Exhibit recreates massacre of Chinese immigrants in Mexico

Published February 02, 2015 EFE
By Paula Escalada Medrano

Many Mexicans have never heard of the May 1911 massacre of 303 Chinese immigrants in the northern city of Torreon, a story that Mexico would have preferred to forget but is now the subject of an exhibit aimed at highlighting the dangers of racial hatred.

"It is a stain on the nation's history and this exhibition may prompt a reflection on our actions as Mexicans," Linda Atach, director of expositions at the Museum of Memory and Tolerance in Mexico City, told Efe.

"303 Chinese," a collection of photos, documents and video that opens this week, seeks to rescue a moment of history that is not mentioned in school textbooks and is not "part of the national cultural imaginary," Atach said.

The Mexican Revolution was in full swing on May 15, 1911, when at least 303 members of the Chinese community in Torreon were hunted down and killed as the army led by Francisco Madero seized control of the city.

A commission established to investigate the pogrom concluded that the main cause was race hatred. Atach pointed out that Chinese immigrants suffered persecution in Mexico during the early 20th century, especially in the north.

"There were anti-Chinese laws, there was an anti-Chinese league bent on curtailing labor options for Chinese," she said.

"It was prohibited for Mexican women to become romantically involved with Chinese ... It's heartbreaking."

The exhibition also aims to make people think about migration "and it connects us with our current situation in Mexico," where hundreds of thousands of undocumented Central Americans - most hoping to reach the United States - suffer atrocities.

"The Chinese were migrants who came here to work, to improve their standard of living," Atach said. "They came to lay railway tracks across our country late in the 19th century and they were a productive, responsible and working community."

"The (1911) massacre should sound an alert and demand attention" to the current situation, she said.

Racial discrimination is one of the Museum's main concerns: an "anti-Chinese blog was found recently where people repeat the 1911 slogans."

"You can imagine what a big responsibility we have to confront discrimination, hatred and ignorance," Atach said. "People see them as different, strange. But we should respect differences.

They (migrants) are peaceful people who make contributions wherever they arrive. The least we have to do is to respect them." EFE

http://latino.foxnews.com/latino/new...nts-in-mexico/