(picture from NY state archives)

Just read about the California State Legislature quietly passing a resolution to apologize for the violent treatment of Chinese Americans in the state's history in Time. Very cool to have it on the books, but... it's kind of striking how quiet this whole thing has been.  I think I remember first hearing about the resolution by Assemblymember Paul Fong, not at the California API Policy Summit, but in a British online media outlet.

Next step... Fong says he'll be taking this up in Congress.

With the California bill in the bag, Fong now plans to take the issue to Congress, where he will request an apology for the Chinese Exclusion Act, the only federal law ever enacted to deny immigration based exclusively on race or nationality. Passed in 1882, the law was not fully repealed until 1943, after China and the U.S. became allies in WWII. Given President Obama's decision to appoint Gary Locke as Commerce Secretary and Steven Chu as Energy Secretary, Fong says he's confident of the bill's passage. "As a person of color, President Obama would understand these issues," he says. [Time]

hmmm... Perhaps it would be even better for Fong to bring up REAL immigration law reform while he's at it, in the spirit to righting wrongs in our immigration laws.  Don't just get the apology for the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882, let's take a look at how we currently exclude many people from these shores today, and how we treat so many people with little dignity and respect... when all they want to do is come to the U.S. and contribute to society the way so many generations of immigrants before them have.