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Asian Americans and U.S. Law
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Reflection (Wing Chung v. Mayor of Los Angeles)

Elizabeth Tanaka

1. Financial hostility.  In his book, In Search of Equality, Charles McClain describes the heart of the prejudice against Asian Americans at the time as a belief that the group "worked too hard, saved too much, and spent too little." With this in mind, how does a decision to deny assistance to Chinese business owners to repair their storefronts after a riot further embody that sentiment?

Much like how the Foreign Miners' License Tax and "commutation tax" had the effect of either making the Chinese experience in California mining regions increasingly difficult or discouraging immigration, is the decision in Wing Chung further evidence of hostility to Chinese immigrants and their businesses?  

Does the court provide or can you rationalize any reasoning for why diligently notifying the city of a riot should be required before a business owner can recover for their losses after a riot? Or is this simply nothing more than another straw man argument masking judicial prejudice?

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