SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — The city of San Jose was once home to one of the largest Chinatowns in California. In the heart of downtown, it was the center of life for Chinese immigrants who worked on nearby farms and orchards.

More than a century after arsonists burned it to the ground in 1887, the San Jose City Council on Tuesday unanimously approved a resolution to apologize to Chinese immigrants and their descendants for the role the city played in “systemic and institutional racism, xenophobia, and discrimination.”

I didn't know this event until I came upon this article.

didn't realize the discrimination was that bad and systemic and so complete without exception.

It gives you a chilling terror as one of Asians to realize what happened then.

For a guy who spent over half a century in Mid West America, I feel significantly freer

living in CA which is the most liberal, liberated part of the country now.

I feel it every day in my daily contacts with nothing but white neighbors, men, and women,

and playing golf.

I go to San Jose quite often because my daughter lives in Saratoga.

I did not even know Chinatown existed in San Jose. And it is quite disturbing 

for me to know that it was burned down to make a room for the City Hall.

But it is quite possible that such a thing could have happened around that time.

"Chinese lynching" by White people was a common practice. I think Chinese 

were treated almost like the black. 

https://www.lapl.org/collections-resources/blogs/lapl/chinese-massacre-1871

(L.A. Chinese Massacre in 1871)

Around mid 19th century, Americans and Europeans got the right to take 

Chinese laborers to their own country through trade agreements. A lot of Chinese coolies

came to the U.S. since then. They built transcontinental railroads and worked in gold mines. 

White people hated them because they took their jobs. 

In San Jose today, it is hard to find whites. Asians are definitely the dominant race.

Chinese, Koreans, Indians, Philippinoes, and Vietnamese are living in the most 

expensive houses in the country. Most of them hold high-paying jobs in Silicon Valley.

In Modesto today, I meet many white people whose parents lived in San Jose. They 

owned orchards where grew oranges and peaches. Those lands might sell in millions

of dollars now.  What a turn of fortune!