The Bellingham Riots
BY APARNA SASIKUMAR
Indian immigration to the United States began around the 19th century. The first wave of South Asian workers to North America mainly came from the Punjab state of India, particularly the Doaba region. Most of these immigrants were hired by British steamboat companies or had served in the British Indian army, granting them access to British-occupied Canada. Then, some of these immigrants traveled down from Canada to the United States of America, settling primarily along the West Coast. They generally found employment in the agriculture, lumber, and railroad industries but were unwelcomed by the existing white working class.
Rising Tensions along the West Coast
Although there were only about 2,000 of them along the Pacific coast, this new but small rise of South Asian workers were treated as a threat to white workers. They believed that South Asian workers, who received lower wages, were stealing “white jobs.”They felt that White workers deserved to be paid more because they needed more, whereas South Asian workers were willing to accept lower wages because their lifestyle did not require as much. In reality, South Asian immigrants did not have any socio-economic or political power, subjecting them to exploitation. Furthermore, anti-Asian sentiment spread in 1905 with the creation of the Japanese and Korean Exclusion League. The organization, based in San Francisco, originally consisted of members of the Building Trades Council of San Francisco and eventually spread to the rest of the Pacific coast and Canada. Later, in December 1907, the organization was renamed the Asiatic Exclusion League to encapsulate the organization’s broader goal of preventing all Asian people from immigrating to the USA.
The Bellingham Riots
Bellingham, a coastal city located in Washington state, attracted workers from all over the world seeking economic opportunities due to its thriving mining, fishing, and lumber industries. During the early 1900s, there was a strong presence of Asian workers in the area, but by 1950, the city census reported 8 people of South Asian ancestry. Asian workers faced an immense amount of racism and discrimination following the rising trend of anti-Asian hate across the West Coast. This culminated in The Bellingham Riots, a gross display of exclusion and white fear. On September 4, 1907, a mob of around 500 white workers broke into lumber mills and South Asian bunkhouses in an attempt to scare the local South Asian community out of the city. The mob pulled South Asian workers from their jobs, beat them up, and stole their belongings. In response, the local authorities housed Indian workers in City Hall overnight to keep them safe and about a hundred more were held in city jail under the guise of “protective custody.”Though there were some efforts to protect South Asian immigrants, the community was understandably shaken by this incident. Within the next few days, the entire South Asian population fled the town.
Aftermath
The local newspapers sympathized with the rioters, though some did express disprovement of their violent methods. The Bellingham Reville, for example, reasoned that “While any good citizen must be opposed to the means employed, the result of the crusade against the Hindus cannot but cause a general and intense satisfaction, and the departure of the Hindus will leave no regrets.” The Bellingham Herald justified the violence, claiming that “the Hindu is not a good citizen,” shifting the blame onto Indian immigrants, rather than the ignorant white rioters. Moreover, the newspapers always referred to the Indian population as “Hindus” or “Hindoos.” Not all Indians were Hindu, in fact, the majority of the workers were Sikh.
The Bellingham Riot and the general exclusion of South Asian immigrants along the West Coast demonstrate the long and difficult history of South Asians in America. In 2007, on the 100th anniversary of the riots, the Bellingham Herald issued an apology on the racism of their news reports during the period. In 2018, the Arch of Healing and Reconciliation was built and dedicated to Chinese (1885), Indian (1907), and Japanese (1942) immigrants who were pushed out of the city.
