By Louis Chan
AsAmNews National Correspondent
A commemoration will be held tonight of the Chinese Massacre.
Thanks to our Eurocentric education system, few know about the day on October 24, 1871 when 19 Chinese were killed.
The Chinese American Museum of Los Angeles hopes to change that. It’s holding a candlelight vigil tonight at 7 p.m. to remember those killed that day.
Despite hundreds of witnesses, the convictions of eight men convicted of this horrendous act were overturned.
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According to the National Park Service, this all started after a dispute between two men-Yo Hing and Sam Yuen. Hearing gunshots, a police officer stepped in to quell the disturbance. That’s when Robert Townsend, a private citizen, was accidentally shot and killed trying to come to the aid of the officer.
Outraged, a large mob began confronting any Chinese in the area-whether they were involved in killing Townsend or not. It didn’t seem to matter. Out of the 18 Chinese men and one boy killed that day, only Ah Choy was involved in the shooting of Townsend.
According to an account by the LA Weekly, the mob began shooting indiscriminately into a building where Chinese had taken refuge.
Large bands of men then dragged the helpless Chinese out into the street and hung them from gallows that had been hastily constructed.
One women offered the men a clothesline that they could make into nooses.
“Hang them,” she bluntly urged.
A boy gleefully ran up to help.
“Here’s a rope,” he said.
The rest of the world reacted with shock to the events.
Cries of American hoodlum, Mexican greaser, Irish tramp, French communists and dregs of California could be heard.
The Methodist Conference raised funds for missionary work in California.
The coroner blamed the deaths on “mob violence.”
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