Those who cannot learn from history are doomed to repeat it. George Santayana
The following is the trailer for a PBS documentary on the 1882 Chinese Exclusion Act. I don't remember learning about this in American history. Do you? I'd have a hard time forgetting because if I had lived back then, I would have been excluded.
The Chinese were a source of cheap labor during the California gold rush and the building of the transcontinental railroad. But when economic times got tough, they were accused of taking work from "real" Americans. They were considered unassimilable and inferior by their very nature thus unfit to become citizens. In 1882, the federal government banned any Chinese from entering the country and denied citizenship, which led to an eventual ban on all Asian immigration until 1943. Even with repeal of the exclusion act, only 105 Chinese per year were allowed to immigrate until 1965. This is the first law to single out a specific ethnic group for exclusion.
After watching this, I wondered - what was the American church's and individual Christian response to this legislation? This is pertinent today because the issue of immigration hasn't gone away. On the one hand, what the government chooses to do or not do is out of our control. It has upheld laws that we would oppose and others we would affirm. Even among believers, there isn't a consensus as to what is the "right" thing to do. But at the personal level, God's law governs me as an individual and how I relate to my community. In this light, what is my answer to the greater underlying question - "Who is my neighbor?"
I actually did learn about this is high school, back when dinosaurs roamed the earth. Then again I also learned about the "Protestant Work Ethic." I doubt that's taught anymore.
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