Good news. Last week, the U.S. Senate approved a resolution acknowledging and apologizing for the nation's past discriminatory laws that targeted Chinese immigrants, such as the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882: Senate apologizes for discrimination against Chinese immigrants.The Chinese Exclusion Act effectively suspended Chinese immigration into the United States and denied citizenship to Chinese immigrants already in the country. The law was finally repealed in 1943 after China became a U.S. ally in World War II. Congress has never officially apologized these injustices.
A similar resolution, sponsored by Rep. Judy Chu, is pending in the House. The 1882 Project is spearheading a movement to get H. Res. 282 passed. Want to help? Here's some information on how to can contact your Representative and urge him or her to co-sponsor and vote in support of a House resolution on the Chinese Exclusion laws:
You can contact your Representative in three ways:For some, all this might sound like too little too late, and in a lot of ways that's true. Decades later, an apology sounds like the easy way out. But by officially acknowledging the injustices of the past, the hope is that it jumpstarts current and future generations to actively prevent something like this from happening again. Because it easily could.
- Write a letter;
- Call your Representative's office; and
- Visit your Representative in his or her Washington, D.C. or local office.
Before you contact your Representative, please review our advocacy toolkit which includes tips on:
- Preparing to contact your Representative;
- Writing letters to your Representative;
- Calling your Representative; and
- Visiting your Representative.*
*If you plan to visit your Representative, be sure to email the 1882 Project team at 1882Project.Congress@gmail.com once you have scheduled your visit, and send the team a completed 1882 Project Congressional Visit Form after your visit. The 1882 project will keep track of all constituent visits so that we can streamline our efforts. More details on what information you should include is provided in the advocacy toolkit.
Hell, we know that some people (ahem, Republican presidential candidate Michele Bachmann) still believe discriminatory immigration laws used to work "very, very well" for the United States. Gaahhh.
For more information about the 1882 Project, go here.