Denver to apologize for anti-Chinese riot of 1880

A white mob drove out the Chinese from Denver in 1880.

Denver is the latest U.S. city to acknowledge its past racist treatment of Asian Americans.

Next week, the Mile-High City will formally issue an apology for the anti-Chinese riots that drove Chinese residents out of town and erased Denver's thriving Chinatown.

Today, there's nothing left of the city's Chinatown in the Colorado's biggest city because the Chinese were driven out in the 1880s.  

The City of Denver issued the following statement:

"While the city cannot erase past injustices against the Asian American and Pacific Island community, it is a first step towards recognizing and honoring their valuable contributions through public acknowledgement and fostering racial reconciliation. This development will assist Denver in attaining its goal of being a diverse, inclusive, and equitable city where all people can live and work in harmony."

Denver will issue a resolution apologizing to the Chinese immigrants and their descendants for its role in the anti-Chinese riot that occurred on Oct 31, 1880, and the racial violence and discrimination since then.

A barroom altercation quickly escalated into a full-fledged riot, with a drunken white mob attacking and setting fire to every Chinese business in the area. 

Many of the original Chinese inhabitants were workers who worked on the western portion of the Transcontinental Railroad that linked up near Provo, Utah in 1869.  There were about 1800 Chinese living in the neighborhood at the time of the race riots. One Chinese man, Look Young, was lynched and many others were badly injured. In the end, almost all the Chinese businesses in the area were destroyed and within the span of ten years the community all but disappeared.

The former Chinatown was located near the present-day Coors Field and currently home to a thriving area of restaurants, hotels and businesses.

Today, only a plaque commemorating the event remains on 20th and Blake Streets, but misrepresents the anti-Chinese riot with a false narrative. 

Denver becomes the 6th US city and the first outside of California to issue an apology for its racist acts against Chinese residents. During that period, the anti-Chinese sentiment driven by racist newspapers and politicians, resulted in several Chinatowns getting burned down and eventually led to the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882.

The apology is a first step by the City of Denver in acknowledging its role in the historic discrimination and violence against the Chinese community and their descendants. This apology also signifies a step forward in the city's commitment to re-valuing the contributions of the Chinese immigrant and larger AAPI communities and educating a new generation of Coloradoans about the history of the Chinese immigrant community, by building a more just and inclusive society.

“It’s really amazing that Denver, even though we are not on the coast, is taking this progressive approach and issuing this apology and committing to do more for the [Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders] community,” said Joie Ha, vice-chair for Colorado Asian Pacific United, which coordinated with the city to organize the event.

The ceremony offering the apology is set for April 16, at the Lawrence Street Center Terrace Room, 1 p.m. to 2 p.m.

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