A Short History Lesson..
April 1, 2006
My folks immigrated here in the early 60’s, I was a young child at the time. I grew up in the ghetto of San Francisco’s Chinatown. During the 70’s when I grew up, Chinatown was still a pretty closed community with many of the remnants of self-government within its borders. Many of my lonely days of childhood was spent reading and learning about Chinese history in Amerika. I visited places in Chinatown from written history. There was lots of San Francisco history I learned about in addition to Asian American history. What I learned back then has become part of the foundation of how I view the world today.
Many Chinese immigrants coming to this country during the turn of the 20th century looked to America as a land of opportunity and wealth. America was know as, “Gold Mountain” in their native china. Chinese men would come to America seeking their fortunes in what ever work they could find. Most history text books would credit the Chinese with building the railroads. The Chinese contributed too many other aspects of the Wild West that were not mentioned in these books. They opened general stores, operated farms, panned and mined for gold, and just about anything associated with country living. Many of these Chinese men never planned to stay here, most sent what they earned back home to their families with the idea they would return back home to live a better life from the wealth they earned in America. Most would never see their families again due to the actions of congress in the years ahead. Their success was scorned by their western peers. In time, congress and local governments made it their goal to eliminate the Asian plague in America. The Chinese exclusion act was passed in 1882. It was designed to severely oppress all Chinese living in America. Chinese men were not allowed to marry by law and immigration restrictions against Chinese women coming to this country were part of the government’s idea of how to eliminate the Chinese from the America population.
When Japan invaded China during world war two and China became a militarily important place in the war against Japan, Congress and military leaders understood the importance of improving relations between the US and China. This was the beginning of a huge propaganda campaign to improve the image of Chinese in America with the idea of improving US relations with China. Congress turned the Yellow Plague into the Model Minority. In time the Chinese exclusion act was repealed and immigration restrictions against Chinese were relaxed and this is one of the historical events that resulted in me and my family’s journey to America.
I write about this in the light of all the laws currently debated about the rights of those who are LGBTI. Through out human history there has always been an oppressed group. Rome was built on the backs of “barbaric slaves”. They were the cheap labor of their day. Black slaves were part of this country cheap labor force until it was outlawed before the civil war. We have “Illegal immigrants” today as cooperate cheap labor. Women’s rights were part of this struggle too. So much of human history has been about gaining wealth on the backs of servants and blaming the troubles of society on marginalized groups or individuals. They use their “morality” to justify their actions and keep marginalized groups fighting among each other wasting their resources and energy in the process. When economic empowerment is denied to an oppressed group, they have little chance of altering their position in society. Consider the economic burden to cooperate America if every same sex couples gained the same benefits of married couples. When cooperated America discovered the LGBTI segment of the population can equal dollars to the bottom line, they began to cultivate their business. Economic empowerment also means cultural and political influence. Equality means those with the most political, economic, cultural influence must give up part of their wealth and for many of them, they have no motivation to do this. There are only so many slices of American Pie for all who want some.
Pro creation and population increase equals greater support for those who are wealthy. If a religion or belief system has no followers, it would simply die. If you have every member of the population following your belief system and you are the one controlling the belief system, this will put you in a position of wealth and power.
All those pro-lifers out there crow about saving the lives of the un-born, but do little or nothing for the lives of children or adults without a home or are considered undesirable. Greater population significantly increased the demands on the earth’s resources and reduces the overall quality of life in a society.
As the world we live in grows closer by modern means of communication and transportation, every country needs to learn how to put aside the perceived differences and understand how similar we all really are. For the future survival of humanity and the human family, we need to understand each other beyond our perceived differences and care for mother earth so she can take care of humanity for now and for future generations.
My folks immigrated here in the early 60’s, I was a young child at the time. I grew up in the ghetto of San Francisco’s Chinatown. During the 70’s when I grew up, Chinatown was still a pretty closed community with many of the remnants of self-government within its borders. Many of my lonely days of childhood was spent reading and learning about Chinese history in Amerika. I visited places in Chinatown from written history. There was lots of San Francisco history I learned about in addition to Asian American history. What I learned back then has become part of the foundation of how I view the world today.
Many Chinese immigrants coming to this country during the turn of the 20th century looked to America as a land of opportunity and wealth. America was know as, “Gold Mountain” in their native china. Chinese men would come to America seeking their fortunes in what ever work they could find. Most history text books would credit the Chinese with building the railroads. The Chinese contributed too many other aspects of the Wild West that were not mentioned in these books. They opened general stores, operated farms, panned and mined for gold, and just about anything associated with country living. Many of these Chinese men never planned to stay here, most sent what they earned back home to their families with the idea they would return back home to live a better life from the wealth they earned in America. Most would never see their families again due to the actions of congress in the years ahead. Their success was scorned by their western peers. In time, congress and local governments made it their goal to eliminate the Asian plague in America. The Chinese exclusion act was passed in 1882. It was designed to severely oppress all Chinese living in America. Chinese men were not allowed to marry by law and immigration restrictions against Chinese women coming to this country were part of the government’s idea of how to eliminate the Chinese from the America population.
When Japan invaded China during world war two and China became a militarily important place in the war against Japan, Congress and military leaders understood the importance of improving relations between the US and China. This was the beginning of a huge propaganda campaign to improve the image of Chinese in America with the idea of improving US relations with China. Congress turned the Yellow Plague into the Model Minority. In time the Chinese exclusion act was repealed and immigration restrictions against Chinese were relaxed and this is one of the historical events that resulted in me and my family’s journey to America.
I write about this in the light of all the laws currently debated about the rights of those who are LGBTI. Through out human history there has always been an oppressed group. Rome was built on the backs of “barbaric slaves”. They were the cheap labor of their day. Black slaves were part of this country cheap labor force until it was outlawed before the civil war. We have “Illegal immigrants” today as cooperate cheap labor. Women’s rights were part of this struggle too. So much of human history has been about gaining wealth on the backs of servants and blaming the troubles of society on marginalized groups or individuals. They use their “morality” to justify their actions and keep marginalized groups fighting among each other wasting their resources and energy in the process. When economic empowerment is denied to an oppressed group, they have little chance of altering their position in society. Consider the economic burden to cooperate America if every same sex couples gained the same benefits of married couples. When cooperated America discovered the LGBTI segment of the population can equal dollars to the bottom line, they began to cultivate their business. Economic empowerment also means cultural and political influence. Equality means those with the most political, economic, cultural influence must give up part of their wealth and for many of them, they have no motivation to do this. There are only so many slices of American Pie for all who want some.
Pro creation and population increase equals greater support for those who are wealthy. If a religion or belief system has no followers, it would simply die. If you have every member of the population following your belief system and you are the one controlling the belief system, this will put you in a position of wealth and power.
All those pro-lifers out there crow about saving the lives of the un-born, but do little or nothing for the lives of children or adults without a home or are considered undesirable. Greater population significantly increased the demands on the earth’s resources and reduces the overall quality of life in a society.
As the world we live in grows closer by modern means of communication and transportation, every country needs to learn how to put aside the perceived differences and understand how similar we all really are. For the future survival of humanity and the human family, we need to understand each other beyond our perceived differences and care for mother earth so she can take care of humanity for now and for future generations.
posted by Rupunzell | 11:18 AM
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