Congresswoman and provocoteur extraordinaire Michelle Bachmann recently spoke about how the immigration system worked "very, very well" until the 1965 Immigration and Naturalization Act. Honestly, I do think that the headlines around the blogosphere attributing the line "U.S. Immigration System Worked Very, Very Well Under the Asian Exclusion Act" are somewhat unfair. She didn't specify a racial group to call out, and I wouldn't rule out the possibility that she's just ignorant of the anti-Asian racial dynamics of the pre-1965 immigration system. Of course, if that were the case, said ignorance is absolutely inexcusable and indicative of white privilege and structural racism, but I digress.

Anyways, read up on the controversy here at the ThinkProgress blog. I don't think it's necessary to point out the dangerous anti-Asian, anti-Latino sentiments implied and thinly veiled in this quote. The extraordinary growth in the AAPI and Latino/Hispanic communities post 1965 came primarily through family unification policies and high and low-skilled work visas. It is worth noting that immigration itself has two components: supply and demand. Yellow, brown, and black immigrants and refugees came (mostly documented but not all) not only because we were in search of the American Dream, but because American NEEDED us to sustain its economic growth and societal progress. The only thing that changed in 1965 really was that immigration policies stopped discriminating as much on the basis of race and skin-tone. 

Here's a short quote from the ThinkProgress blog attributed to immigration scholar Roger Daniels:

1924 law also barred “aliens ineligible to citizenship” – reflecting the fact that American law had, since 1870, permitted only “white persons” and those “of African descent” to become naturalized citizens. The purpose of this specific clause was to keep out Japanese, as other Asians had been barred already.

Photo Courtesy of mrboll.com

About me: Hey, I'm Dayne, and I'm a recent graduate of Pomona College. In college, I was active in AAPI student organizing as well as community work. I'm currently based out of Washington, D.C., and I'll be posting two to three times a week with the latest in progressive and AAPI political news and policy analysis, as well as spotlight features on young community leaders. Leave comments and share with friends! Follow me on twitter @ dayne4progress