How Chop Suey Saved San Francisco's Chinatown [Chinese Food: An All-American Cuisine, Pt. 1] | AJ+

the Chinese have been in America for a long time the Philips train tracks sped its people and served in its military we're just as American as everybody else there's so much a part of America that there are now more Chinese restaurants than there are McDonald's Burger Kings and KFC's combined but their experience in the United States has been one of exclusion once denied entry to this country we continue to be underrepresented in media and politics in this series I'll take you to the oldest Chinatown in America the fields of the Mississippi Delta and the sprawling suburban st. Gabriel Valley to tell the story of the Chinese diaspora in this country and how we use food to fight exclusion and preserve our legacy my favorite dish is ginger onion crab since them my favorite dish is a shrimp po-boy Union crossing over bridge noodles Pororo Taiwanese stinky tofu actually I'm kidding is Cantonese dim sum for generations our food has been a source of survival and resistance to tell that story we ought to start in San Francisco underneath the restaurants trinkets and fancy rooftops is a history of people who've come to Chinatown in hopes of a better life in America San Francisco Chinatown is the oldest Chinatown in America there are people here for fourth and fifth generation Americans pretty crazy for me because I'm second generation which means that my parents came here as immigrants and there are Chinese people who have been here for more than a hundred years they had the best roast pork but now over across the street at pork chop house they have the best roast pork this is Pam Talley whose family has been here for over a hundred years I'm fourth generation Chinese both my parents grew up here in Chinatown their whole lives they were surrounded by six life was rough outside of Chinatown racism levite people didn't want the Chinese around so this neighborhood became a safe haven for new immigrants my mom would describe it often as crossing beyond California Street crossing beyond Kearny with going outside of what was safety and familiarity and so once you cross those invisible walls you had to be on guard the Chinese have been facing discrimination since they first came to the United States the first large groups of Chinese men came because of the 18-49 boulders and they came primarily from a very small area outside of the City of Canton that's Sumi she's going to help us navigate the decades of history here in Chinatown Chinese labor helped build the American West they built the railroads they worked in in different factories so they were the source of cheap labor many white workers didn't welcome this at one point in 1871 an angry white mob of five hundred people went to LA Chinatown and lynched at least 17 Chinese immigrants elsewhere Chinese were attacked sometimes even murdered and China towns were literally burned to the ground over time the xenophobia led to the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 the Chinese Exclusion Act has the distinction of being the only US law specifically targets a racial group from coming to the u.s. for the next 61 years this law have Chinese laborers and coming from the US and prevented those who are already in the country from becoming citizens voting or owning property those who stayed in the US had to find a way to survive during exclusion it was very difficult for Chinese to work outside of the community so if you couldn't find a job but somebody else you would start your own business like laundries or restaurants that's I ended up with dishes like chop suey well actually something that was made in China it was invented by immigrants here the dish shows both Americanized and Chinese making both Chinese food and both Chinese people a little less threatening to American remember how soon said most of the earliest Chinese immigrants were from that tiny region just outside of Canton well since the exclusion act stops immigration most of the people making food were from a place the size of Delaware so what was known as Chinese food like chop suey was actually Americanized versions of food from just one part of China once whoever invented chop suey started serving chop suey then they I think the expectation of diners was that you go to a Chinese restaurant you're going to get chop suey Chop Suey and Chinese food really caught on with the American crowd the number of Chinese restaurants doubled from 1910 to 1920 in Chinatown became a destination when the green 1906 earthquake hit San Francisco the Chinese neighborhood was left in ruins the area where Chinatown located was totally burned to the ground the city leaders at that time decided haha here is our opportunity to rid this area of the Chinese but the Chinese had a different idea in order to preserve Chinatown merchants rallied the community and influence property owners to rebuild the old neighborhood to look like this these buildings made Chinatown a tourist destination from food to design surviving in America was strategic from the beginning Chinese would fight against the discrimination that was perpetrated against them the exclusion act ended in 1943 but for the next two decades only 105 Chinese were allowed into the u.s. each year despite the network and resources that Chinatown offered Pam's parents left when they could finally afford to growing up in Chinatown from my dad was extremely harsh so having the opportunity to move out was a kind of fulfillment of an American dream for him but for Pam her dream was to protect and preserve Chinatown including its single room occupancy apartments or SROs housing meant for low-income residents my grandmother lived in those kinds of Aceros the cheapest rent would be at that time those closest to the toilet because that was where the smell was really unbearable this is the one that was directly the room was directly across this from the toilet I have a lot of memories about this that's like living in here and these very same Asaro still serve Chinese immigrants today like ie and her family of four who can only afford to live in a ten by six room what is a phone number they voted actually I'm being honest artfully select house Domingo Mohammed Al Pacino was a little meta titles so you see that these cars are really small and it's a crazy contrast compared to the rest of campus Cisco where you have houses that are going for like $2,000 for studio Pam's dedication to protecting tenant rights in Chinatown started when she was in college in the 60s back then as the financial district was expanding the International Hotel an SRO that house elderly Filipino and Chinese residence was set for demolition Pam and others protested the eviction and were beaten by police they lost the fight but the I Hotel struggle became a symbol of unity for many Asian Americans it was a place that represented so much of who we were as a community how we provided affordable housing for those who work so hard for America sacrificed their lives left their families back home today as rents have skyrocketed Chinatown is threatened again by change what will happen to a community that offers everything from translation to legal services for new immigrants is unknown for the new immigrants if there was no Chinatown what would it be like if there is no Chinatown Yamoto Chinatown near Tonopah Yana Korean car don't know cuz I'm hope how long we'll see one bingo bones out so you know telling her to come sighted in whole south it's important to preserve a place like Chinatown this is a space and where we can take action and move together to uplift each other's lives the Chinese Exclusion Act is the first and only major US law to have kept the troop of people from coming based up on their race we can still see signs of this happening today if you enjoyed this episode in San Francisco watch the next video we'll be picking you to a completely different place than Mississippi Delta

Channel: AJ+

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Keywords: Chinese Chop Suey, History of San Francisco Chinatown, American Chinese Food, history of san francisco, history of chinatown, chinese history in amerca, chinese history in san francisco, News today, American news, the news, news today, latest news, happening now, u.s. news, world news, current events, us news, top stories, news, aj+, aj+ in-depth, ajplus, al jazeera

Id: DvXJoCiP6hM

Length: 8min 44sec (524 seconds)

Published: Tue Aug 15 2017