Lawmaker wants apology for Angel Island immigrants
By: Steve Lawrence
Associated Press
June 18, 2009
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Lasting impression: Chinese inscriptions are seen on a monument outside barracks on Angel Island in San Francisco Bay. Chinese immigrants were forced to live there from 1910 to 1940. (AP file photo)
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SAN FRANCISCO — The historic immigration station in the middle of San Francisco Bay that could be closed because of state budget problems would receive a boost from federal funding under a plan from a Bay Area lawmaker.
State Assemblyman Paul Fong, a Cupertino Democrat whose maternal grandfather was subjected to immigration restrictions on Angel Island, thinks it’s time state and federal governments formally apologize for mistreatment of the Chinese.
California’s Chinese immigrants helped build ships, levees, irrigation systems and the transcontinental railroad. They worked in farm fields and mines and helped develop the abalone and shrimp industries.
Despite their efforts, they were subjected to special taxes, forced out of towns and denied the right to own property, marry whites and attend public schools. They also were subjected to violence and intimidation, and denied equal protection by the courts.
Along with seeking an apology from the federal government, Fong also plans to ask for some form of reparation, such as a contribution to maintain the immigration station on the island, which housed Chinese immigrants between 1910 and 1940 as they tried to prove they were eligible to enter the U.S.
Fong has introduced a resolution in the Assembly that cites the contributions made by the Chinese and expresses California’s deep regrets for the discrimination. The measure, ACR42, is scheduled to be considered next week by the Assembly Judiciary Committee, the first step in winning approval from the Legislature.
Apologies for government mistreatment and reparations have been rare in Congress. In 1988, Congress apologized for the internment of Japanese-Americans during World War II and offered $20,000 payments to survivors. It also issued an apology in 1993 to native Hawaiians for the unlawful overthrow of the Hawaiian Kingdom.
Legislation is pending in Congress to apologize for slavery, and for years of mistreatment to American Indians.
Fong and a resolution co-author, Assemblyman Kevin De Leon, D-Los Angeles, said it has drawn some negative and “very racist” reaction in reader comments on newspaper Web sites, but they predicted it would pass the state Legislature.
A spokeswoman for state Senate Minority Leader Dennis Hollingsworth, R-Temecula, said he had no comment on the proposal.
“It’s a moral imperative for the Legislature to rectify past injustices by apologizing,” said Ivy Lee, former president of the Chinese American Political Action Committee. “Without an apology, we cannot move forward and promote reconciliation.”
From segregation to tourist destination
Key dates in the history of the Angel Island immigration station:
1910-40 Used as segregated housing for prospective immigrants
1940 Island administration building burns down; prospective immigrants moved to mainland
1963 Angel Island named a state park
1983 Restored barracks open to public
1997 Immigration station declared a National Historic Landmark
2000 California voters pass state bond setting aside $15 million for restoration of the Angel Island immigration station
2005-08 Restoration of immigration station
2009 Immigration station opens for public tours
2009 Angel Island on list of 220 state parks facing closure due to budget cuts
Sources: Angel Island Immigration Station Foundation, Angel Island Association
