Over the last two years, the quiet city of Antioch, California, has been wrestling with its long and complicated history of discrimination against early Chinese immigrants during the gold rush.
Buddhist faith leaders and community members drape Tibetan prayer scarves on the Birthplace of Antioch marker during the"May We Gather" pilgrimage, Saturday, March 16, 2024, in Antioch, Calif. The event aimed to use karmic cleansing through chants, prayer and testimony to heal racial trauma caused by anti-Chinese discrimination in Antioch in the 1870s. “They got really hungry and decided to stop halfway in Antioch for a meal,” his son Ron Chan said.
The 2021 apology has also led to local residents and historians delving deeper into the past and working to establish a Chinatown Historic District, complete with murals and museum exhibits highlighting the history and accomplishments of the community in Antioch. In 1871, a massive fire wiped out several blocks of Antioch's Chinatown. The townspeople decided that a Chinese laundry needed to be torn down to stop the blaze. Then in 1876, local newspapers reported that another blaze was deliberately started to drive six Chinese women who were allegedly prostitutes out of their homes. A Buddhist/Tao temple also perished in the fire, Meinhardt said.
“Regardless of which narrative you believe in, it is still an atrocity because these people were expelled or persecuted without due process of law and their houses were burned down," he said. Today, the city of more than 111,000 is 25% white while Asians make up 12%. Hispanic and Black residents are 35% and 20% of the population, respectively. Making progress on Asian American representation in public spaces remains an uphill struggle. Plans for a public memorial paying tribute to early Chinese settlers is at a standstill after a consultant recommended the city invest in more research.
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