I am reading a book about Chinese immigrants in the late 1800's.

[wasupaloopa]

Back then Congress had passed the Exclusion Act to discourage Chinese immigration.

It was a very bad law. Basically Chinese immigrants could never become citizens. In some cases they could be put in jail just for existing.

Some of what was in the Exclusion Act is what Trump is doing now. His plan is to exclude black and brown immigrants.

The right wants to get rid of the 14th Amendment so that children of immigrants born here are no longer citizens.

With Kavanaugh maybe there will be another Exclusion Act.

[Hekate]

1. Malcolm X said that racism is as American as apple pie, and he was right.

History makes a grand and disturbing read. We choose our narratives. My narrative has always been that we struggle toward the light, often failing, always moving forward bit by bit, and that the Constitution is a living document each generation is called upon to reinterpret.

Oh brother are there lessons there, and some of them very dark. This is one of those times when the darkness has us by the ankle.

[pretzel4gore]

8. The 'war in drugs' was stimulated by

the way ' white' women were beguiled by wonderful dope. ..which was actually readily available but....very little written about the social aspects of drug use, but the phenomena developed at least partly in defiance of the strict ness/racism and oboredom stigmas of being a square. ..and the fact laudanum etc were sold over the counter until drug war was started- and criminalizing the biz just added cachet which made it a losing proposition right off!

[BeckyDem]

2. Its not something to ignore, the GOP have proven they're capable of anything.

Whether they could pull it off is something else.

[cwydro]

3. Scary times.

Truly.

[Guppy]

4. That is actually my great grandfather

My Grandfather was born in CA in the 1890's. He went back to China in the late teen's. He only got back because he had papers. His dad tried to sell the papers. On my other side my Grandfather jumped the boat around 1910. His wife (German) was arrested in Illinois for cavorting with Chinese people. I have the newspaper article.

[jberryhill]

5. One of the most important cases on birthright citizenship is United States v. Wong Kim Ark

...which arose from those very circumstances:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_v._Wong_Kim_Ark

The case highlighted disagreements over the precise meaning of one phrase in the Citizenship Clause—namely, the provision that a person born in the United States who is subject to the jurisdiction thereof acquires automatic citizenship. The Supreme Court's majority concluded that this phrase referred to being required to obey U.S. law; on this basis, they interpreted the language of the Fourteenth Amendment in a way that granted U.S. citizenship to at least some children born of foreigners because they were born on American soil (a concept known as jus soli). The court's dissenters argued that being subject to the jurisdiction of the United States meant not being subject to any foreign power—that is, not being claimed as a citizen by another country via jus sanguinis (inheriting citizenship from a parent)—an interpretation which, in the minority's view, would have excluded "the children of foreigners, happening to be born to them while passing through the country".

The right would like to overturn this case and adopt the minority position.

[dalton99a]

6. +1. What happened to him afterward:

Despite his history-making case, he reaped little benefit. His citizenship and legal status were never fully recognized by the U.S. government, and he remained an outsider in the land of his birth. Like all Chinese in America, Wong was required to carry a "Certificate of Identity" at all times to verify his status as a legal resident. Whenever he entered or re-entered the country, Wong also had to laboriously fill out forms and be interrogated about his right to return to the land of his birth.

As a result of his unequal status, Wong eventually turned his back on the United States. He married and had four sons, but they remained in China. Eventually, Wong retired to China at the age of 62 and never returned to the United States. He died in China shortly after World War II.

As Americans consider the proposal to end birthright citizenship and the candidates who support it, they should also remember Wong Kim Ark and the price he paid so that future generations could enjoy the rights and privileges of birthright citizenship.

http://www.nydailynews.com/opinion/erika-lee-immigration-history-lesson-donald-trump-article-1.2329495

[jberryhill]

7. The notion of backing up Supreme Court decisions with the full force of the US was yet to come