"It is true this statute is directed only against the obnoxious Chinese, but, if the power exists, who shall say it will not be exercised to-morrow against other classes and other people?"
--#SCOTUS Justice David Brewer, Fong Yue Tine v. U.S. (1893)(dissent)
--#SCOTUS Justice David Brewer, Fong Yue Tine v. U.S. (1893)(dissent)
The absolutely bonkers thing about this excerpt is that it's from a dissent in which Justice Brewer is arguing that immigrants should have full Constitutional rights & that deportation is an extremely harsh punishment--much further than any sitting #SCOTUS justice would go today
and idk if you really needed any further evidence of how racialized our immigration system has always been, but knowing that the phrase "obnoxious Chinese" appears in a published #SCOTUS opinion IN SUPPORT OF immigrant rights is perhaps somewhat instructive
