Æva, waiting for springFeb 5
Qasim Rashid, Esq.

Reminder that we do NOT live in "unprecedented" times.

On this day on Feb. 5, 1917, Congress passed the Immigration Act of 1917 to block “undesirable” immigrants. That meant a ban on Asian, Mexician, and Mediterranean migrants, literacy tests, new taxes, & excluded the poor, disabled, & criminalized.

Meanwhile white European migrants were welcomed with open arms & given land via Homestead Act.

This racist law was finally repealed in 1952.

Trump wants to revive this fascism. Do not let him.

Feb 5 at 3:13pmWeb
Show threadKim Possible Feb 5

@QasimRashid

I was grateful to be corrected by activists when I said what a terrible historical time this is. It might be the worst historical time *for me* but it pales in comparison to the way BIPOC folx have been treated here for centuries.

Gladly will I learn.
Gladly will I teach.

(Paraphrase from Chaucer's Canterbury Tales)

Show threadyour auntifa liza 🇵🇷 🦛 🦦Feb 5

@kimlockhartga @QasimRashid there is a caveat, brought to you by the 1975 Puerto Rican amendment to the Voting Rights Act.

my parents were part of this struggle. that’s how they met. my stepfather was one of the co-authors.

https://mastodon.social/@blogdiva/116019386292316549

Show threadKim Possible Feb 5
@blogdiva @QasimRashid oh man. This country.
Show threadBill ZaumenFeb 5

@QasimRashid To add some historical context, the Homestead Act was passed in 1862 and excluded people who had "borne arms against the U.S. government" (e.g..., those who fought for the South in the Civil War). It obviously had a negative impact on our Native American population, but gave former slaves a chance to obtain land. Unfortunately, it was badly worded and rich folks & corporations took advantage of it.

https://www.archives.gov/milestone-documents/homestead-act

Homestead Act (1862)

EnlargeDownload Link Citation: Act of May 20, 1862 (Homestead Act), Public Law 37-64 (12 STAT 392); 5/20/1862; Enrolled Acts and Resolutions of Congress, 1789 - 2011; General Records of the United States Government, Record Group 11; National Archives Building, Washington, DC. View All Pages in the National Archives Catalog View Transcript Passed on May 20, 1862, the Homestead Act accelerated the settlement of the western territory by granting adult heads of families 160 acres of surveyed public land for a minimal filing fee and five years of continuous residence on that land.

National Archives
Show threadCaryFeb 5
@QasimRashid There was an attempt to define Finns as Asian because they were often major forces behind organizing labor that Lumber Barons and Mining interests did not want.
Show threadMacCruiskeenFeb 5
@QasimRashid In addition, the 1924 quota system further refined who counted as acceptable 'white European'.
Show threadJackie JudeFeb 5
@QasimRashid I agree with this post but the left cannot seem to decide if Trump a fascist because the American empire is in decay or because it was always fascist
Show threadᴮᵉⁿ ᴿᵒʸᶜᵉVOTE IN THE PRIMARIESFeb 5

@jackie @QasimRashid

It doesn't really matter though does it

Tell such voices the point is to make better happen, not analysis paralysis

Show threadz_4narchistFeb 6
@QasimRashid ...the "law" may have been repealed, but the practice never was...it just changed into false "complications of red tape" for the same groups of people who they saw as okay to serve them, but never okay to have as neighbors. this isnt just a trump thing and it isnt a revival...its the ssdd status quo supremacy that every "president" (including obama) has enforced...*just more loudly this time*.