Today, as the Senate is scheduled to vote on Senator Hirono's AAPI hate crime bill, it is relevant to reflect on the history of exploitation and exclusion of Asian immigrants by the United States.
A wonderful article was recently published in the Atlantic by Columbia University professor Mae Ngai outlining the sadly undertaught history of exploiting and dehumanizing Asians by Americans from the 19th century to the present day. From Chinese gold rush and railroad workers to the Chinese Exclusion Act, from Japanese internment to the Treaty of San Francisco to the Japanese car quotas of the 90's, through the exploitation and murder of Asians in countless satellite wars, she paints a comprehensive (if confusingly detailed) picture of the history that has brought us in to today's surge in violence against Asian-Americans.