The Chinatown Files

A community's civil rights under attack

by Merilynne Hamano Quon

"The Chinatown Files" is a powerful documentary about the harassment; imprisonment; and deportation of Chinese Americans during the hysteria of the McCarthy period in the 1950's. The film is based on FBI/ INS documents, oral interviews and archival materials. Chinese Americans did not engage in any sabotage or espionage against the United States government and yet they were treated like the perceived "Chinese Communist enemy" after the establishment of the People's Republic of China. People who were supportive of the PRC rather than the KMT were aggressively targeted by the FBI and INS. Freedom of the Press was attacked when the China Daily News and three laundrymen (who were officers of the paper) were prosecuted for printing an ad from a bank in the People's Republic of China. They were CONVICTED of violating the "Trading With the Enemy Act" because the paper accepted an advertisement from a Bank in the People's Republic of China that allowed Chinese Americans to send money to their relatives in their homeland--a COMMON practice amongst immigrants of all nationalities to this day! People were also persecuted for membership in democratic youth clubs. The INS forced hundreds of Chinese Americans to "confess" their "illegal" immigrant status paving the way for mass deportations. The parallels between the mass incarceration of Japanese Americans during World War II and deportation of immigrants of all "visible" nationalities today is all too chilling. The film reminds us that ONE life lost is ONE too many!! The film only deepens our resolve to fight for a society based on true democracy and mutual respect amongst people of all nationalities. For a more information, please see www.chinatownfiles.org.