![]() He celebrated the presence and influence of in Denver. William Wei, a history professor at the University of Colorado and former Colorado State Historian Chinese (attached in separate document). ![]() Proposed new text for a historical marker to replace the current plaque was presented by Dr. With a nod towards East Asian cultural traditions, the double-eight of 8/8 was an auspicious date for the event. Undaunted, CAPU held its August 8 event at Zoe Ma Ma, a hip Chinese street food restaurant next to Union Station, the LoDo anchor where the original Chinese immigrants arrived beginning in 1869. No one, from CAPU to the mayor’s office to local media, have been able to get the owner of the building to respond to requests for permission to change the plaque. CAPU’s first project is to Re-envision Denver’s Historic Chinatown.Īlthough CAPU has the support of city government – the Mayor’s office and the councilwoman who represents the LoDo district – as well as business and historic district associations to replace the current plaque and find expanded ways to celebrate Denver’s Chinese history, the plaque removal and plans to put a mural on the wall of the building where plaque currently hangs have been placed on hold. Earlier this year, those DAAPIC members joined with other community leaders and allies including architects and academics to form Colorado Asian Pacific United (CAPU), and organization that is applying for 501(c)3 non-profit status. In 2020, the members of the Denver Asian American Pacific Islander Commission (DAAPIC), which serves as a connection for the AAPI community with the mayor’s office, began planning efforts to remove the offensive plaque. ![]() The white-centric view of Chinatown doesn’t capture the vibrancy of the district, which had been described in newspaper articles of the time.ĭerek Okubo, executive director of the City of Denver’s Agency for Human Rights and Community Partnerships, speaks at the 8/8 CAPU event at Denver’s Union Station. The title on the plaque rads “Hop Alley/Chinese Riot of 1880,” and the text focuses on the existence of opium dens (“hop” was a negative term for opium) even though many of the customers were White, and names three White business owners who protected some fleeing Chinese without naming Look Young. That is, except for one “Lower Downtown District Walking Tour” plaque on a building across the street from Coors Field, the baseball stadium that recently hosted the MLB All-Star Game. Although the Chinese returned to LoDo and rebuilt their homes and businesses, that anti-Chinese race riot was used as an example to pass the 1882 Chinese Exclusion Act, the only law restricting immigration by nationality ever in American history.ĭenver’s Chinatown continued into the 20 th century - a Chinese Masonic Temple stood in LoDo into the 1920s and ‘30s, and an American Chinese Club existed after WWII – but there’s now no trace left of the community. It hasn’t helped that Denver’s Chinatown was nearly destroyed on Octowhen thousands of Whites tore through the neighborhood destroying property and beating one man, Look Young, to death. Chinatown’s past has been long forgotten as recent immigrants have spread out and settled away from downtown Denver.īut an August 8 event helped remind people of that lost history. Most people in Denver – even longtime Denverites – don’t know that the city’s popular Lower Downtown district or LoDo was once home to a thriving Chinatown.
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