Despite the lofty claim that "all men are created equal," equality has never been an American birthright. In 1882 Congress suspended Chinese immigration on the assumption that the Chinese were an inferior people. Calvin Coolidge in 1923 asked Congress for a permanent ban on Chinese immigration, saying that people "who do not want to be partakers of the American spirit ought not to settle in America." Not until 1965 was discrimination against the Chinese and other Asians effectively eliminated from U.S. immigration laws.
~ taken from The American Democracy, 6th Edition
Tuesday, July 22, 2008
Sharing Something That Has Been on My Mind-- Random Fact Time
Labels:
Congress,
Discrimination,
Equality,
History,
Immigration,
Politics
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