The First Burger

A hungry man ran into a restaurant and ordered one burger. He swallowed the burger into his belly but still felt very hungry. So he ordered another one. He ate the second one quickly and felt something stuffed inside his belly. However the man continued to order the third one. This time he ate the burger slowly and enjoyed the taste of it. Eventually he got his stomach full and found a feeling of having a dinner. Then a waitress came, stood in front of him, and put a bill on his table. After seeing the bill, the belly-stuffed hungry man immediately jumped into anger and complained there was one bad burger and he would refuse to pay it.

“Sir, what's the problem of that bad burger?” the waitress asked carefully.

“Lady, my belly was not satisfied with it.”

“Why?”

“I ate that burger but my stomach cannot feel it!”

“Which burger is it?”

“Lady, it is the first one. ”

Wong Chin Foo is a pioneer non-violent civil right advocator. Many people do not know this name just like the hungry man did not feel the first burger. Gandhi found Natal Indian Congress in 1894 and Wong Chin Foo found the Chinese American voters association in 1884. Both of them fight against racial discrimination non-violently only Wong Chin Foo was ten years earlier. Martin Luther King gave “I have a dream” speech in 1963 and Wong Chin Foo wrote “ Appeal to the People of United States for Equality and Manhood” in 1892. Both of them appealed for equality regardless of race and skin colour only Wang Chin Foo was 71 years earlier. We should remember Gandhi and Martin Luther King as well as Wong Chin Foo just as the hungry man should pay for all three burgers.

Wong Chin Foo was born in China in 1851. When he was 17, he went to America in 1868 as a student. Two years later, he went back to China and organized grass root association, fighting abuse of opium. Qing government banned his activities, and offer 1,500 taels of silver for his head . He was forced to exile out of China. in 1873, he went to America again and he was naturalized as American citizen on 1874.

Facing growing anti-Chinese racism in 1870’s America, Wong Chin Foo gave speeches every where and write articles to explain Chinese culture, fighting the prejudices against Chinese. After America passed “Chinese Exclusion Act” in 1882, Wong Chin Foo founded a weekly newspaper Chinese American the next year and organized first Chinese American voters association in 1884, advocate equal justice under law, the principle “Chinese Exclusion Act” violated. In 1892, America passed the Geary Act. Geary Act required all Chinese residents of the United States to carry a resident permit, the same internal passport system Indians subjected in South Africa at that time. Wong Chin Foo fought against this institutionalized discrimination by organizing The Chinese Equal Rights League of America in 1892, just as Gandhi organized Natal Indian Congress in 1894. The certificates of the members of The Chinese Equal Rights League of America printed: “ We ask and demand for an equal franchise for the Americanized Chinese of the United States”. What they demanded was the voting right protected by the Fifteenth Amendment rectified in 1870. Fifteenth Amendment forbids the denial of voting right based on race and colour. Wong Chin Foo’s activities were non-violent civil right movement affirming the Constitution.

For quarter of a century, Wong Chin Foo was a non-violent civil ri ghts activist pursuing the rule of law under constitution and against racism. Gandhi led India into independent, and Martin Luther King got African American equal rights, but Wong Chin Foo passed away before Chinese Exclusion Act was repelled in1943. As a result, people forget the pioneer civil right activist just as the hungry man could not feel the first burger. While we remember Gandhi and Martin Luther King, we should not forget Wong Chin Foo. We should commemorate Wong Chin Foo just as the hungry man should pay the first burger.

于仁秋：細節與記憶 （ZT）
曼哈顿（7）华埠探古
曼哈顿（8）纽约的喇嘛寺
曼哈顿（9）纽约下城话古今
波士顿城南旧事
王清福在加拿大
第一个馒头：纪念美国华人平等权利联盟成立119周年
王清福：华人的马丁路德金

希望各位网友不计网上争论的立场观点意识形态的差异，共同追回族裔的记忆。没有记忆，就没有族裔的身份，就如我们护照和公民证一样，最关键的身份要素就是出生地和出生日期。没有族裔的记忆，就没有族裔身份；没有族裔身份，族裔的社会地位就无从谈起。如今美国affrimative action就是以消除种族歧视的理由牺牲华裔的平等权利来平息黑人的不满。何以造成这种以“族裔平等”旗号下的种族歧视？因为美国社会根本没有华裔这个族裔，原因是华裔没有社会身份（Identity），华裔没有社会身份的原因是华裔早期建国的记忆被抹杀了。要争取族裔平等地位，要从追朔族裔的记忆开始，重新建立华裔的身份（Identity）。