Los Angeles memorial to victims of the 1871 Chinese Massacre is one step closer to fruition

The Chinese Massacre of 1871 in Los Angeles has previously been featured on this blog.  In a nutshell, a little-known lynching of eighteen Chinese immigrants took place in Los Angeles’s Chinatown in 1871. While 8 individuals were prosecuted for the racialized violence, their convictions were eventually overturned.  Scott Zesch has an informative book on the massacre.

Last week, the City of Los Angeles announced the finalists to build for a memorial to honor victims of the 1871 Chinese Massacre.  The memorial aims to raise public awareness about that tragic day. The city’s Department of Cultural Affairs and El Pueblo de Los Angeles Historic Monument selected artist Tsung Nicolás Leong and writer Judy Chui-Hua Chung to create the memorial.

Leong and Chung expressed in a joint statement that they were humbled by the historic significant of the memorial and honored to be chosen. “While we are memorializing a massacre that reveals the long history of anti-Asian violence, we are also acknowledging that Asian Americans have been deeply rooted here since the beginnings of this city, state and country,” Leong and Chung said.

The memorial will be on North Los Angeles Street, near the Chinese American Museum and close to the historical site of the massacre. “There are few things more important than knowing our full history, including, and maybe especially, when that history involves violent injustice, hidden out of sight,” said Mayor Karen Bass in a statement. “The city is taking these steps to honor the victims of the 1871 Chinese Massacre in order to better understand our past and build a better future.”

KJ