Making Apologies

I see on Racialicious that California has approved a bill to officially apologize to Chinese American citizens for discriminatory laws passed during the Gold Rush and later.

Some of these laws, which "barred Chinese from owning land or property, marrying whites, working in the public sector and testifying against whites in court," were on the books until the 1940s.

The bill would also honor the ways in which workers from China helped make California what it is. Most notable may be the fact that they basically built that side of the Transcontinental Railroad.

This reminded me that on a tour of Havre Beneath the Streets we learned that Chinese railroad workers lived underground because it was safer for them not to be outside in town after dark. Although Chinese immigrants are not as big a part of Montana's history as they are in California, they were certainly there--and, unfortunately, apparently no better treated.

It's a good idea to acknowledge when you've been wrong if you hope to be right, so I think this is pretty cool.