Island of Immortals

ED: This is BackStory. I’m Ed Ayers.

BRIAN: I’m Brian Balogh.

PETER: And I’m Peter Onuf. Today on the show, we’re reflecting on stories from the American past that take place on islands.

ED: Our next story is set on Angel Island, a small island in the chilly waters of San Francisco Bay, not too far from its more famous cousin, Alcatraz. But Angel Island is more often compared to an island on the other coast– Ellis Island. That’s because from of 1910 to 1940, it was the sight of a US immigration station that processed more than a million travelers crossing the Pacific.

ED: Now, throughout this period, the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 was still the law of the land. That act made it illegal for Chinese laborers to enter the country, but did include a few exceptions– teachers, diplomats, some merchants, and the families of US citizens.

And that last category, Families of citizens, resulted in an elaborate cat and mouse game with young would-be migrants– most of them men– attempting to bluff their way past immigration officials on Angel Island by claiming kinship with Chinese Americans in the US. ED: Immigration officials did their best to ferret out these so-called paper sons, subjecting Chinese immigrants to extensive interrogations and checking to make sure all their claims held up. And while they did, the [? markers ?] were held captive in a kind of purgatory.

Whereas the average immigrant on Ellis Island spent about five hours being processed, Chinese immigrants passing through Angel Island often found themselves detained in crowded wooden barracks for days, weeks, and months on end.

ED: Judy Young is a historian in Santa Cruz whose father was among those processed at Angel Island. A few years ago, she co-authored a book about the immigrant experience there that included some remarkable documents– poems written on the walls of those wooden barracks by the Chinese men who waited there for processing. JUDY YOUNG: Immigration officials– they saw this as graffiti. They then painted over the writing. And after they started painting over, then the Chinese would brush the characters onto the wall. And then they would carve the outline of the characters and scoop out the wood so that youwill have these impressions of the characters. And when you paint over them, then you could still see the words.

I remember making my first trip to Angel Island to see these poems. It was dark, it was dingy, it was smelly. There was trash all over the grounds. I could still make out the impressions of Chinese words all over the walls. I could even read some of the words.

MALE SPEAKER: This place is called an island of immortals, when, in fact, this mountain wilderness is a prison. Once you see the open net, why throw yourself in? It is only because of empty pockets. I can do nothing else.

JUDY YOUNG: They’re locked up on this lonely island in the wooden building, waiting to be admitted into the country, seeing the skyline, the buildings, across the bay, knowing that Oakland or San Francisco, whichever way they were facing, was that close, and yet not being able to reach there, and not knowing how long it would be before they might beadmitted, or, heavens forbid, that they may be turned back and deported in the end. MALE SPEAKER: I used to admire the land of America as a country of abundance. Now, on an extended sojourn in jail, I am subject to the ordeals of prison life. I look up and see Oakland so close by. I wish to go back to my motherland to carry the farmer’s ho. Discontent fills my belly, and it is difficult for me to sleep. I just write these few lines to express what is on my mind. MALE SPEAKER: It is noisy because of the many countryfolk. And there are watchmen guarding during the night. I gaze to the south at the hospital and look to the west at the Army camp.What happiness is there in this?

JUDY YOUNG: A lot of poems also complained about the mistreatment that they felt, the harsh laws, the discrimination, the physical exam and the whole interrogation process, and the feeling of being treated as criminals– that you had to prove that you are innocent rather than the other way around.

MALE SPEAKER: America has power, but not justice. In prison, we were victimized as if we were guilty, given no opportunity to explain. It was really brutal. I bow my head in reflection, but there is nothing I can do.

JUDY YOUNG: They understood that because China was a weak country and did not have good diplomatic relations with US, that they were unable to stop the passage of the Chinese Exclusion Act, that that was the reason why they were being subjected to the discriminatory harsher treatment at Angel Island.

MALE SPEAKER: How was I to know that the Western barbarians hadlost their hearts and reason? With 100 kinds of oppressive laws, they mistreat us Chinese. It is still not enough. After being interrogated and investigated several times, we also have to have our chests examined while naked. Our countrymen suffer this treatment all because our country’s power cannot yet expand. If there comes a day when China will be united, I will surely cut out the heart and bowels of the Western barbarian.

MALE SPEAKER: The ocean encircles a lone peak. Rough terrain surround its prison. There are few birds flying over the cold hills. The wild goose messenger cannot find its way. I have been detained by obstacles that have been put in my way for half a year. Melancholy and hate gather on my face. Now that I must return to my country, I have toiled, like the Jingwei bird, in vain. JUDY YOUNG: I think if it wasn’t for the poems and the discovery of the poems, this history about immigration through AngelIsland would be lost. I say this because if the buildings had been destroyed, the poetry had been lost, we would have no record of what happened at Angel Island and what people felt about that experience.

MALE SPEAKER: Over 100 poems are on the walls. Looking at them, they are all pining at the delayed progress. What can one sad person say to another? Unfortunate travelers everywhere wish to commiserate. Gain or lose, how is one to know what is pre-destined? Rich or poor, who is to say it is not the will of heaven? Why should one complain if he is detained and imprisoned here? From ancient times, heroes often were the first ones to face adversity.

ED: Judy Young is Professor Emeritus at UC Santa Cruz, and author of Island– Poetry and History of Chinese Immigrants on Angel Island.Today, the immigration station is a national historic landmark open to visitors. You can still see the poetry of Chinese detainees on the walls.