The Tacoma Method: How the Anti-Chinese Movement Turned to Violence
A brutal manifesto circulates in Tacoma, signaling the escalation of the anti-Chinese exclusion campaign.
The story, cleaned up
A cleaned-up reading of the newspaper page: spelling and layout repaired, one story lifted off a crowded page. It follows the original closely but it is not a transcription. The original page is below; read it if a detail matters.
The public mind of this town is deeply agitated over the presence of the Chinese. This was stirred by the public talk of the town, and of the work of the 'Committee of Fifteen.' The committee is a local organization that has demanded the expulsion of the Chinese. The Tacoma press has set out to the world its own intent, stating: 'Chinese must go. We will give you a year's time, but we will dictate who you shall hire, how you shall treat them, and if you do not comply with the demands of the powers that be, we will destroy your property, and if we imagine you do take the same as your motto, we will go further, and after hanging you, and beating you to death, in case you are weak enough to stand yourself.'
“We will dictate who you shall hire, how you shall treat them, and if you do not comply... we will destroy your property.”
This reflects the 1885-86 anti-Chinese expulsion era in Washington, where organized 'committees' systematically forced Chinese residents out of towns through economic intimidation and physical violence. It serves as a stark reminder of how civic 'law and order' movements were often used to disguise ethnic cleansing in the Pacific Northwest.
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