James Ichiuji

The Asiatic Exclusion League

Asiatic Exculsion League was formed in 1905 in San Francisco, California by labor unions in order to prevent Asian Immigration, specifically Chinese, Japanese, and Korean, to the United States. Political officials endorsed the group, during a time of racist feelings because Caucasians were losing jobs to cheaper Asian workers, who were seen as inassimilable into American culture. In a letter addressed to the AEL, Congressman E.A. Hayes of the Fifth District thanked the AEL for their continued work towards the exclusion of Japanese and Mongolians from the US. He claims that Congress was swayed towards a more anti-Asian policy because of his speeches, which included AEL propaganda. He goes on to encourage, “if the agitation is kept up, and we continue to bring the attention of the Japanese competition and the dire evil influence upon our civilization of their residence among us, we are bound to succeed.” The foundation of this group marked the beginning of the anti-Japanese movement in the United States. Its effectiveness eventually incited Canada to produce a chapter of the AEL.

The serious, racist nature of the AEL could be summed up by one of its documents, which stated, “As long as California is white man’s country, it will remain one of the grandest and best states in the union, but the moment the Golden State is subjected to an unlimited Asiatic coolie invasion there will be no more California.” Furthermore, in a New York Times article from 1908 titled “Wants Orientals Kept Out”, the AEL warned Congress that if the “immediate legislation for the absolute exclusion of Japanese, Koreans, and Chinese from American shores” was not passed “the people will take the law into their own hands”. It was clear that Caucasian American laborers were angered at the loss of jobs, and because of this were willing to take action if the government did not support their cause. In a way, this is the American version of the Nazi cleansing and the prosperity of the Aryan race. It is ironic that the group wanted to prevent Asian immigrants from entering the workforce, despite being immigrants themselves. In fact, the first president of the club was Olaf Tveitmoe of the Building Trades Council, a European immigrant.