I have written close to 200 columns on a range of topics – from racism, religion, war, love, to democracy. What might I have missed?
Talking more about the history of U.S. immigration policy.
I am not talking about immigration law that allows family reunification, increases the availability of skilled workers, provides humanitarian protections and promotes diversity in its melting pot.
No. To understand what I mean, come with me to the time my children tried to catch Santa Claus.
Soon after learning how to write, and every Christmas thereafter, the kids submitted a list of things they wanted from Santa. With each Santa list, there was a rare item, which made a frantic Dad act like Arnold Schwarzenegger in his movie “Jingle All the Way.” In such times, the white-bearded Polar man would come to Dad’s rescue. Like when he found a Central Pacific model train for my son. That piece was as rare as Santa’s reindeer that Christmas. But Santa never quits. He found the toy, wrapped it in gift-wrapping paper, and secretly placed it under the tree on Christmas Eve. He also delighted in the nearby milk and cookies.
Come Christmas morning, my son discovered he finally was able to complete a collection of his favorite toys. Thank you Santa! Yep. Kids, in the name of love, parents seek to hide the truth sometimes.
But there is a truth that should not have remained hidden that Christmas. Soon after, I should have had a conversation with my children about the history behind one of my son’s favorite toys. But it wasn’t my fault. Neither was it Santa’s. The Saint and I were both ignorant of a darkness associated with the Central Pacific Railload.
So I remained silent days after Christmas. I remained silent after Easter. I remained silent even the following summer on a road trip to see one of the largest railroad classification yards in the world – the Union Pacific’s 2,850 acres, 315-mile track, Bailey Yard in North Platte, Nebraska. That was quite something. Yet several hours, all the way there, Dad was still silent about The Transcontinental Railroad, an idea seeded in the heart of American politics in 1845 by Asa Whitney –- a businessman from New York with trade ties in China.
I wish during the ride that both my children had learned from me that in the 1850s, Chinese immigrants began arriving in the United States in search of employment in gold mines and farms. I wish I had taught them that Whitney’s dream came true with the passing of The Pacific Railway Act of 1862, and seven years later, Congress’ support for Whitney’s ambition culminated with the linking of Union Pacific Railroad and Central Pacific Railroad in Promontory, Utah. Kids, this sounds easy, but the heated race after 1862 to connect the East and the West not only gave rise to “Hell on Wheels,” but also required thousands of workers and draft animals.
The Central Pacific Railroad’s task of laying tracks eastward from Sacramento, California, also required creating tunnels through the Sierra Nevada Mountains. And it wasn’t just the mountains that needed conquering. The surrounding gold mines drained the labor force because they offered more lucrative gains. This made the progress from eastward slow. In contrast, the westward progress of the Union Pacific Railroad from Omaha, Neb., gained more momentum.
How was the Central Pacific Railroad’s task completed then? Irish workers were available, all right, but they became disgruntled for the low pay and harsh working conditions. Who would do the hard work to pick the granite and enter narrow crevices to dynamite the rock?
Around 1864 Chinese workers were recruited by the Central Pacific Railroad to do the hard work. But the labor was not just hard. The rampant anti-Chinese racism justified offering them meager pay.
And the pay was not just peanuts and the work was not just hard. It was dangerous. Rock slides, explosions, frigid cold, avalanches and racial violence killed many Chinese workers. The number of Chinese workers who died building the transcontinental railroad is believed to be more than a thousand, according to National Park Services.
The sacrifice and resilience of the Chinese railroad workers must not be forgotten. But my ignorance prevented me from teaching this history to my kids. Yet not teaching this history was also to ignore that when the “first Great Depression” hit America in 1873 resulting in rising unemployment, populist politicians blamed the bad economy on Chinese immigrants.
The anti-Chinese immigrant rhetoric not only gave birth to more violence. In 1875, lawmakers in Washington D.C. passed the Page Law, which prevented Chinese women from immigrating to the United States, thus curbing the number of Chinese families.
Then came the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882, which restricted Chinese immigration for 10 years.
Then came the Geary Act of 1892, which renewed the 1882 restrictions, and became permanent law in 1902.
In 2011-2012, Congress condemned the discriminatory laws against Chinese immigrants.
But in 2025, the U.S. State Department said it “will work with the Department of Homeland Security to aggressively revoke visas for Chinese students.”
History likes to repeat itself.
Walter Suza of Ames writes frequently on the intersections of spirituality, anti-racism and social justice. He can be contacted at wsuza2020@gmail.com.
This article originally appeared on Ames Tribune: Suza: How Santa failed to teach children lesson on U.S. immigration | Column
Reporting by Walter Suza / Ames Tribune
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
