Why California Owes Its Chinese Residents an Apology
My name is Vaughan de Kirby, and I am a San Francisco-based attorney. I would like to express my support of State Assemblyman Paul Fong’s effort to secure an apology from the State of California for its treatment of Chinese immigrants and citizens.
California’s Chinese immigrants have helped build ships, levies, irrigation systems and the Transcontinental Railroad. The Chinese have played a key role in California’s farming industry as well as in the development of California’s shrimp and abalone industries. We must not ignore the tremendous contribution that the Chinese immigrants, their families and descendants continue to make to California and the nation in every aspect of our society and economy.
It is impossible to overestimate the critical role that the Chinese played in the development of the State of California and the United States as a whole.
The tragic fact is that the Chinese of California suffered assaults on their civil rights that are hard for us to comprehend today. The Chinese were required to pay special taxes, forced out of their homes, denied the rights to own property, marry whites and even attend public schools. These were the official actions of our state and national government. These assaults on their civil liberties fail to address the violence and intimidation that was part of the Chinese immigrant’s life in the United States in the last century.
These abuses are part of the living memory of many Chinese today. Many Chinese in San Francisco will remember when they could not buy property and were prevented from becoming naturalized citizens of the United States because they were Chinese. These violations of civil liberties should not be forgotten.
It’s time for the State of California and the nation to formally apologize to the Chinese for the systematic denial of their civil liberties. It is time for the nation and the State of California to formally recognize the tremendous contribution made by the Chinese in the development of our state and nation as well as the continuing contribution they make to the diverse fabric of our society.
Tags: , California, Chinese, immigrants