Professor Hing Comments for Bee on Apology for Anti-Chinese Measures
Professor Bill O. Hing served as a consultant for two state lawmakers sponsoring a resolution regarding the mistreatment of Chinese immigrants in California during the 19th century and commented on the measure for a recent story in the Sacramento Bee.
The resolution, sponsored by Assemblymen Paul Fong and Kevin de Leon, would offer an apology for the role the California Legislature played in discriminating against Chinese immigrants during the Gold Rush era and the decades that followed. Among other measures, California passed laws requiring Chinese to pay higher taxes on gold than whites, barring them from holding certain jobs or owning property, and forbidding them from marrying whites. State politicians also were instrumental in persuading Congress to pass the 1882 Chinese Exclusion Act, which barred additional Chinese immigration.
Professor Hing told the Bee that the experience of Chinese immigrants in California is part of a recurring pattern in which immigrants are welcomed when their labor is in demand, and then discriminated against when jobs become scarce.
"What happened to the Chinese is what's happening today - let's face it - to the Mexicans," Professor Hing said.
Bill Ong Hing is recognized nationally as an immigration law and community lawyering expert. He is the founder of the Immigrant Legal Resource Center in San Francisco.