Yakima Valley riots
1927 riots in Washington, USA / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Dear Wikiwand AI, let's keep it short by simply answering these key questions:
Can you list the top facts and stats about Yakima Valley riots?
Summarize this article for a 10 year old
The Yakima Valley riots were an expression of anti-Filipino sentiment that took place in the Yakima Valley of Washington (state) from November 8–11 in 1927. This riot took the homes and jobs lives of many Filipinos in the area. Unable to receive help or protection from the white police, Filipinos were easy targets for radicalized and angered whites who saw them as thieves of their women and jobs. Under the cover or darkness, and occasionally during the daytime, mobs of white men would harass, threaten, and beat innocent Filipinos for no other reason than their presence.
In the late 1920s anti-Asian sentiment in the US grew, culminating in the Immigration Act of 1924. Unlike other Asian groups at the time, Filipinos were permitted in the country as a result of the US Colonization of the Philippines, and although they were legal residents, they still faced a great deal of discrimination. Many of these workers found jobs in Eastern Washington on the numerous farms in the area. At the same time the Ku Klux Klan had been exploiting this existing anti-Asian sentiment with the residents of the valley, claiming to protect white women from the threat of interracial dating, and local men from the source of cheap labor.[1] In November 1927 this culminated in a series of intimidation and threats by the KKK in the valley. Beginning the night of November 8, a mob gathered at a local boarding house owned by an interracial couple, demanding all Filipino boarders leave town. Throughout the week Filipino workers were threatened with death if they did not leave the valley. Most were forced onto trains out of town, or simply left on foot. Those who remained were put into the county jail for their own protection. Overall hundreds of Filipinos were forced out of the valley as a result of the riot, which was finally ended November 11.[2] In the aftermath of the incident, the local leaders were arrested and put on trial, eventually being found guilty by an all white jury and sentenced to 10 days in jail.