South Bay Asian American leaders are calling on Cupertino Vice Mayor Liang Chao to apologize for a series of comments she made that they believe appear to defend the Chinese Exclusion Act.
The vice mayor, however, says her words are being taken out of context.
In an email thread among Cupertino Union School District parents about critical race theory, Chao wrote, “the Chinese Exclusion Act was not even based on race, since only Chinese laborers are excluded.”
“It was really a labor issue where American laborers wish to keep cheaper Chinese laborers out, for good reasons,” Chao said in a Nov. 5 email shared with this news organization. “We are doing similar things today, through the H1 visa process. We don’t want to give work visas to people that will take American jobs.”
The Chinese Exclusion Act, which was signed into law by President Chester A. Arthur in 1882, prohibited Chinese workers from immigrating to the U.S. and banned all Chinese immigrants from becoming U.S. citizens.
Chao says she was using the “Chinese Exclusion Act as an example to show that critical race theory would only see it as a racist act, as if racism was the only issue it was based on.”
“Let me be clear, the Chinese Exclusion Act was racist,” Chao said in an email to the Bay Area News Group. “I have never said it was not, ever. My point in the middle of a discussion on the suitability of critical race theory in K-12 education was that the Chinese Exclusion Act was not only driven by racism, but also driven by labor-related considerations at the time.”
Jim Nguyen — a political science professor at De Anza College who specializes in Asian American studies — said that it’s well-established that the Chinese Exclusion Act was “racially discriminatory on its face.”
While it was a labor issue, he said it’s ultimately rooted in racism, xenophobia and nativism.
Both houses of Congress passed resolutions in 2011 and 2012 to apologize for the law, which Nguyen said is the first and only time the U.S. barred people of a particular nationality from entering the country.
Chao’s comments come at a time when cities also are apologizing for past transgressions against Chinese Americans. Earlier this year, the San Jose City Council apologized to the Chinese community for actions taken by a previous council in the late 1800s after they declared Chinatown a public nuisance in the process of trying to build a new city hall.
Soon after, in May 1887, an intentionally set fire burned through Chinatown on Market Street, destroying homes and businesses and displacing 1,400 people.
Despite Chao’s clarification, some local leaders want her to issue a formal apology at the next Cupertino City Council meeting on Nov. 16.
Gilbert Wong, the former mayor of Cupertino and current president of the Organization of Chinese Americans of Silicon Valley, told this news organization that he was “appalled and disturbed by the vice mayor’s mischaracterization” of the Chinese Exclusion Act.
“Obviously she has strong view points regarding critical race theory, and she was trying to use it as an analogy to link it with the Chinese Exclusion Act,” Wong said. “Critical race theory is critical race theory. The Chinese Exclusion Act is totally different legislation that has nothing to do with critical race theory, and to try to link them that one is bad and one is good doesn’t make sense and it’s like she’s distorting history.”
Wong said he commends her for clarifying that the Chinese Exclusion Act is racist, but the former mayor still wants her to make her apology public at the next council meeting — something he said is especially important in the “post age of Donald Trump” where misinformation can run rampant.
In a statement released Monday evening, the Silicon Valley Asian Pacific American Democratic Club also asked Chao to apologize at the next meeting.
“Passage of the law was preceded by anti-Chinese violence, as well as various policies targeting Chinese migrants,” the statement said. “SVAPADC acknowledges the harm caused by this racist and hateful policy, and we denounce Councilmember Chao’s gross distortion of history.”
Other Asian American elected officials, including Assemblymember Alex Lee, D-Milpitas, and Fremont City Councilmember Teresa Keng have also rebuked Chao’s comments.
Lee called the vice mayor’s logic “inconsistent” and said her remarks were a “gross and irresponsible distortion of history.”
When asked if she would apologize at the next council meeting, Chao responded in an email that she wanted to have real conversations with people, “rather than making comments based on snippets of misinformation on social media.”
