Orchestra. Young musicians playing traditional chinese instruments. When people talk tod me abou our recent special on the chinese commute, they usually bring about one of our special guides around the town. Joining me is that guide, sue lee, who also recently took us on a tour of the new exhibit at their museum. This is a depiction of a creation of the mens barracks in the detention center, and here in the bay area, we would say it would be the refliction of angel island. You can see the male immigrants belongings. An open suitcase, their clothing. And the bunks that they had to sleep on when they were detained. And there are also videos that explain about paper sons and daughters and about the protection of the 14th amendment. Now sue lee joins us here. Thank you for being here. Glad to be here. Give me an idea, you can see by the clip how extensive the museum is, but its a lot of history to cover. Basically, what is the goal in terms of this exhibit. This exhibition, called chinese american exclusion inclusion is probably the largest exhibit on the history of chinese in america. And it starts off before america became the United States. It starts before the revolution. You may recall the boston tea party. That tea that was dumped into the Boston Harbor was chinese tea. So theres been a trade relationship between america and china from the 1700s. Well, this exhibit covers that trade relationship and traces the trajectory of the Chinese American Community, the thousands of chinese who came for the gold rush and then became laborers all over the west, including the building of the transcontinental, and it talks about the barriers and the discrimination the chinese immigrants faced. And of course, the biggest piece of legislation that shaped, if you will, the Chinese Community was the chinese exclusion act that was enacted in 1882. Immigration act that specifically called out chinese. It prohibited the immigration of laborers, and it barred chinese from becoming citizens. So there are echoes of that 1882 exclusion act in the debates that were having today about immigration policy. I was just thinking that. So the exhibit is very relevant. Unfortunately, our history is a forgotten history. You know, chinese were small in numbers. Thousands of chinese began coming for the gold rush, but at the height of the population, when the exclusion act was enacted, there was only i think 170,000 chinese. And the exclusion act was very effective in cutting that population down because there was no new immigration. The exhibit goes into inclusion, right . Thats a big part, too, and maybe one people arent as familiar with, the new renaissance that took place. Those chinese who remained here fought very hard to become citizens of america. And to be able to partake of all the rights and liberties that american citizens are eligible for. And so china townes grew up, chinese communities grew up. We tell that story as well. You tell the story, as were seeing a little of, the interactive story telling. One of the things about this exhibition is that it incorporates artifacts, and interactive elements, so we have videos. We have reproductions. We have audio and video as well. Somebody was telling me uhad quite a donation from the New York Historical society. This exhibit was produced by the New York Historical society a couple years ago. They showed it at their museum on the Upper West Side of new york. It was a hit. And afterwards, because it was a temporary exhibit, they decided to gift it to us. So were very lucky to have received this exhibit that probably cost 2. 5 million to produce. Thats right. Youll be back with us later on in the program. But one thing we want people to understand, its not just for the Chinese Community. This is something that people from all communities can learn from. This is for everyone. Sue, well see you later on. Thank you. Stay with us. First, u. S. Historian connie will join us and well talk about the chinese exclusion act and her unique personal family viewpoint. Thats next. Gcu is the university that never sleeps. Moving at the speed of light. And now, gcu is leading in the area of Computer Science and it. Join the most inventive concept in education today. Find your purpose at grand canyon university. Visit gcu. Edu it. Chinese american community. We were very fortunate to have one of the leading when we ran our special on the Chinese American Community, we were very fortunate to have one of the leading historians on that topic with a unique family perspective. With me is the one and only connie young yu, a board member emeritus of the chinese Historical Society of america. Welcome. Thrilled to be here. Sue talked a lot about the exclusion act, and you and i have talked about it before as maybe one of the most if not the most significant thing, fautd only concerned that community, but in terms of u. S. History as well. What are your thoughts about that and whats happening now . Well, absolutely. My family endured the shadow of exclusion act for four generations. And the exclusion act of 1882 was americas attempt to make America White again. For that century, for that time. You know, it came out of the movement, the chinese must go. And now were seeing it used against other groups