2022-039 - Rectification of Past Policies and Misdeeds

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RESOLUTION NO.2022-039 A RESOLUTION OF THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF SANTA ANA APOLOGIZING TO CHINESE IMMIGRANTS AND THEIR DESCENDANTS FOR ACTS OF FUNDAMENTAL INJUSTICE AND DISCRIMINATION, SEEKING FORGIVENESS AND COMMITTING TO THE RECTIFICATION OF PAST POLICIES AND MISDEEDS WHEREAS, Chinese Americans have a long and rich history in the United States, California, Orange County and Santa Ana; and WHEREAS, the many contributions of Chinese Americans, both past and present, should be acknowledged and celebrated; and WHEREAS, since the late 19th century, the United States Congress, the State of California, and the City of Santa Ana enacted adverse laws specifically targeting Chinese people on the basis of race, most notably with the federal passage of the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882, the first federal law ever passed excluding a group of immigrants solely on the basis of race or nationality. The Chinese Exclusion Act set the precedent for racist foreign and national policy that led to broader exclusion laws; and WHEREAS, during this time, Chinese immigrants were met with virulent racism, xenophobia and the violence of anti -Chinese sentiment in Santa Ana and denied equal protection under the law; and WHEREAS, growth in the Chinese population, combined with economic regression and pervasive anti -Chinese sentiments led to the use of government authority to remove Chinese Americans in Santa Ana; and WHEREAS, the policies, resolutions, and other actions of the City of Santa Ana and President George A. Edgar (Mayor) and the Board of Trustees (City Council) A.C. Tiede, John Cubbon, George L. Wright, and A.C. Black directly contributed to the xenophobic discrimination and racial violence faced by Chinese immigrants with the support and encouragement of City Attorney Colonel W.F. Heathman and Orange County District Attorney Horace Head; and WHEREAS, the City made plans to remove Chinese residents and merchants in Santa Ana's Chinatown as part of an urban renewal effort to gain control of those properties for the building of the new City Hall and on May 25, 1906, the Board of Health of the City of Santa Ana passed a resolution and issued an order to the Fire Marshal to deliberately set fire to Chinatown leading to the destruction of homes and businesses and the displacement of Santa Ana's Chinese community; and WHEREAS, on May 25, 1906, a mass rally of 1,000 citizens gathered to watch and celebrate as the area known as Chinatown on 2nd, Main, and Bush Street was burned to the ground; and Resolution No. 2022-039 Page 1 of 3