Anything but the norm
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The influx of South Asians moving to the Western Canadian coast provides a strong example of the development and exacerbation of different methods of systemic discrimination. It also brings forward some immigration policies that were proposed and put into place to limit Indian immigration. Ward describes the Punjabi people's challenges when encountering hostility in British Columbia. A common theme with a lot of the migration we covered in class is the conception of cultural inferiority, and the Punjabis were no exception.
One key component of the reading that was particularly impactful was that of Mackenzie King's report in 1908, where he highlighted that "the native of India is not a person suited to this country, that, accustomed as many of them are to the conditions of a tropical climate, and possessing manners and customs so unlike those of our own people, their inability to readily adapt themselves to surroundings entirely different could not do other than entail an amount of privation and suffering which render a discontinuance of such immigration most desirable in the interests of the Indians themselves." This quote and argument had a significant impact, framing these Indians as inherently unfit — not even given a chance to prove otherwise.
King's prejudice is famous, but it is important to remember that this existed across the board for many of the white people living in Western Canada at the time, and the subject matter was not necessarily just Indians. Ward highlights a quote from the colonists regarding Indians: "They are a case more apart even than the Chinese; their habits of life are unsatisfactory. They do not bring their wives with them and will not make homes and rear families. They are totally unfitted for a white man's country…" This quote highlights two things — (a) white people were so uncomfortable with any change from the status quo that something as simple as a lifestyle difference (which was not even necessarily true) prompted them to mark these people as unfit, and (b) this prejudice, while most prominent for Punjabis and those of Indian heritage, extended far beyond that covering East Asians as well. These combine to show that the problem was never with a certain type of people; it was with all types of people who weren't them. In addition to this, Indians were subject to racism on the basis that they carried diseases like Cholera and venereal diseases, which Ward mentions is likely the byproduct of older perceptions of Oriental immigrants. However, this makes it all the more clear that some initial assumptions that may have been made and disproved can just as easily continue to be perpetuated.
Another interesting aspect of Ward's analysis was the development of immigration policies in relation to the racist general attitudes. The most interesting and innovative was the Continuous Passage Rule of 1908, which essentially, without explicitly mentioning any race or discrimination, made it near impossible for Indians to migrate to Canada. This rule essentially made it so that anyone coming to Canada must do so without making any stops along the way, which was effectively impossible for Indian immigrants since there were no direct shipping routes. This policy stood out to me as a very clever way of perpetuating racism subtly at an institutional level — a sleight of hand done at a significant level.
Moving to Leonard's analysis, there is a much larger focus on interracial relationships between Punjabi and Mexicans in Mexico and the Southern USA. Immediately in the reading, it can be seen that these marriages typically had severe doubts about the legality of such relationships. There seemed to be an immediate reaction and suspicion of these marriages operating as a means to an end — allowing Punjabi men to gain more power or even just survive, securing property and livelihood this way. The interactions between different racial groups become even more interesting when it comes to marriage, as there is typically a sentiment of "stealing" women of "purer" races, and this is not a one-way street. While white people get upset at the idea of another race becoming part of their bloodline, it is important to consider that the non-white men in these marriages may not have the best intentions either. A recurring theme in South Asian culture is the idea that marrying a white woman is a status symbol, which essentially commodifies women and makes it nearly impossible to support either side of the equation with good judgment.
Beyond the moral argument, these marriages were often used by Punjabi men as a stepping stone to gain legal advantages such as their children being able to purchase property, things that would have otherwise been impossible due to immigration laws. Leonard highlights many stories of how marriage was used as a practical and transactional arrangement rather than a legitimate relationship, formed primarily on the basis of improving the financial and economic standing of the "inferior" race.
Finally, one piece of Shah's analysis connects to our readings from the last class, where we spoke about the immigration question regarding polygamy as a means to keep out people who didn't fit the norm. Shah dives deeper into this and discusses the creation of the "stansard if Chrhsitain monogamous marriage." Those questions asked of immigrants (mentioned in the last class), paired with this aspect of Shah's writing, reinforce the same theme highlighted in Ward's writing. White people did not want to accept anything other than the status quo and did everything they could through policing and laws to maintain their power.