Class Paper. California’s Apology to Chinese Americans

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California’s Apology to Chinese Americans
Introduction
On the 17th day of July, the Californian legislature made approval of a landmark bill that was directed towards apologizing to the Chinese-American community over the racist laws that were enacted back in the 19th century. The laws, most of which were repealed in 1940 were designed with the intent of barring the Chinese from owning property or land, marrying the whites as well as working in some of the public sector organizations. The new bill set forth measures that were directed towards recognizing the contributions of the Chinese communities in the state, with precision to their efforts in the building of the transcontinental railroad. The apology remains one of the latest waves of official laws and acts of remorse globally. However, one intriguing element regarding the apology bill lies in the fact that it failed to seek financial compensation for the Chinese who went through a series of atrocities as their civil liberties were denied. Asia Society analyzes the several cases that link present to past in relation to discrimination laws in the United States. For instance, the discrimination legislations implemented in 1980 in Monterey Bay, California, targeting the Vietnamese fisherman are similar to those implemented targeting the Chinese in the 1800s and 1900s. This audit seeks to underscore the cardinal elements in the Chinese execution bill that were involved in California’s apology to the Chinese Americans with the intent of determining the impact of the bill to the Chinese community.
California’s Apology to Chinese Americans
Historicity
The California Gold Rush, as alleged in the views of Duong, triggered one of the most extensive forms of mass migration in the history of the world. The global migration is believed to have contributed to the diversity of the state of California, an aspect that equally served as a foundation for the region's academic, economic, as well as cultural growth. The Gold Rush equally paved the way for the funding and workforce that led to the creation of the western lag and the transcontinental railroad. The Central Pacific region of the railroad, however, recruited the Chinese as a source of labor. Their white counterparts paid the Chinese immigrants and the Chinese in America low wages. The laborers equally worked under severe and grueling conditions to lay several thousands of tracks on the railroad (19). Once the railroad was completed, the Chinese in California were forced to transition to the other types of employment, efforts that saw them make contributions to the growth and development of the state.
However, the legislature later resorted to the enactment of discriminatory laws that targeted this community, an approach that was intruded at discouraging their migration into America. The Chinese Exclusion Act was passed by the Congress in 1882, which restricted immigrants from China into the country for the next 60 years. The law underwent various amendments that prevented The Chinese laborers who had left USA from coming back into the country. Additionally, this was followed by years of racial hostility from the White Americans as well as anti-immigrant agitation. For instance, the laws mainly denied the Chinese population that resided in California the right to own property or land, the right to marry white people, the right to engage in an electoral process, and went further to deny their children access to public education, among other factors. The Chinese who lived in California were equally denied the right to testify before any jury as well as the right to have a witness in any proceeding that involved the white people, with this according to the passing and the upholding of the People v. Hall (1854) 4 Cal.399 law. The outcomes of these laws saw the Chinese who resided in California cut off from the protection of the law, leaving this population group vulnerable to abuse and violence. Additionally, between the 1850s and 1870s, the state of California passed on various laws aimed at Chinese immigrants, such as requiring them to have special licenses for businesses and denying them naturalization.
The Chinese Exclusion Bill
The Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 is believed to have played a significant role in restricting and limiting the migration of the Chinese nationals in the United States. The passing of this bill is attributed to the perceptions that were held by the Americans who resided in California and who believed that the decline in the economic growth and wages resulted from the existence of these nationals in the state. However, the Chinese mainly comprised of .002 percent of the populace. Such allegations, therefore, pushed Congress to pass the Act with the intent of placating the workers’ needs while on the other hand, maintaining and promoting the element of white racial purity. Intended towards curbing the influx of the Chinese nationals in the United States, with precision to the state of California, the legislation suspended the immigration of these populations in the U.S. for ten years, an aspect that equally considered this populace as unentitled in the process of naturalization. President Chester Arthur quickly signed this bill into law in 1882, an aspect that significantly challenged the Chinese populations who were already in America and who made efforts to challenge the constitutionality of this bill with no success.
Impact of the Bill on the Chinese Populace
The Supreme Court, as opined in the views of Duong upheld and implemented the Geary Act as established in Fong Yue Ting v. the United States in 1893, an aspect that saw the immigration of Chinese into the state of California illegalized in 1902 (24). The legislation had an impact given the fact that the population of Chinese nationals in the United States significantly declined. America made further pursuit through movements directed towards restricting the migration of other groups such as Hindus, Middle Easterners, Japanese, and East Indians from immigrating into different states following the ratification of the Immigration Act of 1924. The Chinese populations, as well as their American-born families, turned out to be ineligible as citizens in the U.S., until 1943 following...