Riverside Chinatown Faces the Axe

Throughout the history of Chinese immigration to the United States, Chinatowns played a vital role for Chinese immigrants. Accepted by many, other Chinese immigrants were subjected to harrassment and hate crimes, and that sentiment eventually led to the Chinese Exclusion Act. Chinatowns were a source of “home” for many of these immigrants, and in many parts of th country, the only place a Chinese person could reside. Slowly, many Chinatowns have disappeared. Here’s a letter from a friend about Riverside, California’s Chinatown:

Dear Supporters:

The forebearers of California’s Asian communities moved mountains building America’s railroad, parted the waters building California’s vital levees, and laid the foundation for this state’s world class agriculture.

But because of intolerance, these Chinese pioneers were regulated to the outskirts of town… today’s prime real estate for land development.

And like so much of our chapter in American history, the places of our Chinese forebearers also continue to be Driven Out, scattered under rock and rubble, this time in the name of revitalization.

Now the Riverside Chinatown faces the ethnic cleansing from the American landscape. Riverside Chinatown is an archaeological site on the National Register of Historic places. It is about to be destroyed because it is being sold by Riverside County Schools to a developer who is going to put a medical building on the site. Earthmoving equipment is already on the site.

Let’s not continue to be Driven Out or hidden in the shadows of Exclusion.

Email Riverside Mayor Ronald Loveridge at rloveridge@riversideca.gov and Riverside Councilmember Mike Gardner at mgardner@riversideca.gov to express your concern regarding the preservation of our Chinese heritage in Riverside.

Please cc Deborah Wong at deborah.wong@ucr.edu who is coordinating this effort.

Thank you,
Steve Yee
Vice Chair
Yee Fow Center for History, Culture, and Trade Advisory Board www.yeefowmuseum.org
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