On 19th October 1945, the Home Office held a secret meeting that led to the illegal deportation of thousands of Chinese seamen who had helped Britain during WW2 over the following year. Many of these men had already started families, who never knew what happened to their husbands or fathers. They either went to their graves believing they had died or were abandoned or only knew the truth decades later – without a formal apology.
The truth is, Sinophobia – the fear (or hatred) of people of China, its culture and people heritage – and Yellow Peril – which extends to anyone of ESEA (East and Southeast descent) – has been prevalent throughout history and until now in many areas. But few people know much about it or understand these terms. That is why today, Voice ESEA is announcing the launch of Yellow Peril Awareness Day, which will take place on 6th May annually.
We chose 6th May because it commemorates the date in 1882 when the Chinese Exclusion Act was signed into US law, prohibiting Chinese immigrants from entering the country. What ensued until it was fully repealed in 1965 was 83 years of racial tension that included riots and massacres of pockets of the Chinese population who already lived there. It is the earliest and first known ban a country has made against a certain ethnic group. So with Yellow Peril Awareness Day we want to:
- Spread awareness of the history of Yellow Peril against Chinese and East and Southeast Asians globally
- Educate people in schools, colleges, universities and workplaces on the issues of racism, xenophobia, discrimination and prejudice that ESEA people face
- Empower more ESEA people to share their experiences and feel more confident to speak up about them or report incidents
Our team started a petition we sent to the Government to “fund additional support for victims of COVID19 racism and anti-racism programmes”, gathering 22,000+ signatures and obtaining a response – an unsatisfactory one. But the fight for this shouldn’t be over and we soon realised that if the Government weren’t going to back us, we have to do it ourselves – but not alone… Will you help Voice ESEA make the first-ever and much-needed Yellow Peril Awareness Day a success and nationally recognised date? Whether you identify as part of the ESEA community or not, or have experienced any form or level of Sinophobia or not, we need your voice to amplify the issues and strive for change.
If you’re interested in helping out Voice ESEA in any way you can, please reach out to us on Instagram (@voiceesea) or email (voiceesea@gmail.com) and we can discuss potential collaborations. It could even start with simply sharing this blog or our latest Instagram post to try and reach as many people as possible, as well as getting more involved as 6th May gets closer.
Thank you in advance for your help!
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