Senator John McCain, the Republican presidential nominee, admitted that he was wrong in opposing a national holiday in honor of the late Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. I am glad that Senator McCain admitted his misjudgment because Dr. King is not just a Black hero. He is an American hero and a Chinese-American hero as well.
As Chinese Americans, we owe a debt to our parents and grandparents for all they have given us. To say that the 20th Century was a difficult time to live in China would be an understatement considering the perpetual state of conflict, war and turmoil that wracked the country. Despite all of this, somehow, our parents or grandparents managed to survive and eventually immigrate to the United States so that we could take advantage of opportunities that may not have been available to them.
However, we would be remiss if we did not also acknowledge the sacrifices of Dr. King and the other participants in the American civil rights movement. In fighting against racial inequality, Dr. King opened doors not just for Blacks, but for people of all color, including Chinese Americans.
60 years ago, the US Supreme Court ruled in Shelley v. Kraemer that the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution prohibited state courts from enforcing racially restrictive covenants. These covenants were private agreements to exclude persons of certain races or colors from using or occupying real estate for residential purposes. In the case, the convenant read as follows:
[T]he said property is hereby restricted to the use and occupancy for the term of Fifty (50) years from this date, so that it shall be a condition all the time and whether recited and referred to as [sic] not in subsequent conveyances and shall attach to the land as a condition precedent to the sale of the same, that hereafter no part of said property or any portion thereof shall be, for said term of Fifty-years, occupied by any person not of the Caucasian race, it being intended hereby to restrict the use of said property for said period of time against the occupancy as owners or tenants of any portion of said property for resident or other purpose by people of the Negro or Mongolian Race.”
The property at issue was in St. Louis, Missouri. And, Mongolian refers to East Asians, including Chinese. Let’s look at a racially restrictive covenant from the State of Washington:
That neither the said premises or any house, building or improvement thereon erected, shall at any time be occupied by persons of the Ethiopian race, or by Japanese or Chinese, or any other Malay or Asiatic race, save except as domestic servants in the employ of persons not coming within this restriction.
If you ever saw those photos from the South with the signs for Whites and Coloreds, the racially restrictive covenants listed above should tell you where Chinese Americans fit into the mix. And, it ain’t the White group. Now, if a presidential candidate trivializes a man who was instrumental in opening up so many opportunities for Chinese Americans, I am not sure that this candidate best reflects my values. What do you think?