Asians in AmericaMassacres, Legislation, Resistance,

and Reality

Presented by Stephanie Tanny & Justin Valas

FEEL FREE TO TWEET THIS PRESENTATION!

#CIRC13 | #AsianAmerican | #undocuAPI

Defining and Reclaiming

API – Asian Pacific Islander

APIA – Asian Pacific Islander American

UndocuAPI – Undocumented Asian Pacific Islander

We will mostly address Asian American issues (since we are both Asian Americans and don’t want to speak over our PI sisters & brothers)

“Up to that point, we had been called Orientals. Oriental was a rug that everyone steps on, so we ain’t no Orientals. We were Asian American.”

- Richard Aoki

Name that Asian American Activist!

It’s all about context…

Asia is a big place… BIG

… and we speak A LOT of languages

19 Million… and rising!

• Chinese• Filipino• Indian• Vietnamese• Korean• Japanese• Pakistani• Cambodian• Hmong• Thai

4,010,114

3,416,840

3,183,063

1,737,433

1,706,822

1,304,286

409,163

276,667

260,073

237,583

10 Largest AsianAmerican Communities

19 Million… and rising!

• Chinese• Filipino• Indian• Vietnamese• Korean• Japanese• Pakistani• Cambodian• Hmong• Thai

4,010,114

3,416,840

3,183,063

1,737,433

1,706,822

1,304,286

409,163

276,667

260,073

237,583

• Mexico• El Salvador• Guatemala• Honduras• China• Philippines• India• Korea• Ecuador• Vietnam

6,800,000

660,000

520,000

380,000

280,000

270,000

240,000

230,000

210,000

170,000

10 Largest AsianAmerican Communities

10 Largest Undocumented Communities

KNOW OUR HISTORYWhen and where was the first Asian community in North America?

Saint Malo, Louisia

na

How did the US react to all these Asians?

• 1856 - El Dorado and Mariposa Counties, CA. Chinese miners forced from homes.

• 1869 - Unionville, CA. Anti-Chinese Riot and Eviction.• 1871 - Los Angeles, CA. Anti-Chinese Massacre. 18 murdered

(different accounts place death toll as high as 84).• 1874 - Nederland, CO. 160 Chinese residents driven out of city.• 1875 - Truckee, CA. Chinatown burned down. 1 murdered.•  1870’s - Caribou, CO. Anti-Chinese Riot. • 1877 - San Francisco, CA. Anti-Chinese Riot.• 1877 - Chico, CA. Chinatown burned down. 6 murdered.• 1879 - Oro Grande, ID. Anti-Chinese Violence. 5 murdered.• 1880 - Denver, CO. Anti-Chinese Riot. 1 murdered.• 1885 - Rock Springs, WY. Anti-Chinese Massacre. 28 murdered.• 1885 - Issaquah, WA. Anti-Chinese Violence. 3 murdered.• 1885 - Newcastle, WA. Chinese miners barracks burned down.• 1885 - Pierce, ID. Anti-Chinese Violence. 5 murdered.• 1885 - Tacoma, WA. Anti-Chinese Riot and Expulsion.• 1886 - Seattle, WA. Anti-Chinese Riot and Expulsion.• 1886 - Olympia, WA. Anti-Chinese Riot.• 1886 - Los Angeles, CA. Anti-Chinese Violence and Arson.• 1886 - Portland, OR. Anti-Chinese Riot and Expulsion.• 1886 - Truckee, CA. Chinatown burned down. 3 murdered.• 1887 - Hell’s Canyon, OR. Anti-Chinese Massacre. 30 murdered.

• 1887 - San Jose, CA. Anti-Chinese Violence and Arson.• 1891 - Los Angeles, CA. Anti-Chinese Riot.• 1903 - Tonopah, NV. Anti-Chinese Violence. 1 murdered.• 1907 - Bellingham, WA. Anti-South Asian Riot.• 1907 - San Francisco, CA. Anti-Japanese Riot.• 1921 - Turlock, CA. Anti-Japanese Expulsion.• 1925 - Toledo, OR. Anti-Japanese Riot.• 1927 - Yakima, WA. Anti-Filipino Riot.• 1928 - Wenatchee, WA. Anti-Filipino Riot.• 1929 - Exeter, CA. Anti-Filipino Riot and Arson.• 1930 - Watsonville, CA. Anti-Filipino Riot and Violence.• 1930 - Monterey, CA. Anti-Filipino Riot and Violence.• 1930 - Palm Beach, CA. Anti-Filipino Violence. 1 murdered.• 1930 - Stockton, CA. Anti-Filipino Violence.• 1930 - Reedley, CA. Anti-Filipino Violence.• 1930 - San Jose, CA. Anti-Filipino Riot.• 1930 - San Francisco, CA. Anti-Filipino Riot.• 1930 - Kent, WA. Anti-Filipino Riot.• 1942 - West Coast, US. Executive Order 9066 removes Japanese

from homes on the West Coast (and other nations).