now. Absolutely. I think about the paper trail that we have, because of the chinese exclusion law, all my relatives had to prove they were in the United States legally. And theres all this documentation and they had my grandmother was detained on angel island for 15 1 2 months, and the testimonies about, you know, the fact that she was a widow, even though her husband was an american citizen. You know, she just had to go through incredible hoops. And of course, the kind of obstacles and barriers were putting up were designed to keep people out. It wasnt really almost in a way like legitimate reasons. For example, the ailments that your grandmother had was curable. Yes, every single, you know, possible barrier. Whether its legal, you know, or medical. And your family can talk about sort of the impact, the emotional impact that has. You know, the exclusion and the feeling of trying to be excluded. And what a lot of people are going through now. Its more significant than a lot of people who dont have to go through that have to endure. Its because people of color have to always prove that, you know, even though theyre born here, that they are american. Theyre always considered perpetual aliens. That certainly was true for chinese immigrants specifically because they were excluded from citizenship. There would be children who were born here, but their parents were not allowed to be citizens because of their exclusion act. Yeah, we were talking before, during the program as well as now, about walter haas and his family and how they helped your grandfather and what a significant step that was in terms of being seen as equals. And really helped u. S. China relations. Walter haas who worked for levi strauss, of course, he had lawyers who helped my grandmother off angel island. But when my grandfather was his agent and traveling back and forth to china, from china to the u. S. , even though he was born in the United States and has a u. S. Passport, he was stopped at every single entry point and had to prove he was a u. S. Citizen. Frequently, walter haas, one time, he said i will meet you at the dock personally. And if thats what it took, that you had to have somebody of such influence to intercede on the part of an american citizen of color, you know, that is really unconstitutional. Yeah, he and others did make that effort. And did help the community. And that inclusion is a big part of the Chinese American Communitys story as well. For you and your unique family perspective, when you look at the exhibit, what strikes you as the most significant part . Its an incredible narrative. At every single panel, every single photograph and caption, you know, is part of evidence of the struggle, evidence of this history of chinese in america. And the struggle against discrimination, against unconstitutional law, and the struggle to be accepted by american society. And the struggle to attain full rights of citizenship. So the exhibit shows that in a very dramatic way. And as i said, because of the exclusion law, we do have a paper trail. You know, the constant photographs and documents to prove that we deserve to be in the United States. And here to stay. Thats great. Your familys story is a great one. Great that the exhibit helps tell a part of it. Thank you for being here. Thank you. Well, we talked about exclusion. Next, we talk about inclusion. Stay with us. The worst thing about toilet germs . They dont stay in the toilet. Disinfect your bathroom with lysol bathroom trigger. Lysol power foamer. And lysol toilet bowl cleaner. They kill 99. 9 of germs including e. Coli. To clean and disinfect in and out of the toilet. Lysol that. Going to shift the focus to inclusion. Welcome back. We talked about the impact of the chinese exclusion act. Now were going to shift the focus to inclusion. Back with us is sue lee, the executive director of the chinese Historical Society of america, and also steve adams, a Senior Vice President of Residential Lending at Sterling Bank and trust which played a big role in the new exhibit at the Historical Societys museum. Thank you both for joining us. Thank you. Steve, lets face it, these days these kind of exhibits. Its hard to get them before the public without some sort of community partnership. How did the bank decide to get involved and what role did it play . Sterling bank and trust is a privately owned bank. And the seggalman family has a foundati foundation, and their goals are education, history, culture. And the museum is all of that. Talked about the culture, the history, and the education. And thats so important right now, especially here on the west coast. And we have been in San Francisco now for 23 years. And we are very much involved in the Asian American community, in the bay area. And we thought this was a Perfect Place to donate and to get involved. Thats great. And sue, we have been talking a little bit about the exhibit. Lets take a look a little bit at photographs and jake lee paintings we have showed. We were talking earlier about the color and vividness. Tell us what youre seeing and what you want people to appreciate. Jake lee was a tremendous watercolor painter. These paintings are from a collection he painted for the form former cannes restaurant in china