Thread by @c0nc0rdance

Let's talk about People v. Hall (1853), which prevented Chinese people from testifying in California.

It extended Crime & Punishment Sect. 14: "No black or mulatto person, or Indian, shall be allowed to give evidence in favor of or against a white man" to include Chinese people.

The case was an appeal by George W. Hall of his conviction for killing Ling Sing, a Chinese miner, over a claim dispute.

The murder was witnessed by three of Ling Sing's fellow miners, but Hall successfully argued that their testimony should be invalidated by Section 14.

It's been declared by legal experts to "contain some of the most offensive racial rhetoric to be found in the annals of California appellate jurisprudence" and "the worst statutory interpretation case in history."

Here's a taste:
"[The Chinese] whose mendacity is proverbial; a race of people whom nature has marked as inferior, and who are incapable of progress or intellectual development beyond a certain point, as their history has shown."
This is the Supreme Court of California, mind.

What this meant, from a legal standpoint, is that a white person could gun down a Chinese person, or rape them, or rob them & only white witnesses would be allowed to bring testimony to the case.

This was California precedent until 1873, when all testimony laws were invalidated.

I don't care about critical race theory, but I feel that patriotism and citizenship are better served by an accurate telling of our constant failings to live up to the principles on which this nation was founded.

The struggle for human rights, equality under the law continues.

The whole decision can be read here:
cetel.org/1854_hall.html

The dissenting opinion was simply: "From the opinion of the Chief Justice, I most respectfully dissent."