But it didn’t end there…• 1790 - The Naturalization Act. Only free white immigrants

can become citizens of the US.• 1850/1852 - California passes the Foreign Miners Tax. First

to keep Latino miners out of the mines, then to push Chinese miners out.

• 1853 - Washington Territory passes territorial law banning Chinese from voting.

• 1854 - People v. Hall bars Chinese from giving court testimony.

• 1858 - California passes a law denying entry to Chinese and Mongolians.

• 1862 - California imposes a “police tax” on Chinese residents.

• 1863 - Washington Territory passes a law to prohibit Chinese from giving testimony when the case involves a white person.

• 1864 - Washington Territory imposes a poll tax on Chinese residents.

• 1870 - California passes a law to make it illegal to “import” Chinese, Japanese, or Mongolian women for prostitution (a charge commonly used to bar entry of Asian women that were not married)

• 1875 - The Page Law. Chinese, Japanese and Mongolian prostitutes, contract laborers, and felons are barred from entering the United States.

• 1879 - California’s second constitution prohibits the employment of Chinese by municipalities and corporations. It also passes a law (ruled unconstitutional) to require the removal of all Chinese outside of the city limits of towns and cities.

• 1880 - California passes a law forbidding interracial marriages between whites and POC. The US also signs a treaty allowing the limitation of Chinese immigrants. (Repealed in 1948)

• 1882 - The Chinese Exclusion Act. Immigration of Chinese to the US is specifically prohibited. (Prohibition renewed in 1888, 1892, 1902, 1904, and repealed in 1943)

• 1886 - Washington Territory passes the Alien Land Law bars Asians from owning land.

• 1888 - The Scott Law. Re-entry of Chinese laborers who left the United States is prohibited.

• 1895 - Lern Moon Sing v. US. Prevents review of habeas corpus petitions of Chinese for landing in the US.

… or there.• 1906 - US Attorney General orders courts to no longer issue

naturalization papers to Japanese• 1907 - President Theodore Roosevelt issues executive order to

prohibit immigration of Japanese and Koreans through Canada, Mexico, and Hawai’i.

• 1907-1908 - The Gentleman’s Agreement. President Roosevelt and the Emperor of Japan agree to limit Japanese immigration to the parents, wives, and children of Japanese men already in the US.

• 1913 - California passes the Alien Land Law, prohibiting Asians from owning land within the state.

• 1915 - Washington State prohibits Asian immigrants from taking salmon, food, or shellfish “for sale or profit.”

• 1917 - The Asiatic Barred Zone. Prohibits most Asian and Pacific Islander immigration to the US.

• 1921 - Washington State follows up it’s 1886 law by prohibiting the owning or leasing of land by non-citizens and people ineligible for citizenship.

• 1922 - The Cable Act. Previously, any woman who was a US Citizen and married a non-citizen would lose her US citizenship. The Cable Act undid this- unless the woman married an Asian immigrant. Marrying an Asian male would still cost a woman her US citizenship. Also in this year, Ozawa v. US decreed that even with light-skinned complexion, Japanese were barred from becoming US citizens.

• 1923 - US v. Bhagat Singh Thind. In the face of an argument that Indians are caucasian, Indians are declared non-white Asians and subject to all anti-Asian laws.

• 1924 - The Immigration Act of 1924 (and The National Origins Act). “Hindu, Chinese, and Japanese” wives of American

citizens are denied immigration. Prohibits most Asian immigration, particularly laborers (Filipinos are exempted) and prohibits reunification of Chinese wives with their husbands in the US.

• 1925 - Hidemitsu v. US. Upholds previous bar to naturalization held under Ozawa v. US.

• 1933 - Filipinos are ruled ineligible for citizenship and barred from immigrating to the US.

• 1934 - The Tydings-McDuffle Act. The Philippines is made a commonwealth and Filipino immigration to the US is capped at 50 people per year.

• 1942 - Executive Order 9066. All persons of Japanese ancestry are ordered removed from the Pacific coast and put into internment camps.

• 1943 - Hirabayashi v US. The Supreme Court upholds the curfew imposed on Japanese.

• 1944 - Korematsu v US. Exclusion, detention, and internment of Japanese on the West Coast is upheld.

• 1945 - The War Brides Act. Yeah, it’s what you think it is.• 1946 - The Luce-Cellar Act. 100 Indians and 100 Filipinos per

year are allowed to immigrate to the US. (Also restores right to become citizens to both groups)

• 1952 - Immigration and Nationality Act. Repeals bar to immigration/citizenship based on race.

• 1965 - The Immigration Act of 1965. National origin quotas are repealed.

America’s First Detention Center

Mexico, China, and the US…

We need to talk about the “R” word

Model Minority? I think not…

Our culture is NOT a costume…

SO, WHAT DID WE DO?

ORGANIZE!!

STRIKE!

Asian American Radicals, the 60s, & Multiracial Organizing

WHY #UNDOCUAPI?Educate | Organize | Mobilize

Connect with others who share our histories, our cultures, and our stories

Create our own spaces- it’s our struggle too!