Proceedings of the Asiatic Exclusion League , April 1908

As is usual, I'll just deal with the most interesting bits of the proceedings.

A breakdown of organizations involved with the League. Some 84% are labor groups.

A section about Sacramento Country and the “Japanese invasion” driving out white men and their families.” The Japanese live in “wretched, unsightly shacks” which are “blots on the face of the country where there should be flower-decked homes of American families.”

A newspaper clipping about someone getting rid of Japanese help in his cafe.

Another clipping, this one about orchardists and fruit growers getting rid of Japanese help.

A Los Angeles Times report noting that, if there were to be a war between the U.S. and Japan, all the Japanese immigrants would rush to Japan to take up arms against the U.S.

Another reference to fruit growers getting rid of Japanese help.

Another clipping reference to various places getting rid of “the little brown men” in favor of white workers.

In this clipping, packing houses are getting rid of Japanese workers. Sorry, but I'm not sure what “packing houses” actually refers to.

This clipping actually doesn't even refer to the Japanese. Instead, it attacks the Greeks, Italians and the Hindoos. This is the first reference I've seen to Greeks and Italians.

Things to note about these clippings: they do not have any dates. Also, they do not say whether these are written by journalists, editors, or whether they are average citizens writing in.

Reference to Japanese and public schools.

A paper (Memorial) sent to the President of the U.S., the Senate, and the House of Representatives. It wants all Asiatics banned. It says that the Asiatics cannot be assimilated, and that they are “utterly unfit and incapable of discharging the duties of American citizenship. They presence will “impair and degrade, if not effectively destroy, our cherished institutions and our American life.”

This is one example of how some people considered the Asiatics to be an entirely different species from the white man. The same type of thing had been said about blacks, and even Jews. The people who said things like this had no understanding whatever of the scientific fact that we are one single species, period. All whites, blacks, Native Americans, Orientals, and whatever other grouping of humans you want to throw in are all one single species.

The concept of species is this. If a male and a female of the same grouping can mate and produce a viable offspring (a child that lives), then you have a single species. Thus, a female fox and a male fox can have sex and produce a kit. An Oriental woman and a Native American male can have sex and produce a child. A fox and a human cannot mate and cannot produce an offspring at all, much less one that will survive, since the two are totally different species.

A religious view of the situation.

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