bury our history,” council member Nick Licata said in a statement.
“The early Chinese contributed greatly to the development of what was then the town of Seattle and Washington Territory,” said OCA Greater Seattle vice-president Connie So, who also teaches at the University of Washington American Ethnic Studies Program.
“Discriminatory policies ripple from the past and still affect Chinese communities today. Awareness and recognition of shameful policies in our history is the first step to moving forward together,” Licata added.
The Chinese helped lay tracks for the first railroads, worked at local canneries and sawmills, grew produce, worked as domestic servants and dug the earliest portion of the Lake Washington Ship Canal.
- Northwest Asian Weekly

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