History of Asian immigrants

LEANG NGOV: 

During API Heritage Month, many groups have been and still are being overlooked. I could explain many reasons why that is, but we will focus on one point.  

A long time ago, when Asian immigrants started to appear in the U.S., the U.S. was resistant to them. In 1882, the U.S. Congress passed the Chinese Exclusion Act, which meant if Chinese immigrants wanted to move here in the U.S., that Act barred them from doing so. However, after the Act passed, few other Asian groups started to appear, so the US had the Act to extended to exclude all Asian immigrants.

So it was in place from 1882 until 1965 but thanks to the Civil Rights Movement and Black Panthers who successfully fought against anti-Asian immigration policies, the Act was removed and replaced with the Immigration Act of 1965.

This was when Asian immigration was allowed in the U.S. and how Asian population in the U.S. became more diverse.

Did you know that this year, 2020, is the 45th anniversary of Southeast Asian refugees’ arrival in the U.S.? 

This the largest group to be resettled in the U.S. 

When the Refugee Act of 1980 passed -- this was when we started to see more refugees here in the U.S.

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I want to backtrack - in the 1950’s and 1960’s, Cambodia and the U.S. created a program for Cambodian students to attend California colleges and universities. After they completed their degrees, they returned to Cambodia. The program, however, ended in the mid 1960s. Few students chose to stay in the US permanently after that. When the first wave of Cambodian refugees came to the U.S. at Camp Pendleton, CA which was 70 miles south of Long Beach.  The former university students came to visit the refugees. They also ended up sponsoring the refugees to earn their citizenship and to help them adjust to life here in the U.S. The student support system resulted in the formation of Cambodian Association of America. 

I want to share two interesting facts. Long Beach, CA is the oldest and largest Cambodian community in the U.S.. Lowell, Mass is the second largest Cambodian community. 

Is my family from one of them? No, sadly not. My family just resettled in Oklahoma. Yes, I was born there in Oklahoma. When I was 4, my family relocated to California and I grew up there.

 So the identity - Asian American - is so broad. But when we look at the history during the 1960s, the term Asian American started out as a political identity. It was meant to represent intra ethnicity solidarity. I hope we can reclaim that identity and practice the intra ethnicity solidarity within our API community.