town. There were 12 paintings that were installed, and they show chinese at work in the american west. This one particularly is of a race in deadwood, south dakota. So chinese were everywhere. Providing their labor. Steve, we were talking earlier. You were saying the henry ford museum. Yes. You saw there was covers of the magazines. Ford time magazines. Jake lee was the inhouse painter for what was called fort times magazine. Like the employee magazine of Ford Motor Company in the 60s and 70s. And jake lee painted a lot of the covers. You have a lot of 60s vintage ford mustangs and the jake lee paintings, prints. Theyre awesome. Yeah, and great to see that kind of exposure for him. Broadly, as an artist. Sue, let me talk about some of the other things at the exhibit, significant times. For example, chinese in world war ii. I remember we were talking about that being sort of the turning point for the people accepting the chinese and maybe getting rid of the exclusion act, right . Absolutely. War was a watershed, actually. The chinese exclusion act was enforced. The chinese population shrunk down to maybe 80,000. World war ii, the u. S. Was an ally of china. It didnt seem right that an ally would prohibit the citizens of an ally to become to immigrate or to become citizens. There was a repeal of the exclusion act in 1943. Very interesting. Like the japanese American Experience where japanese americans by participating sort of proved their loyalty to a lot of people during that time. Interesting parallel. What about the Civil Rights Movement . 1965, i believe, the immigration act and things like that. Thats also a big part of the exhibit, right . Well, as a result of the along with the civil rights act, lbj, president johnson, signed an immigration and naturalization act. And that act listed the quotas for immigrants from countries all over the world. And so that law allowed chinese families to reunite. And opened the gate, if you will, for immigration of asians from asia. Steve, do you feel as though theres a real need to put this out there on a more broader basis, for more people to kind of appreciate what happened and what is happening in chinatown and the San FranciscoChinese American Community . Absolutely. Just from my experience, first off, it tells the story of the people who were here. I mean, i know friends whose families go back four or five generations, Asian Americans, and then you have new immigrants who come over and they see this exhibit and theyre like, wow, we didnt know we helped with this in america. Like the transcontinental railroad. Even like when sue was talking about earlier, the boston tea party. And one of the things in the exhibit i learned was Franklin Delano roosevelt and his family in the 1840s were opium exporters. To the United States. On the east coast. So i find it very fascinating. And thats the educational piece. People know that we have it here and we have it here in San Francisco. Itsigate to see that the exhibit is going to appeal to more than just the inner community. Its going to have a lot of mainstream appeal. Thanks for being here. Speaking of inclusion, there is a chinese new years event at mr. Jius on monday at 5 30 p. M. If you dont know because its a hot spot in the city, its at 28 Waverly Place in chinatown. It will feature an eightcourse meal with help from friends all over San Francisco. All proceeds will benefit the chinese Historical Society of america. Now, that sounds like a great way to celebrate chinese new year. Coming up next, our traditional artistic and cultural performance. This time from the great firebird youth chinese orchestra. Chinese orchestra as guests many times. And we are welcome back. We have had the firebird youth chinese orchestra as guests many times and were proud to showcase one of their performances on the show today to help us all get into the spirit of the new year with the unique sound of Young Artists playing historical, traditional chinese instruments. And thats an ensemble from the whole group. I never get tired of their sound. Thats it for our show. You can get more information on the orchestra as well as the new exhibit at the chinese Historical Society of america in San Francisco all at nbcbayarea. Com and on social media. Were on facebook and twitter. We want to thank all of our guests and to our loyal viewers, we will be back next week and every week here on Asian Pacific america. Thanks for watching. I can show you the world shining, shimmering, splendid tell me, princess, now when did you last let your heart decide a whole new world welcome to aulani its hawaii with a touch of disney magic. For special offers visit disneyaulani. Com or call your travel agent there will be a my advice is to engage but beware. Who can turn the world on with her smile good morning. Welcome to sunday today. Im willie geist. Its been another weekend of demonstrations after a dizzying first week of executive action under president trump. Overnight crowds gathering at airports across the country in response to the president s order signed friday temporarily banning the entry of immigrants to the United States from seven countries and suspending the countrys Refugee Program all together for four months. Then a latenight victory in