Speech #1050013859

Asians on the whole were paid lower wages than their white counterparts. relegated to menial Jobs. or forced to turn to businesses and industries in which competition with whites was minimized. For more than 160 years. Asians were also refused citizenship by a law that denied their right to naturalize. a law that remained in effect until 1952. Without citizenship. Asins could not vote. and thus could not seek remedies through the Tammany Halls or other political organizations as did other immigrant groups. The legacy of this injustice is seen today in the relative lack of political influence and representation of AsianAmericans at every level and in every branch of government. Additionally. Asians were denied immigration rights. The Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 singled out Chinese on a racial basis. and the Gentlemens Agreement of 1908 and the National Origins Act of 1924 prohibited Japanese immigrationwhile permitting the annual entry of thousands of immigrants from Ireland. Italy. and Poland. The 1924 law also allowed European immigrants to bring their wives from their homelands. but barred the entry of women from China. Japan. Korea. and India. Even Asians who were United States citizens were prohibited from bringing Asian wives into the country. Conversely. the 1922 Cable Act provided that any American woman who married an Asian would lose her citizenship. It was not until the 1965 Immigration and Nationality Act eliminated immigration by national origins that the vestiges of these legal restrictions were lifted. Asians were also targeted by laws prohibiting them from owning property. The alien land laws passed by California and other Western and Southern States earlier this century. fostered by nativists and envious competitors. placed heavy obstacles in the path of struggling Asian immigrants and their children that were not faced by others. Perhaps most egregiously. Asians were denied civil rights guaranteed under the Constitution.