The People V. George W. Hall

Submitted By chosen1162

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The decision of the court case, The People v. George W. Hall, clearly demonstrated that America of the 1850s was not a land of liberty. A man was convicted of murder based on the testimony of Chinese witnesses. The court determined that under the law, Chinese are considered the same as a Negro; thus, the testimony was invalid. In a free America, anyone can be a witness of a crime. This law and the case lowered the status of Asians to that of Negroes, which then was considered by whites as sub-human. These Chinese men had their testimony invalidated by state law simply because they were not the right color, or immigrated from the right country. The justice who read the ruling also stated that the right to testimony would lead to Asians being able to have all the same rights as whites; and warned of the “danger” of Asians with equal rights would pose. The whole opinion spoke about Asians, blacks, and other ethnicities as if they were below white. They believed that colored people were unintelligent, dirty, and dangerous, like animals. In the minds of the majority justices, Asians were just as inhuman as Negroes, therefore they do not deserve any of the rights that white Americans have.
In contrast, the interview conducted by Chester Hess of Ah Louis, tells a different story. Ah Louis was an immigrant from China who worked his was up from a cook at a hotel in San Luis Obispo to a successful businessman. When he felt that he was nearing the end of his life, he returned to China to be buried with his ancestors. However, when he arrived, he felt homesick. He saw that his village had not changed at all since he left. In fact, not much had changed for 800 years. He missed America. When he saw how hard people worked for a few sacks of rice, it made him reconsider his return to China. One night, he had a dream in which his dead wife came to him and told him to grow his beard out.

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