C100 Issues Update: Committee of 100 Meets with 1882 Project Pro Bono Counsel Martin Gold

Committee of 100 Chairman Dominic Ng, Charlie Woo, and Ming Hsu met with Martin Gold, pro bono Counsel of the 1882 Project, in Los Angeles on July 23. C100 co-sponsored the 1882 Project to build support for the recent Congressional resolutions expressing regret for the Chinese Exclusion laws (1882 to 1943). As a former Senate staffer, Gold was especially important in crafting an effective legislative strategy to get the resolutions through Congress. Hsu said: “If one Senator had objected, this would have been impossible to pass.”

Standing: Dominic Ng, Ming Hsu, Martin Gold; seated: Charlie Woo. Photo by Munson Kwok, past president of the Chinese American Citizens Alliance.

Gold spoke at the Chinese American Museum about his newly released book, Forbidden Citizens: Chinese Exclusion and the U.S. Congress: A Legislative History  (TheCapitol.Net, 2012). Forbidden Citizens chronicles the history of Congressional debates and legislation on Chinese exclusion between the 1870s and the final repeal in 1943. Woo and Hsu also accompanied Gold to interviews with Chinese-language newspapers World Journal and Sing Tao.