For nearly a century, the Asian-American immigrants that arrived in America were perceived by many American’s as a threat to society.  The Chinese Exclusion Act, passed in 1882 and not repelled until 1943, demonstrated the tensions that existed between Chinese immigrants,  American citizens, and other immigrant groups.  The government did not want Chinese immigrants to take American jobs (xenophobia also certainly played a role).

The Exclusion Act strictly limited the ability of most Chinese people to immigrate to America, and for several decades the Chinese population living in America consisted of middle-aged working men. This created the concept of divided families that had one spouse living in America (usually the husband),  and the wife and children (especially the girls) living in China.  During this period, and even for several decades after the act was repelled, there was a stereotype of Chinese immigrants as hard working poor outsiders here to “steal” American jobs.  They rarely participated in politics, and were therefore suppressed politically and economically but other groups.

It has only been recently that a new wave of Chinese immigrants is making their mark on American society.  Without the right to become naturalized citizens in the past,  Chinese immigrants were kept out of the political process. Because of this, “Much of the political activity in Chinatowns across the nation was oriented either toward homeland politics or local neighborhood ethnic Chinese interests—such as garbage pickup, parking, and after-school and weekend Chinese language school for children (368)”.  But within the last few decades, Chinese-American’s are becoming naturalized citizens at unprecedented rates.  The new wave of Chinese immigrants is better educated, wealthier, and more politicly active than the generation of immigrants before them.  Many have achieved advanced degrees at American universities and are finding a desire to become more politically active.  Several Chinese-American immigrants have won local elections in New York City over the past decade as the Chinese use their population explosion in New York for political gain.  This trend promises fairer representation of Chinese-Americans in both local and national politics, and a better quality of life for Chinese immigrants of both today and the future.

-Victor Rerick