It was 1880 and the California economy was bad. The Gold Rush was over and the Trans Continental Railroad had been completed. And many Californians blamed the Chinese. Why? Because the Chinese were willing to work for lower wages, they were willing to work longer hours, and they were tough to compete against.
So what is different today? The worker in China is willing to work for less than the labor workers in the US, willing to work longer hours and is hard to compete against.
In 1880 the unions fought for and won the Chinese Exclusion Act (signed by a Republican President) which singled out the Chinese for very restricted immigration into the US. And in California they pushed through even more discriminatory legislation at the state level.
Much of the Chinese bashing was led by labor unions. And it has deprived the US of the benefits we would have realized with more Chinese immigration.
Much of today’s China bashing is still led by labor unions. It is not nearly as violent because your average Jimmy Hoffa thug can’t beat up the hard working factory workers in China like they used to do in California in the 1880s. But our Democratic leadership owes our unions big time and you can be assured they will assist in the anti-Chinese legislation and initiatives just like the favored treatment they gave the unions in the Health Care Bill.
Since the 1880’s there has been more immigration discrimination against the Chinese than any other ethnic or religious group.
This story is partially told in the bestseller Shanghai Girls tells (from World War II on). But there was plenty of other discrimination that is not heard about nearly enough. The unions hated the idea of having to compete against the industrious Chinese and they convinced our government to discriminate against this group for over 60 years.
Perhaps we should simply strive to work as hard and as effectively as the Chinese. And while we’re at it, let’s drop the racist, anti-competitive rhetoric.
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