Lamar Thorpe

What was the Accusation?

It was known as a “sundown town,” where Chinese immigrants were barred from streets at night and feared retribution if they did venture out. The concern was well-founded: In May 1876, the Chinatown in Antioch, now a city of over 100,000 people in the San Francisco Bay Area, was burned to the ground as white residents told the Chinese to leave. The reason: Residents were angry that some men had contracted a disease from Chinese prostitutes, according to newspaper accounts from the time. As the Sacramento Bee piously announced: “The Caucasian torch lighted the way of the heathen out of the wilderness.” And this from the San Francisco Chronicle: “The actions of the citizens of this place will, without doubt, meet with the hearty approval of every man, woman and child on the Pacific coast.” The Los Angeles Evening Express also chimed in: “Today the remaining houses have been removed and Antioch is now free from this degraded class.” A “degraded class” that managed to help build the railroads that benefited so many.

Now, 145 years later, Antioch has expressed sorrow, both to the memory of the immigrants and their descendants. Said the City Council in a resolution passed in May: “An apology for dehumanization and injustices cannot erase the past, but admission of the wrongs committed can speed racial healing and reconciliation and help confront the ghosts of the past.” The council will also create a Chinatown Historic District and fund murals and museum exhibits commemorating the city’s Asian history. Other cities in California would do well to learn from this gesture: White residents throughout the state, including Los Angeles and Santa Ana, “lynched Chinese people or burned down their neighborhoods in the late 1800s and early 1900s,” as the Los Angeles Times said.

Key Apologia Strategies:

Mortification

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Transcript

RESOLUTION OF THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF ANTIOCH APOLOGIZING TO EARLY CHINESE IMMIGRANTS AND THEIR DESCENDANTS FOR ACTS OF FUNDAMENTAL INJUSTICE, SEEKING FORGIVENESS AND COMMITTING TO RECTIFICATION OF PAST MISDEEDS

WHEREAS, on January 24, 1848, gold was discovered in Alta California, Mex and by 1849, people were coming to the region from all over the world to look for gold;

WHEREAS, the Gold Rush caused a huge increase in the population by migrants from the eastern United States and other parts of the world including China;

WHEREAS, between 1849 and 1853 about 24,000 young Chinese men immigrated to Alta California, Mex (which in 1850 became the United States, State of California) and by 1870 there were an estimated 63,000 Chinese in the United States, 77% of whom resided in California;

WHEREAS, many Chinese immigrants were met with racism, scapegoating and anti-Chinese sentiment also known as Xenophobia, which was at its highest between 1850 and 1870;WHEREAS, Antioch in its early years was not exempt from Xenophobia;

WHEREAS, this period in Antioch’s history, like in most of America, is now known as the “The Driving Out” with forced removals of Chinese immigrants;

WHEREAS, during “The Driving Out” period, Antioch officially became a “Sundown Town” when it banned Chinese residents from walking city streets after sunset;

WHEREAS, in order to get from their jobs to their homes each evening, these Chinese residents built a series of tunnels connecting the business district to where I Street met the waterfront;

WHEREAS, in 1876 Chinese residents were told by white mobs that they had until 3 p.m. to leave Antioch”” no exceptions;

WHEREAS, after Chinese residents were forced out, Chinatown was burned to the ground and Antioch made headline news: “The Caucasian torch,” wrote the Sacramento Bee, “lighted the way of the heathen out of the wilderness,” and “The actions of the citizens of this place will, without doubt, meet with the hearty approval of every man, woman and child on the Pacific coast” wrote the San Francisco Chronicle;

WHEREAS, Antioch’s early period helped negatively contribute to the Nation’s xenophobic discourse, which led to legal discrimination in public policy with the establishment of the Chinese Exclusion Act;

WHEREAS, the system of “The Driving Out” and the visceral racism against persons of Chinese descent upon which it depended became entrenched in the City’s, the State’s and the Nation’s social fabric;

WHEREAS, the story of Chinese immigrants and the dehumanizing atrocities committed against them should not be purged from or minimized in the telling of Antioch’s history;

WHEREAS, the City of Antioch must acknowledge that the legacy of early Chinese immigrants and Xenophobia are part of our collective consciousness that helps contribute to the current anti-Asian American and Pacific Islander hate;

WHEREAS, a genuine apology and seeking forgiveness are an important and necessary first step in the process of racial reconciliation;

WHEREAS, an apology for dehumanization and injustices cannot erase the past, but admission of the wrongs committed can speed racial healing and reconciliation and help confront the ghosts of the City’s past; NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that the City Council of the City of
Antioch:

1) Apologizes to all early Chinese immigrants and their descendants who cameto Antioch and were unwelcome;

2) Seeks forgiveness for acts of fundamental injustice, terror, cruelty, and brutality; and

3) Expresses its commitment to rectify the lingering consequences of the misdeeds committed against early Chinese immigrant under, before and
during “The Driving Out.”

Sources

Payton, A. (2021, August 3). Antioch council members sign resolution apologizing for city’s past anti-Chinese hate. Contra Costa Herald. Retrieved from contracostaherald.com/antioch-council-members-sign-resolution-apologizing-for-citys-past-anti-chinese-hate-during-public-ceremony/

Diaz, J. (2021, May 20). California city apologizes for treatment of early Chinese immigrants. New York Times. Retrieved from nytimes.com/2021/05/20/us/antioch-california-sundown-town-chinese-immigrants.html

Do, A. (2021, July 26). White residents burned this California Chinatown to the ground. An apology came 145 years later. Los Angeles Times. Retrieved from https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2021-07-26/antioch-chinese-apology