Los Angeles to mark 1871 massacre of Chinese

The lives of at least 18 Chinese, including a teenage boy and a doctor, were tragically cut short during an October afternoon 151 years ago. They were either shot or hanged as an angry mob of around 500 people descended upon Chinatown to take revenge on the accidental shooting of a white man.

The 1871 massacre wiped out close to 10 percent of the small Chinese population living in Los Angeles at the time. Historians estimated that nearly 1 in 10 of the roughly 5,700 residents in the city participated in the massacre.

For a long time, this dark chapter in the city's history was little known even to locals in the city. It was not taught in history books. A sidewalk plaque in downtown Los Angeles serves as the only reminder of the violent episode.

Los Angeles is reconciling with its past through an ambitious plan for a memorial to remember the buried history of the brutal attack against the Chinese.

Plans for the memorial came at a time of heightened violence against Asians instigated by anti-Chinese political rhetoric during the COVID-19 pandemic. Organizers hope the memorial will make more people learn from the past.

"The new memorial seeks to simultaneously raise public awareness of the 1871 Chinese massacre in Los Angeles and to address contemporary concerns about race, intolerance and violence. It strives to tell the story of the little-known largest mass killing in Los Angeles history, but also to convey a broader, more universal message," read a "request for idea" that the city released in August.

AAPI Equity Alliance told China Daily that the 1871 Chinese massacre is a "dark stain on our community and history".

Michael Woo, who became the first Asian American elected to the Los Angeles City Council in 1985, said he did not hear a word about the massacre as an Angeleno born and raised in Los Angeles.

Neither his parents nor grandparents told him about this history. It was not taught in schools or mentioned in the media or history books, Woo said in an essay he wrote as part of a project supported by the Mellon Foundation.

"LA's barbaric treatment of the Chinese in 1871 was met not with official condemnations or apologies, but with muffled silence. And then forgetting. To the extent that they knew about 1871, older generations of Asian Americans may have chosen not to dwell on negative stories from the past," Woo said.

He also said the idea for the memorial was hatched last April after the mayor's office released a report with recommendations to better reckon with the city's past. The 1871 Memorial Steering Committee, which included Woo, was formed as a result.

Los Angeles has allocated $250,000 to jump-start the design competition for the memorial.