I’d like to start by stating that US and Canadian laws have been ashamedly horrible to Chinese immigrants. Yep, and that’s really Horrible with all caps, lots of exclamation points, and a few “WTFs” thrown in. I mean seriously. . . I’ve never read such racially loaded piles of SH**. I mean, the legislative discussion behind these laws covers everything from racism to victim blaming to sexism to placing them at the bottom of the freaking “Caste” system. I mean, when have we ever even had a caste system! Here are some of the key descriptions of the Chinese used in excusing such terrible racist legal movements:
- “Culturally inferior”
- “Racially unfit”
- “Of the lowest orders”
- “Or the lowest castes”
- “Virtually Pariahs”
- The “Dregs of the population”
- “Lepers”
- “Slaves”
- “Yellow faces”
The list goes on. They even mention that, of the Chinese women in the US in the late 1800s (after the Civil War was fought), most were “in a state of servitude, beside which African slavery was a beneficent captivity.” They talk about how many of these women were being forced into sexual slavery, but promptly use that as a reason to banish the population as a whole from American shores! Canada, with no just cause outside of racism, even taxed every Chinese immigrant $500 throughout the early 1900s, took away many of their rights (include the right to vote, own property, own a business, etc.) and eventually outlawed Chinese immigration almost completely (only 15 immigrants from China were allowed in from 1924 to 1944). This continued even when Chinese-heritage soldiers rose up to fight with Canadian forces during WWII. They were our allies, and this was still going on! NO SUCH LAW WAS IMPOSED AGAINST EUROPEAN IMMIGRANTS. The Chinese residents and natural citizen already there even had to get a special permit to alert the government of their residency and alert the government of any traveling plans they had.
I mean, come on!!! The governments’ treatment of these poor immigrants was just a pile of SH** And this type of conversation and treatment went on clear up through the late 1900s!!! How sick is that?!? Some of the laws were in place as late as the 1980s! Seriously, that’s basically within my lifetime — less than 30 years. I have young friends who were alive then!
Now, excuse me. I think I’ll go scream at the ignorance of idiots right now. . .
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Tags: 1800s, Canada, China, Chinese, laws, Politics, Racism, rant, United States, Wrong
Deceptively Blonde 