In the quiet back roads of the Delta in Northern California, caressed by the lazy flow of the Sacramento/San Joaquin Rivers, lies the town of Locke. This historic district is frozen in time as a chronicle of a period when “undesirable” immigrants, specifically the Chinese, were openly discriminated. It stands as an eerie testament to America’s anguished affair with its complicated diverse populace.
Once a refuge for the poor, the tired and struggling to be free, open borders in America came to an end as strong political voices touted the populist racial stereotype which demonized Asian immigrants as immoral and “coolies” (low paid laborers that depressed workmen’s wages). With each federal law passed by Congress to halt the uproar of racial intolerance, another brick was added to an invisible perimeter wall that surrounded the country.
In 1875, President Ulysses S. Grant signed the Page Law designed to “end the danger of cheap Chinese labor and immoral Chinese women”. However, only the ban on East Asian women, especially Chinese, was diligently enforced. In 1882, President Chester A. Arthur signed the Chinese Exclusion Act prohibiting the immigration of all Chinese workers. It is the first and only federal immigration law that restricted all the members of a specific ethnic or national group from entering the country.
The California Alien Land Law of 1913 (also known as the Webb–Haney Act) prevented early Chinese settlers and other aliens ineligible for citizenship from owning land in California. Allowed to reside only where no one else wanted to, and required to move whenever the landowner opted the land for other purposes; the law hindered the formation of permanent immigrant communities.
Yet, despite the law, Locke became an exclusive Chinese village fueled by the need to satisfy the demands for cheap labor and services essential for draining swamps, building levees, and growing crops in the Delta area.
On a recent visit to the State of Washington, our tour group of 4 senior citizens explored the Puget Sound territory. At the Tacoma Waterfront, we chanced upon the Chinese Reconciliation Park which was created to heal the wounds of discrimination against the Chinese.
In 1880, the Mayor of Tacoma along with 27 white racists harassed 500 Chinese to leave the city; then threatened with violence and death 200 more Chinese who stayed behind.
The Park stands today as a memorial of atonement giving opportunity to celebrate cultural diversity and common humanity. It serves as an inspiration for other communities and a model to those who work for reconciliation in all parts of the world.